Introducing the Case Study Areas: Hydro-climatic and Governance Contexts - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 111

Period Country developments Environmental law & principles Trend

Greater awareness of the fact that
as an increasingly important
source of water pollution,
agriculture had hitherto been
more or less excluded from
the water protection
legislation. Drying up of an
increasing number of
mountain creeks and small
watercourses being forced
underground (Mauch et al.
2000 )

Throughout the 1980s, there was a long and
hard fought negotiation around the
revision of the water protection law
(namely around agriculture and
hydropower)

Quantitative aspect of water protection, which
was understood as part of a more
comprehensive protection of «aquatic
environments» and biotopes, gained in
significance (Mauch et al. 2000 )

Chile 1980: Pinochet moves to being

President. Regime gradually
permitted greater freedom
of assembly, speech and
political activity
Vigorous pursuit of free market
economic policies
Chilean economy moved away
from state involvement
towards a largely free
market economy, which saw
a large increase in domestic
and foreign investment

1981: Water Code (revised). The previous
water code was reformed in line with the
new political-economic framework
(Budds 2004 ) . A neo-liberal economic
water market was established (by basing
the law on private water use rights),
designed to promote economic efficiency
and agricultural development. Rights
could be freely traded with few restric-
tions, no prioritisations and little state
regulation

Free-market approach to water law and
economics and water resources
management
'Chilean Model': water rights treated not just
as private property, but also as a fully
marketable commodity

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