9 transboundary basins, 35 countries, and 273 interviews. These numbers tell the story of Émeline Hassenforder and Benjamin Noury’s journey. The duo spent two years travelling around the world on behalf of their association "Entre Deux Eaux" (“between two bodies of water”) to develop a method to analyze transboundary management problems pertaining to water.

Back in France, these two adventurers are calling for integrated water management so that this essential resource becomes a real tool for sustainable cooperation between the players involved. "Examined projects have revealed that the involvement of a third-party organization is critical to ensure that there is a middle-man between the various organizations and to encourage the stakeholders to pursue a joint approach”, they write in the report about their journey on a post in lemonde.fr.

Capitalizing on their research, they published a book on water management projects in transboundary regions, where precious water is both a source of life and conflict. This manual, published under the auspices of UNESCO, was presented last month at the 6th World Water Forum in Marseille. Entitled “Tackling Water Complexity –Experiences from 10 Transboundary Cooperation Water Projects” and geared toward professionals and decision-makers operating in water-related realms, the publication proposes a methodology, offers an anthology of experiences, and conveys a positive vision of how governments can address water-specific issues.