Book excerpt: Water treaties, agreements and conventions abound, but knowledge of them, and the relevant records, used to be scattered and not always easily accessible. Utilizing historical documents, statistical analyses, and maps, the Atlas presents both a graphic and textual analysis and documentation of the world's international basins and their agreements. This Atlas builds upon knowledge stored in existing environmental legislative databases in an attempt to consolidate and disseminate information about shared water treaties. It yields a better understanding of existing treaties and treaty development through time, provide a basis for negotiating new agreements, and organizes the underlying knowledge for improving environmental governance throughout the world.