By 2050, the world's population is projected to surpass 9 billion (Liu et al., 2018), and this increase has focused scholars' attention on the utilization, flow, and development of shared water resources (Gupta et al., 2020). Fifty percent of the world's population dwells in river basins shared by two or more nations (McCracken and Wolf, 2019). There are 310 of these transboundary lake and river basins containing freshwater resources in the form of rivers, lakes, and aquifers shared by 150 riparian nations worldwide (McCracken and Wolf, 2019). Sharing water constitutes a unique affiliation between riparian states. These relationships are dynamic but often characterized as cooperative or conflicting depending on factors like economic development, long-term planning, and socio-economic status differences between riparian states.

Transboundary river scholarship has increasingly focused on understanding and enhancing cooperation concerning water management and allocation (Sadoff and Grey, 2002; UNECE, 2021). Studies must be updated to enable adaptations to climate change impacts on a changing hydroclimate and the accompanying shifts in patterns of precipitation that affect water availability and flood resilience management (Pörtner et al., 2022). In a changing hydroclimate, data for management are essential. How these data are shared, validated, and legitimated is an area of emerging interest made complicated by a history of international relations, technological advances, and changing quantities of water. Below, we briefly illustrate the spectrum of data sharing in two river basins: the Kabul and the Ganges River basins.

Climatic variability and change will have a substantial influence on water flow patterns, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like the Kabul River Basin, which has recently experienced catastrophic droughts and flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Akhtar et al., 2018). Despite the alarming nature of the problem, neither country has a data-sharing system. In the twentieth century, Afghanistan's glaciers declined by 50–70%, and fast snow and glacier melt caused landslides, river blockages, and downstream flooding (Vick, 2014). Located below the Hindu Kush Himalayas, Afghanistan and Pakistan are prone to flash flooding from annual rain-on-snow events (Taraky et al., 2021). By 2100, average surface temperature of the Hindukush-Karakorum-Himalayan area are expected to climb faster than the world average and annual precipitation in the Kabul River basin is likely to increase by 8–12% (Iqbal et al., 2018). Diplomatic tensions in the basin, such as the century-old dispute over the Durand line that establishes the border between the countries, contributed to hesitancies to exchange data about the water regime for water resource management. Like 60% of the world's internationally shared lake and river basins, there remains no framework for sharing water resources data.

For the Ganges River, Bangladesh and India's Joint River Commission posts water resources information online. Improved collaboration stems from a data-exchange platform, which has accelerated the process of conserving transboundary water resources (Tir and Stinnett, 2009). Because the availability of Ganges water at Farakka, India indicates water quantities within the basin, precipitation patterns and trends across various timescales are gathered and shared via the platform (Rahman et al., 2019). This collaboration improves management and international relations and continues to evolve.

Data sharing concerning water availability and patterns of water withdraws among upstream and downstream communities becomes essential for economic development, managing uncertainty for planning, and building trust among riparian states. In this paper, we review articles that characterize how data are shared, the mechanisms used, and the role of data in engendering cooperation or fueling conflict in transboundary river management. Our central question was: How are water resources data used in transboundary river conflict and cooperation? We examine articles from 2014 to 2022 that reveal the evolution of data sharing from the year the United Nation's (UN) Watercourse Convention went into force in 2014 to the rapid advances in computational technologies and spatial imagery of today. We use the Thompson Reuters' Web of Science to find articles published from January 2014 to May 2022 with the keyword combinations of “Transboundary water AND Data OR Information OR Sharing.” A total of 277 articles were reviewed paying special attention to all mentions of the role of data in conflict or cooperation between nations. Five articles offered explicit examinations of our question.

Sharing data and information is widely regarded as essential in the history of cooperation (Gerlak et al., 2014) evident in every water treaty modified for water allocation between riparian governments. Currently, there are two multi-national conventions for transboundary water management: The 1992 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (UNECE, 1992) and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational uses of International Watercourses (UNWCC, 1997). These conventions obligate nations to engage in elaborating agreements to reduce the impacts of increasing demands and pollution on shared water resources.

The gathering, exchange, and sharing of water resources information is addressed in each. Article 9 of the UNWCC (1997) states “watercourse States shall on a regular basis exchange readily available data and information on the condition of the watercourse, in particular that of a hydrological, meteorological, hydrogeological and ecological nature and related to the water quality as well as related forecasts”. Further, when data from a neighboring state is needed, article 13 of UNECE (1992) states “If a Riparian Party is requested by another Riparian Party to provide data or information that is not available, the former shall endeavor to comply with the request but may condition its compliance upon the payment, by the requesting Party, of reasonable charges for collecting and, where appropriate, processing such data or information.” Beyond the above conventions, water resources data sharing has been a consistent subject within the last 50 years of international agreements which require riparian governments to regularly exchange data and statistics about their shared watercourses (Plengsaeng et al., 2014). In 2015, UN member countries signed onto pursue the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. SDG Indicator 6.5 addresses transboundary water cooperation. Regular data sharing is one of the four determinants for operational transboundary water cooperation in SDG indicator 6.5.2, however, not all countries choose to participate or report progress on SDG target 6.5.

Although states have a latitude of discretion for which data and how frequently they are shared, the effects of sharing on planning capacity and inter-state trust are clear. The degree of transparency and openness with which riparian nations of international river basins share hydrometeorological data affects planning and decision-making capabilities of other riparian states (Kibler et al., 2014). Data sharing can establish trust among riparian states—as seen in the Okavango River Basin comprise of three riparian states of southern African States namely Angola, Botswana, and Namibia (Mogomotsi et al., 2020). After years of negotiation, transboundary states established the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) that requires contracting parties to exchange information needed to facilitate OKACOM's tasks and report any developments that could affect shared watercourses.

The UNWCC addresses the management of surface water, however, it does not elucidate the management of groundwater (Dellapenna, 2021). The International Law Commission has prepared language for aquifer management submitted to the UN general assembly as Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers in 2008, though it has not received the acceptance of the UNWCC (Dellapenna, 2021). Absent agreements, sharing groundwater level, pressure, storage, quality, and aquifer yield data—the amount released from an aquifer by pumping or drainage—is voluntary.

A conceptual framework for sharing water resources data focuses on three key elements: (1) types of water-related data to be shared, (2) frequency of data sharing, and (3) mechanisms for sharing data. This framework was developed based on an analysis of 25 transboundary watercourses in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe (Mukuyu et al., 2020). Below, we consider each element.

However, anecdotal information reveals that data-sharing processes are trailing behind institutional and legal duties, not because of a lack of data, or technological challenges, but because of non-technical roadblocks (Plengsaeng et al., 2014). Political and cultural differences, vision asymmetries, national security concerns, and different approaches to economic development hinder data sharing. Even with treaties in place, history of mistrust poses formidable barriers for data exchange (Akhtar, 2010).

It is not easy to disentangle the relevance of shared waters in riparian state dynamics from other aggravating factors. Generally, conflict arises when data are used for political and economic gamesmanship to share information entirely, partially, or not at all (Thu and Wehn, 2016). Differences in the economic capacity and investments affect availability of data (e.g., poorly managed observing stations, a lack of technology and resources) of less wealthy nations impacts equity in negotiations (Vu et al., 2016). Countries may focus efforts to strengthen their data collection technology to gain competitive advantages in negotiations (Thu and Wehn, 2016). Resulting negotiations from asymmetrical positions increases conflict.

Conflicts over the sharing of water resources are the outcome of divergent government policies. This occurs more frequently when one country uses the groundwater (Giordano et al., 2002) or surface water resources without sharing the data (Vu et al., 2016).

Water plays a substantial role in ongoing disputes throughout the world, particularly when climate variability and rapid changes in water quantities create high levels of perceived risks to national water security (Sadoff and Grey, 2002). The effects of a changing hydroclimate yields new uncertainties and hazards and offers new reasons to engage for riparian states in transboundary basins. Managing shared transboundary waters is equally a science of water resource management an art of navigating socio-political dynamics (Xie and Ibrahim, 2021).

In this rapidly advancing Information Age, a central socio-political and technical space for organizing cooperation is data and data sharing. Data and information are crucial for effective river basin administration and management, as these data are essential for making sound decisions in various water-related fields, including sectorial water management, integrated water sector planning, climate change adaptation, global and regional reporting, operational and emergency management, and more (Jahanddideh-Tehrani et al., 2021). Mechanisms and frameworks for data sharing constitute spaces for collaboration—boundary objects—between states with a history of constrained relations.

While it is possible to advocate for improved data exchange by promoting adherence to international conventions and declarations such as those mentioned at the beginning of this paper (e.g., the UN Watercourse Convention of 1997), the objectives of basin-specific cooperation may be equally or even more important. Nevertheless, the most effective institutionalized cooperation occurs when facts and information are shared (Gerlak et al., 2014). When nations' shared futures are bound to their shared natural resources, the available data for decision making is best shared too.

MS, DH, and RR conceptualized the study. MS conducted the literature review and wrote the original draft. DH and RR advised, revised, and edited the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

This research was supported by the United States- Afghanistan Fulbright Program and the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, McIntire Stennis, Project 1021674 and Hatch project number is 00077267.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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