Applying a Multi-pronged Approach to Assessing Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 91

5.6 Summary

While the previous chapter outlined the challenges relating to the assessment of
adaptive capacity in relation to latency, measurement, characterisation and opera-
tionalisation, this chapter has focussed on the approach taken to attempt to address
these limitations. The methodology detailed represents an inductive and iterative
approach to the measurement and characterisation of adaptive capacity, in order to
be able to not just fortify current theory, but contribute and advance it as well. This
approach also allows researchers to combine the strengths of both inductive and
deductive approaches, in order to minimise weaknesses and blind spots which are
equally implicit in both (Bohensky et al. 2010 ) .
The final outcome seeks to develop a more nuanced characterisation of adaptive
capacity. The two stage process of categorising the forms of adaptive outcomes and
responses related to each case area before the further characterisation of adaptive
capacity indicators is an attempt to build, advance and contribute to theory. The major
challenges and potential limitations of being able to assess outcomes (including
governance response) against climatic events have been acknowledged, accepted and
in part dealt with through a broader definition of response that evades an exclusive
link to climate change impacts and pressures but recognises their interconnection with
other environmental, social or economic pressures (Tompkins and Adger 2004 ) .
To recap, the study draws primarily on qualitative data, using expert and stake-
holder interviews, combined with archival research, to develop, explore, test and
operationalise a set of governance related indicators of adaptive capacity within
each water governance regime. Recent extreme events (drought and flooding) served
as the primary context through which to explore the governance system's interaction
with hydro-climatic events, eliciting information on planning and preparation for
hydrological extremes, coping techniques and adaptation actions before, during and
after the events. The exploration of past experiences in relation to climate related
extreme events therefore acted as a means to understand and assess the institutional
mechanisms that enhanced or hindered adaptive capacity across different scales in
each context.
Stakeholder perceptions to climate variability and climate change were sought
both in relation to the events, as well as more generally. While it is recognised that
the governance arrangements for responding to drought and flooding events are very
different, studies have shown that the investigation of individual governance mecha-
nisms that shape responses to each form of extreme still are vital for comparative
insights into the broader water governance framework within which they sit.
Beyond issues relating to the specifics of measuring and assessing adaptive
capacity, there were also challenges connected to the nature of case study research,
across different cultures and languages. Interviews were conducted in four different
languages (English, Swiss-German, French and Spanish), therefore analysis relied
on translation by a number of different parties and only a handful of interviews were
conducted in the researcher's mother tongue. Fieldwork in Chile required the use of
a translator and interpreter, while time and financial constraints meant that a greater