The Rhone basin is one of Europe's major rivers. It stretches from its source in the Swiss Alps through to the Lake Geneva and then down through France to its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, where its delta constitutes the Camargue Region. It crosses three different ‘cantonal' jurisdictions in Switzerland alone, while its course through Lake Geneva itself demarcates the border between France and Switzerland. This presents a valuable opportunity to analyse the multitude of challenges that face the manage- ment of a river flowing through such a variety of different hydrological contexts and institutional settings (Swiss, French and European). For the first time, this special issue collates interdisciplinary insights into the challenges faced by the governance systems across the entire Rhoˆne basin. Papers present insights into barriers and opportunities for effectively responding to the many political, economic and climatological challenges facing the managers of the River Rhoˆne overthe coming decades.