Bridges and Barriers to Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 209

Table 11.2 (continued)

Major barriers and bridges to adaptation: Switzerland

Scale Barriers Bridges

Fragmentation of natural hazard related activities are spread across
different canton institutions (DSFB and the DWL), reducing
possibility for an integrated strategy for long term protection,
application of principles of precaution and causality and a
uniform concept of safety - duplication of effort increase time and
cost inef fi ciencies

Physical vulnerability and shocks also created an opportunity for
non-state actors (e.g. hydropower companies) to formalise
their ad hoc adaptations (managing the hydropower
reservoirs to absorb the excess flows during high precipita-
tion events) into more permanent and formal institutional
strategy in collaboration with the canton authorities
Strong networks between public and private actors integrating
research on climate change impacts and other potential future
problems into planning decisions, as well as public - private
partnerships (e.g., MINERVE) to improve adaptation
responses across the canton
Those aspects of the federal law that are priorities are given
sufficient resources to be well implemented
Projects initiated through national research programmes
(Nationalfond & Interegg) to build up the monitoring
network for springs/sources (Quellmessestationen)
Awareness of tertiary climate impacts (precipitation changes
impact on likelihood for forest fires in the Valais - creating
need for sufficient water storage for protecting against forest
fires) leading to the development of plans/concepts by the
canton to ensure sufficient water supplies at the local level

Lack of leadership in the cantonal administration on water resources
management, despite attempts by individuals to better integrate
different water related offices in the cantonal administration.
Strength of local autonomy and water sovereignty at the municipal
level means that the canton is powerless (politically and legally)
to generate canton (and basin) wide plans for water management,
generating challenges in the implementation and enforcement of
legal provisions at the local level (i.e. delay of implementation of
WPA Art. 80 from 2007 to 2012)
Institutional fragmentation of legislation and incentives create
challenges for basin planning and cohesion of plans across
different sectors and communes (ref KEV incentives for
Trinkwasseranlage Turbinierung Projects)
Monitoring and assessment on glacial melt is sparse and deemed to
be inadequate; as with other areas of Switzerland there is a
relative lack of hydrological data for the Valais, especially in
relation to precipitation events