Context National borders remain an impediment to efficient preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. For transboundary water resources, conservation planning becomes more challenging, as competitive interests make these sensitive and productive systems focal points of interstate conflicts. Objectives This global study aims to explore the patterns of protection coverage for transnational lakes and their catchments, highlighting gaps and inconsistencies at the protection observed among countries sharing the same lake. Methods Identifying 793 transnational lakes globally, we initially investigated protection coverage at their water bodies. Next, we explored protection coverage patterns across each lake’s catchment, in which we also quantified human pressures’ extent and intensity. Socio-economic and political parameters were examined as potential predictors of the observed patterns. Results Only half of the world’s transnational lakes are fully or partly covered by existing protected areas. Our analysis demonstrated that in only 37% of the protected transnational lakes, the extent of protection coverage was similar in the neighboring counties sharing the same lake. Protection patterns were not driven by the relative area of the transnational lakes found in the neighboring countries. Moreover, protection cover focuses mainly on lakes’ water surface ignoring the terrestrial surroundings, while more than 75% of the catchments are subjected to intense human pressures. Conclusions Providing the first overview of the protection gaps of transnational lakes globally, we highlight a failure of policy responses to cross-border conservation of sensitive freshwater ecosystems. Consequently, such limitations are likely to loom risks for human well‐being and for the initiation of intense conflicts.

中文翻译：

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跨国湖泊保护方面的差距和偏见：一项全球评估

背景 国界仍然是有效保护生物多样性和生态系统的障碍。对于跨界水资源，保护规划变得更具挑战性，因为竞争利益使这些敏感和生产系统成为国家间冲突的焦点。目标 这项全球研究旨在探索跨国湖泊及其集水区的保护覆盖模式，强调共享同一湖泊的国家之间在保护方面所观察到的差距和不一致。方法 确定了全球 793 个跨国湖泊，我们初步调查了其水体的保护范围。接下来，我们探索了每个湖泊集水区的保护覆盖模式，其中我们还量化了人类压力的范围和强度。社会经济和政治参数被检查为观察到的模式的潜在预测因子。结果 世界上只有一半的跨国湖泊完全或部分被现有保护区覆盖。我们的分析表明，只有 37% 的受保护跨国湖泊的保护范围与共享同一湖泊的邻近县相似。保护模式不是由在邻国发现的跨国湖泊的相对面积驱动的。此外，保护覆盖主要集中在湖泊水面，而忽略了陆地环境，而75%以上的流域受到强烈的人为压力。结论 首次概述了全球跨国湖泊的保护差距，我们强调对敏感淡水生态系统跨境保护的政策反应失败。因此，这种限制可能会给人类福祉和引发激烈冲突带来风险。