Editor's Note: This article is part of an ongoing RANE series on the geopolitical impacts of water stress. The first installment of this series provided a broad overview of how the unequal distribution of freshwater shapes geopolitical patterns. Other installments have examined the impacts of water stress on the global economy , Europe , China , the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa , Israel , Central Asia , Chile , the Middle East , the Mekong River region , climate investment , India , North Africa , cyberattacks , Egypt and Brazil . South Asia will increasingly prize the Brahmaputra and Indus rivers as demographic and economic growth heighten regional water demand and intensify geopolitical rivalries, portending more severe diplomatic tensions and instability in the region over the coming years.