Historically, transboundary cooperation has been difficult but the hundreds of treaties signed between riparian states and the institutions created to manage and use transboundarywaters in an equitable and sustainable manner around the world show that sharing a resource as precious as water can be a catalyst for cooperation rather than conflicts.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters (IW) focal area targets transboundary water systems, such as shared river basins, lakes, groundwater and large marine ecosystems.
To create and maintain a database on water and the environment by use of official, validated national data complementary to the EUROWATERNET, related to transboundary water bodies (rivers, lakes and coastal waters).