This article focusses on water governance at a river basin level and the role of coordination, participation and partnerships between multiple stakeholders to reduce water insecurities they are facing. Water-related risks are attributed not only to escalating global and local changes, but to a high extent to failures in good water governance in river basins or their sub-basins. The key finding is that river basins in the Asia-Pacific region vividly demonstrate the emerging trend of state-centric governance evolving towards encompassing multi-stakeholder approaches. Broadening engagement, interaction and consolidating partnerships between public, private and civil society actors appears to be among the effective tools in good water governance. One of the messages is that stakeholder participation, related opportunities and barriers is a very ‘context’ oriented issue being dependent on existing specific national and local socio-economic, cultural, political and sustainability priorities. The article explores and compares stakeholder involvement and partnerships in water management in river basins in Australia, China, Russia, Thailand and Viet Nam. Findings are aggregated and contrasted to worldwide trends.