Steep sustainability challenges in transboundary basins worldwide.

ABSTRACT: Transboundary hydrological basins span international borders and are essential to global water systems, human development, and environmental sustainability. Nearly 40 % of the world's population lives within these basins, which supply critical resources such as freshwater, food, energy, and biodiversity. Yet their sustainability remains poorly understood, as existing assessments often overlook the unique social, environmental, and political complexities of transboundary basins. This study addresses that gap by developing and applying a systematic framework to assess Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) progress across 310 transboundary basins worldwide. Here we show that transboundary basins score significantly lower on average SDGs achievement (an SDG Index score of 42 on a scale of 0-100

SUBMITTER: Zhou Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12362133 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature