A new global assessment reveals that transboundary river basins, which support billions of people across national borders, face significantly greater sustainability challenges than water systems contained within single countries. The study of 310 shared basins worldwide found their average Sustainable Development Goals Index score is just 42 out of 100, well below the global national average of 67. This research, published in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, provides the first comprehensive framework for measuring both environmental inequality and SDG performance in these critical shared water systems.
The findings are particularly important because transboundary basins connect countries through shared waters, ecosystems, and economies while facing complex governance challenges that often falter under competing national priorities. Climate change, rising populations, and land-use shifts intensify upstream-downstream tensions, while political instability and conflict can derail cooperation. Many previous assessments have overlooked these cross-border dynamics, focusing instead on national averages that mask basin-level inequalities.
Researchers from Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Stockholm University developed a novel framework that integrates Environmental Gini coefficients, which measure resource inequity, with 98 SDG indicators. The analysis revealed striking regional contrasts, from basins in Africa scoring as low as 13 to European rivers surpassing 75. The study identified four distinct basin profiles: Institutional governance basins needing deeper cooperation, Sustained growth basins burdened by poor water quality and poverty, Inclusive growth basins balancing economic strength with environmental pressures, and Social coordination basins highly exposed to climate extremes.
Scenario modeling demonstrated that achieving clean water goals alone would only bring 17 basins to sustainability. Combining clean water with economic growth increases that share to 17%, while achieving clean water, economic growth, and health goals together could elevate 38% of basins into sustainability. The framework offers a decision-making tool for governments and international agencies by pinpointing where resource inequities align with socio-economic shortfalls, guiding targeted investments in infrastructure and cross-border agreements.
The research underscores that multi-goal, basin-specific strategies offer far greater potential than isolated interventions. Applied at the basin scale, such integrated approaches could help ease geopolitical tensions, fortify resilience against climate shocks, and accelerate progress toward multiple Sustainable Development Goals. For the world's most sensitive shared rivers, this coordinated approach could mean the difference between escalating conflict and sustainable cooperation.
