Operationalising Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 222

Chapter 12
Operationalising Adaptive Capacity

Abstract Drawing on the three earlier analytical steps, presented in Chaps. 10 and
11 , this chapter explicates the process of developing more nuanced indicators of
adaptive capacity from the original determinants presented in Part I. Thus, drawing
on the original determinants discussed in Part I, together with both outcome assess-
ments and the emergent themes in the bridges and barriers analysis, the indicator
section that follows will elucidate how the regime, knowledge and network based
indicators could provide a framework to address the emergent issues from this set of
analysis. The indicators and their operationalised criteria are presented, and contex-
tual sensitivities across the cases are discussed. Finally commonalities and linkages
across the different indicators are explicated.

Keywords Rhône, Canton Valais, Switzerland ￿ Aconcagua, Region V, Chile ￿
Operationalising adaptive capacity ￿ Nuanced governance indicators of adaptive
capacity ￿ Challenges across scales

12.1 Triangulating Towards a More Nuanced and Empirically

Based Set of Adaptive Capacity Indicators

To recap, the initial set of determinants, drawn from the literature, were used to
explore adaptive capacity through semi-structured interviews in order to gather
information that could be used to assess the forms of adaptive responses in relation
(but not exclusively) to climate related stresses and operationalise the determinants
into more nuanced indicators and their criteria. The first chapter (Chap. 10 ) in Part
III presented the analysis and characterisation of the adaptive mechanisms identified
across the difference governance scales according to the categories of transforma-
tion, persistent adaptation and passive responses. The correlating governance mech-
anisms were discussed in relation to the different categories of adaptive action to