ABSTRACT The burgeoning expansion of anthropogenic river barriers in South and Southeast Asian transboundary river basins has led to the loss of natural flow regimes, fragmented river habitats, and altered environmental conditions, to the detriment of native biodiversity and vital fisheries. Despite increasing recognition of these threats, effective conservation planning and sustainable water management remain challenged by incomplete barrier databases and inconsistent biological monitoring programs. Here, we explore how comprehensive, harmonized, and openly accessible barrier databases, combined with systematic long‐term biological and environmental monitoring programs, are essential to accurately assess river connectivity and guide collaborative conservation strategies, particularly in South and South East Asia. We illustrate a mechanism for achieving this through an adaptive management framework applied to the Lancang‐Mekong Basin and offer broader lessons on long‐standing policy and water governance challenges facing transboundary river basins in a changing world. This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Human Water > Water Governance Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change
Sun et al. (Thu,) studied this question.