Friction over shared – and shrinking – water resources is escalating in south Asia, where India and Pakistan are at loggerheads over river rights. Joydeep Gupta reports.

Building river barrages remains environmentally controversial, but Australian expert Graeme Kelleher tells Isabel Hilton what matters is how you do it.

BG Verghese is an Indian water expert, political commentator and professor at New Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research. Here, he talks to Isabel Hilton about the trans-boundary rivers of the Third Pole.

On Monday, John Briscoe praised China for its development role in poor countries. Here, Peter Bosshard argues that a more sophisticated approach to energy development is possible – at home and abroad.

China’s investment in developing-world infrastructure is a good thing, since it liberates many poor countries from unreasonable requirements set by western financing agencies, argues John Briscoe, kicking off a week-long series on dam construction.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway has brought an influx of non-biodegradable waste to the Himalayan plateau, posing serious environmental challenges. He Haining and Guo Haiyan report.