Operationalising Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 229

Table 12.1 (continued )

Case example
Chile Regime indicators Operationalisation Switzerland

Formality/Informality : Ability of regulators or
water managers to enforce; nature of the
relationship between the rule setters/
governors and those being governed (i.e.
private sector); how hands off the
approach is.

High autonomy of individual water
rights owners; JdV does not have
mandate to manage, but to enable
just allocation of water rights; state
has a subsidiary role, with public
authorities lacking agency and
capacity to manage water resources
to incentivise cooperation across
watersheds and attain more
sustainable level of water
management as well as limit level
of illegal extraction; high number of
unregistered rights and illegal
abstraction.

Use of water and management of
waterways is most strongly informed
by cantonal law, which is required to
remain in step with federal legislation.
Federal state takes a back seat in water
management. Communes are
encouraged to manage the resource in a
way that respects the legal principles
only through the subsidy incentives.
Hydropower operations are regulated
through cantonal level laws and
commune level contracts; levels of
commune autonomy are particularly
high in the Valais, especially in the
high mountain communes, challenging
enforcement.

Effectiveness Implement-ability : Translation of de Jure

provisions into de Facto outcomes -
effectiveness of protection and use
provisions for sustainable water
management.

Payment for non-use to reduce
hoarding has not worked in reality
as farmers prefer to protect rights,
and fees are negligible for
hydropower and mining companies;
aims of market distribution
ineffective because farmers value
security over profit under conditions
of scarcity. Technical expertise
hampered in implementation by
political and legal constraints.

Complex interplay between federal/
cantonal legal provisions for sustainable
and integrated water management and
local level sovereignty; environmental
flow provision is a point of tension
between the energy, agriculture and
environmental protection departments,
in terms of implementation rather than
legal provisions; conflicting view on
implementation of TRC concept, pitting
economy (agricultural land owners)
versus ecology (political/environmental
stakeholders).