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Water stress is intensifying under climate change, demographic growth, and socio-political pressures, raising urgent questions about how shared waters are governed. This article has a dual aim: to take stock of scholarship on water, conflict, and cooperation, and to frame the contributions of this Special Issue on “Water, Environment, and Security.” We combine a bibliometric mapping (2010–2024) with a thematic synthesis to trace field-level trends and recurring debates. The review highlights seven focal areas: power and hydro-hegemony; river-basin organizations; climate change framing on compound risks; environmental peacebuilding across scales; technological innovations; justice and equity; and the targeting of water in war. We show that conflict and cooperation frequently coexist and are mediated less by hydrology than by institutions, power relations, and inclusion. As a whole, the Special Issue advances this research agenda through diverse epistemologies and methods, conceptual frameworks, comparative and ethnographic studies, and large- N analyses, linking outcomes from households to basins. Looking ahead, we outline research frontiers in water research, including open hydrology data, justice-centered governance, war impacts, and translating transboundary commitments into local practice. Together, these insights point to pathways for more equitable, resilient cooperation over shared waters.
Döring et al. (Fri,) studied this question.