Governance in the Face of Uncertainty and Change - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 184

Box 10.1 A Brief History of the Rhône Corrections in Canton Valais
(Source: www.vs.ch/Rhône )
The Rhône Valley has historically been a site of numerous natural hazards
most notably flooding, avalanches and landslides. Prior to the first correction,
there had been numerous attempts to control the river in order to protect both
inhabitants and infrastructure. However, an overall co-ordinated plan had
escaped these efforts, limiting their efficacy across the broader region. After a
devastating flood in 1860 that impacted on the entire valley, the first pro-
gramme of corrective interventions took place on the Rhône River between
1863 and 1893. The results were, however, disappointing. Despite the dredg-
ing of the river, levels continued to rise. The second correction took place
between 1930 and 1960, reinforcing and raising the level of the dikes that had
been constructed in the first correction. The works were accompanied by an
increased exploitation of the river bed, with companies beginning to remove
the gravel for commercial purposes but also assisting in flood protection.
The third correction planning phase was announced in 2008, in a process
that is set to take between 25 and 30 years. After a series of high flooding
events in the 1980s and 1990s (1987, 1993, 2000), it became clear that the
engineering corrections of the first and second corrections were no longer
enough to protect the growing towns in the Valais from the increasing amounts
of precipitation and melt that were having devastating impacts, and that a new
tactic was needed. While the 2000 flooding event was a turning point, cantonal
authorities had identified the need for a new set of corrections well before that
catastrophe. The 1992 change to the federal law signaled a move to a more
integrated approach to water management, including flood management. The
169 million CHF provided by the federal government for the TRC represents
65% of the project's costs, more than they are legally bound to by the WBG
(45%), because the costs of potential damage and required measures are so
comprehensive. The federal guidelines for the project's financing require it to
integrate climate change uncertainties and to take account of social-ecological
benefits, rather than just technical security and economic priorities.
where supplementary corridors of evacuation ( couloirs d'evacuation ) may be
situated in order to manage this eventuality. The TRC project team therefore pro-
posed an interpretation of the legal basis to the federal office, in which they pro-
posed that for the project to be fair and balanced (i.e. fulfilling its security function
and enhancing the ecology of the Rhône floodplain) the Rhône should be enlarged
to roughly twice its current size.
However, while the TRC has transformational characteristics in its policy forma-
tion, the challenges of passing its implementation plan at the local level has led to a
dilution of those attributes, which aim to enhance the ecological and social benefits
of the projects. While the highly participative process in itself would be considered
to be requisite for a transformational governance approach, in this case it also shows