International Watersheds

While writing about Montana last summer, I went off on a tangent about Ocean Drainage basins. Water is, and will likely continue to be, an important international environnmental issue.

Aaron T. Wolf, et al, have published a paper that reflects on the impact of global geopolitics and water. The paper includes a map highlighting the areas of the world where two or more nations share a watershed river basin:



Access to the water resources and the quality of that water will require international cooperation, or all may suffer (and thirst?).

While preparing to post this map, I came across (via The Daily Dish) another from UNESCO highlighting the groundwater resources of the world (PDF) and the necessity for international cooperation to avoid water wars.



Read more in this article from the New Scientist.