**Acknowledgements**

emphasized in strategic visions and policy lines at higher levels of governance, but the translation of these visions in actual adaptation policies is difficult in all regions. Because adaptation policies are mainly formulated at a strategic level, clear adaptation targets have not been specified, responsibilities have not been defined, and structural financial resources have not

Another governance weakness is the high degree of fragmentation that characterizes existing water management practices in the regional governance contexts. At the six research sites, different subdomains of water management are governed by different actors and through a different subset of policies. In Cyprus, Spain and Portugal, drinking water, irrigation, waste water and flood risk management are, for example, dealt with under separate policies and by different responsible agencies. Because of this, information about the water system and its current performances is also scattered across different subdomains of water management.

A related weakness lies in the lack of collaboration, not only between the different subdomains of water management but also between water management and other sectors such as spatial planning, environmental management, agriculture and tourism. In some regional governance contexts, links with other sectors (mainly spatial planning) have been established, but in general, linkages could be improved. Also, a lack of stakeholder participation was identified. While the structural integration of stakeholder participation varies across regional governance contexts, overall, but problems were experienced with the involvement of new types of stakeholders in water management, such as end-users or the private sector. It is difficult to organize participation of these new stakeholders because they are often not fully aware of the impacts of climate change on their own operations, and because they often have conflicting interests.

**5. Conclusion: common governance challenges for adaptation to** 

European research sites, three main governance challenges can be identified.

Assessing governance strengths and weaknesses in for climate change adaptation in six

First, a common challenge seems to lie in incorporating new climate change risks in the existing policy and governance framework, and in developing and implementing adaptation measures to deal with these new risks. The specific nature of this challenge varies across research sites. In Badalona, the policy framework is strongly oriented toward the existing problems of droughts, water scarcity and floods but the risk of CSO's is insufficiently recognized. And in Bergen, drinking water and wastewater are well managed, but no policies have been developed to deal with the increased risks posed by storm water. However, the general character-

This challenge can be addressed by establishing a more anticipatory governance setting, which is able to look beyond contemporary problems in water management to the new risks posed by climate change. To facilitate this change, more information about the specific impacts of climate change at the regional level is needed, which should be disseminated to actors and

**climate change in Europe**

istics of this governance challenge are similar.

agencies that are responsible for or work within the water system.

been allocated to address new risks of climate change adaptation.

238 Achievements and Challenges of Integrated River Basin Management

This hampers the coordinative capacities of the management system.

The research underlying this chapter was performed within the European Union's Horizon 2020 BINGO ("Bringing INnovation to onGOing water management: A better future under climate change", Grant Agreement No. 641739) project, which aims to provide more insight into the regional impacts of climate change on the water cycle across Europe and develop tailored adaptation strategies to address these impacts.
