Decision Support Models to Assist International and Transboundary Water Negotiations: Methodologies and Applications

In a world where water scarcity is increasingly dominating management decisions, this book offers a comprehensive examination of decision support models in transboundary water management, and a groundbreaking approach to resolving international water conflicts.

The book's distinctive strength lies in its holistic approach, bridging theoretical innovations with practical applications. By bringing together an international team of experts from various disciplines, it offers a nuanced, comprehensive strategy for navigating the complex landscape of water negotiations, including forward-looking perspectives on employing decision support models in future water diplomacy efforts.

This is a compelling guide for anyone interested in how nations can work together to manage our most precious resource in an era of climate change and globalization that manifest in increasing environmental challenges, revealing how data, technology, and creative problem-solving can transform potential water disputes into opportunities for cooperation.

Drawing on real-world cases from rivers across the globe, this volume is an essential resource for researchers, policymakers, water resource managers, and diplomats seeking sophisticated, data-driven approaches to resolving international water-sharing challenges.

Mohammadreza Shahbazbegian is an Associate Professor at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran, where he specializes in system dynamics and transboundary water management. He has introduced several innovative concepts, such as the Hydropolitical Self-Organization theory, Hydropolitical System Archetypes, Negotiable Water, and Painted Water. His research primarily examines water conflict analysis, focusing on system archetypes within international river basins, including the Helmand, Euphrates, Tigris, Nile, and Zambezi. He has been serving as the Principal Investigator for numerous national and international collaborative research projects related to the subject of the book. He is the founder and the CEO of the Iranian Water Diplomacy Association, which has grown to include over 300 members from various scientific disciplines in Iran. Currently, he serves as an observer member on the managing committee of the Blue Peace Middle East initiative, which is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Additionally, he is the scientific director of the hydropolitical advanced study group at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies in Iran.


Ariel Dinar is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Economics and Policy in the School of Public Policy and Professor of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). His work addresses economic and strategic behavior associated with management of water and the environment. Dr Dinar worked at the World Bank on water and climate change economics and policy. In 2008, Dr Dinar assumed a professorship at UCR and founded and directed the Water Science and Policy Center. He has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist since 2003 and was named a 2015 Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.