Water remains a high priority for many nations because of its basic importance as a public good and its capacity to flow across, or serve as, political boundaries. With more than 250 river basins - or approximately 45% of the world's land surface - sharing two or more political borders (Wolf et al, 1999), transboundary water governance requires constant attention in the global arena. Those that are charged with the task of managing transboundary water must negotiate between divergent social, economic, and demographic systems, asymmetrical governmental structures, different policy mandates, and limited funding.

The Program on Water Governance conducts research on the management of transboundary water resources, with a particular emphasis on the Canada - U.S. borderland. Current research projects explore questions surrounding the rescaling of transboundary governance mechanisms, the increased role of the local in international water management, and drivers of and barriers to transboundary environmental cooperation.