As water conflicts continue to rise around the world, the need for adaptation in development cooperation increases. Thus, this study focuses on water security issues from different perspectives by summarizing the main trends in water supply and demand. It also presents the potential for conflict at the local, national and international level. In doing so, it identifies the key challenges and opportunities for development cooperation. Finally, it formulates recommendations to improve the management of potential water conflicts and shows how development cooperation can contribute to preventing, solving and handling (post) conflict situations.