**1. Introduction: adaptation to climate change in water governance**

According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Assessment, water problems are among the biggest threats that humanity is facing in the coming century [1]. In the list of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) disaster statistics, floods and droughts rank in the top three of most experienced climate-related disasters between 1980 and 2011. As climate change affects both the quality and the availability of water in the water system, the provision of basic water-related public services such as water safety, drinking water and sanitation is increasingly under pressure [2, 3]. There is widespread agreement on the need to adapt to the hydrological impacts of a changing climate [4, 5].

impacts of climate change. Based on a comparative analysis, the chapter identifies common as

Strengths and Weaknesses for Climate Change: Adaptation in Water Governance…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74401

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The chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the analytical framework used to analyze governance arrangements for climate change adaptation in the water sector. Section 3 describes the findings for each region. Section 4 comparatively analyses these findings, in

Climate change has huge impacts of the water cycle, but these impacts vary across regions [9, 13, 14]. Whereas in southern Europe climate change may increase the risk of droughts and threaten the availability of water, in other parts of Europe a surplus of water is most problematic and riverine, coastal and storm floods are feared. Similarly, the challenges in urban areas (limited run-off and drainage capacities leading to floods and combined sewage overflows) are usually very different than the challenges rural areas face (decreasing groundwater tables and deteriorating groundwater quality). While the driver behind these risks is similar (climate change), the regional impacts of climate change vary greatly, affecting different parts of the

At the same time, water governance arrangements differ substantially from region to region. Regional water governance is the product of a long, historical process where arrangements have been influenced by specific geophysical, sociocultural and political circumstances that characterized the regional context throughout history [7, 17]. The adaptive capacity literature emphasizes the importance of an institutional fit between new climate adaptation measures and institutionalized water governance practice for an effective implementation of adaptation measures in regional contexts [18]. The question whether contemporary water governance arrangements can effectively respond to the impacts of climate change, should thus not only take account of the regional variability of climate change impacts, but also of the varying

This regional diversification surrounding the impacts of climate change on the water cycle and the performances of governance arrangements in dealing with those impacts makes any assessment of adaptive capacity in water governance a challenging task. The adaptive capacity literature therefore displays a strong focus on case studies [19, 20]. And while frameworks have been forwarded to assess or score the adaptive capacity of (water) governance institutions (e.g. [8, 19, 21–25]), these assessment frameworks often remain generalist in scope; they specify general criteria for adaptive capacity but often do not take full account of differences

This chapter uses the three layer framework (TLF) for water governance as a tailor-made analytical tool for analyzing the adaptive capacity of regional water governance arrangements. Rather than formulating criteria, this framework distinguishes between three governance

well as regional-specific governance challenges for adaptation to climate change.

order to identify common governance challenges in the conclusion (Section 5).

water system and different water-services dependent on that system [2, 15, 16].

**2.1. Adaptive governance arrangements in the water sector**

nature of existing regional governance contexts.

in regional demands and performances.

**2. Analytical framework**

While the importance of adaptation is widely recognized, developing effective adaptation solutions is challenged by the high uncertainty connected to the process and impacts of climate change. In the adaptation literature, the importance of flexible adaptation solutions that can be adjusted to new insights about the (experienced) effects of climate change is increasingly emphasized. Under the header of "adaptive capacity", scholars have called for adaptation solutions that are flexible, increase social capital and enhance learning [6–10].

In search of adaptive climate adaptation solutions, the emphasis has been placed on governance arrangements. The UNISDR's Global Assessment Report of 2015, for example, emphasizes that dealing with the impacts of climate change require more than a governmental and top-down technical approach [11]. While technical solutions are essential, governance practices that provide the legal, financial and administrative capacities to implement adaptation measures and ensure a sufficient amount of stakeholder participation and public accountability to safeguard the legitimacy of adaptation efforts are equally important. For this reason, the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) also calls on Member States to develop "appropriate administrative arrangements" to effectively deal with the impacts of climate change [12].

In this chapter, we build on the insight that adaptation to climate change requires more than developing new technical solutions in water management. Just as much, it involves finding new governance arrangements that allocate sufficient (financial, technical and administrative) resources to implement effective adaptation solutions. In addition, because water extremes (droughts and floods) typically affect a wide array of stakeholders dependent on a good management of the water cycle, governance arrangements need to be integrative to facilitate links between different sectors and levels of governance to enhance learning, and facilitate a sufficient amount of public participation to ensure legitimacy.

A huge challenge for developing adaptive governance arrangements in the water sector lies in the huge variability of hydrological impacts across regions. This chapter comparatively analyses the regional governance contexts of six European regions differently affected by climate change: the city of Badalona (Spain) and Bergen (Norway) where the risk of flash floods and combined sewer overflow (CSO) increases, the Troodos Mountains (Cyprus) and the Lower Tagus basin (Portugal) where droughts deplete fresh water resources for public water supply and irrigation and the Veluwe (the Netherlands) and the Wupper River Basin (Germany) where integrated water resources management is affected. For each region, the chapter analyses governance strengths and weaknesses for adaptation to the hydrological impacts of climate change. Based on a comparative analysis, the chapter identifies common as well as regional-specific governance challenges for adaptation to climate change.

The chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the analytical framework used to analyze governance arrangements for climate change adaptation in the water sector. Section 3 describes the findings for each region. Section 4 comparatively analyses these findings, in order to identify common governance challenges in the conclusion (Section 5).
