Introducing the Case Study Areas: Hydro-climatic and Governance Contexts - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 108

Table 6.2 (continued)

Political & economic
developments

Environmental/internal governance
Environmental law & principles Period Country Trend

Chile 1891: Chilean Civil War Civil Code: declared water as a national good

for public use. Water management
defined in the constitution. Settler politics
usurped cultural water management of
indigenous communities.

Water as a public good.

Period following ushers in
democratic tradition, though
tightly controlled from
above.

1950 Switzerland Failure in the implementation

(at canton level) of previous
federal laws on water
pollution leads to a growing
discontent.

1953: Ratification and adoption of article
24quater FC (81% yes vote).
Corresponding legal basis simultaneously
developed leading to:
1955: Law on Water Protection (LWater).
Introduction of the polluter pays
principle, where polluters are now liable
for damage

Environmental Protection becomes an issue at
the federal level.
Polluter Pays Principle enters legislative
framework

Chile First Water Code: institutionalised water

rights, recognised as private property and
possible to register with pre-defined uses
(Bauer 1997)

Water as a private property

1960 Switzerland 1966: Swiss law on participation and access

to environmental information developed
independently of EU Law, and in fact
precedes it. The right of organisations to
Appeal against Rulings on Installations
was first introduced in the Federal Act on
the Protection of Nature and Cultural
Heritage (PNLA). It was hotly debated,

Increased transparency and provisions in the
law open up access to environmental
information
Movement of environmental legislative
competence from the regional to the
federal level. Implementation remains at
local & regional level