GUO Liying, TIAN Fuqiang, WEI Jing, LU You, NI Guangheng
The scarcity of water resources and the variety of water demands lead to conflicts between water users, especially in transboundary freshwater systems passing through several countries or regions. In the absence of a whole-basin management approach, the management of transboundary freshwater resources tends to degrade into a Tragedy of the Commons. However, the conflict and cooperation are closely related to the sustainable development of the river basin, the security and stability of the region, and the diplomacy between the water users in various countries. Therefore, research on conflict and cooperation over transboundary freshwater resources has great practical significance. This review presents an analytical research framework for conflict and cooperation in managing transboundary water resources and categorizes previous research into deduction and induction research paradigms. Three major research directions are how to define and quantify the status of water conflicts and cooperation, what are the drivers of water conflicts and cooperation and how do water conflicts and cooperation evolve. The literature review reveals knowledge gaps and potential future research directions. In future research, deduction will be used with induction to integrate the advantages of the two research paradigms. The review also shows the global dynamics and driving mechanisms of water conflicts and cooperation. The inner relationships between transboundary and domestic water resources need further exploration. In addition, new transboundary freshwater resource management strategies are needed to cope with the opportunities and challenges brought by economic development and climate change.
