Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Intermittent river catchments are increasingly exposed to interacting pressures from land-use and land-cover transitions, hydrological variability, resource competition, and weak governance systems. Yet, evidence on how these processes jointly shape water-related conflict remains fragmented across hydrology, environmental science, geography, and political ecology. This systematic review synthesised peer-reviewed evidence on the linkages between land-cover transitions, hydrological variability, resource competition, and governance responses in intermittent river catchments. Following PRISMA 2021 guidelines, a systematic search of selected academic databases and platforms identified 376 records, of which 104 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis. The evidence base was geographically concentrated in Africa and Asia, which accounted for 46.2% and 33.7% of included studies, respectively. Agricultural expansion was the most frequently reported land-cover transition, appearing in 59.6% of studies, followed by urban and built-up expansion, riparian and wetland degradation, and deforestation. These transitions were associated with increased surface runoff and flood risk, reduced groundwater recharge and baseflow, intensified dry-season flow intermittency, sediment yield, and drought-related water stress. Hydrological variability contributed to resource competition through reduced dry-season flows, intersectoral water demand, farmer–herder tensions, and upstream–downstream conflicts. Governance responses were dominated by Integrated Water Resources Management, land-use planning, ecological restoration, zoning, participatory approaches, and adaptive management. The review concludes that water-related conflict in intermittent river systems is not driven by physical scarcity alone, but by coupled socio-hydrological processes shaped by land-cover change, hydrological disruption, livelihood dependence, and institutional capacity.</p>