INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASINS OF THE WORLD:

INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASINS OF THE WORLD

International Journal of Water Resources Development,Vol. 15 #4, December 1999.

Aaron T. Wolf¹
Oregon State University

Jeffrey A. Natharius
Alabama Office of Water Resources

Jeffrey J. Danielson
Raytheon, EROS Data Center

Brian S. Ward
Oregon State University

ABSTRACT

It is becoming acknowledged that water is likely to be the most pressing environmental concern of the next century.Difficulties in river basin management are only exacerbated when the resource crosses international boundaries.One critical aid in the assessment of international waters has been the Register of International Rivers – a compendium which listed 214 international waterways that cover 47% of the earth's continental land-surface. The Register, though, was last updated in 1978 by the now-defunct United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The purpose of this paper is to update the Register in order to reflect the quantum changes that have taken place over the last 22 years, both in global geopolitics and in map coverage and technology. By accessing digital elevation models at spatial resolutions of 30 arc seconds, corroborating at a unified global map coverage of at least 1:1,000,000, and superimposing the results over complete coverage of current political boundaries, we are able to provide a new register which lists 261 international rivers, covering 45.3% of the land-surface of the earth (excluding Antarctica). This paper lists all international rivers with their watershed areas, the nations that share each watershed, their respective territorial percentages, and notes on changes or disputes in international boundaries since 1978.

THE PAPER

LITERATURE CITED

FOOTNOTES

MAP 1 - International River Basins of the World

MAP 2 - Africa
TABLE 4 - Africa

MAP 3 - Asia
TABLE 4 (continued)- Asia

MAP 4 - Europe
TABLE 4 (continued) - Europe

MAP 5 - North America
TABLE 4 (continued) - North America

MAP 6 - South America
TABLE 4 (continued) - South America

TABLE 5 - Percentage of a Country's Area Within International Basins

TABLE 6 - Number of Countries That Share a Basin

Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database Project