Operationalising Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 249

canton. Separate from the hazard maps, the canton is required to develop a water
map ( wasserkarte/wasseratlas ), which is yet to be achieved. Viewed in relation to
the challenges of implementation discussion in Chap. 5 , the challenge of imple-
menting prophylactic planning tools to manage indeterminate hazards is hampered
by the lack of enforcement power that higher levels of administration have to enforce
the precautions implemented at lower levels (either canton or commune).
In the Valais, the rules and regulations which guide water pricing, provision and
use tend to be set in commune or canton level regulations ( reglemente ), conventions,
concessions and agreements, which allow for some flexibility in revising rules to
adapt to newer challenges. However, the length of hydropower concessions means
that windows of opportunity for revision seldom appear. This long term fixed nature
of the concessions becomes more critical during periods of higher water scarcity,
where concession water may be required to replenish reservoir stocks for domestic
consumers (e.g. in times of scarcity, SIB may request EOS (Energie Ouest Suisse)
to replenish Lac de Louvie, yet until the concession is renegotiated in 2040, no fixed
emergency plan for periods of scarcity can be implemented).
The decentralised form of governance in Switzerland is nevertheless still segre-
gated along sectoral divisions, with coordination across the different sector-specific
institutions intermittent and irregular, particularly across the energy, water and envi-
ronment policy process. Both micro-hydropower and the TRC are policy priorities
currently, each with their own relationship to climate change mitigation and adapta-
tion. The volume of micro-hydro planned at the commune level in the Valais, is
potentially in conflict with the attempts to enhance the social-ecological features of
the Rhône floodplain through the TRC. While implementation for both projects
resides at the commune level, the canton has oversight for the TRC while the com-
munes have responsibility for micro-hydro, meaning that there is a lack of oversight
or integration across the canton and at federal levels.

12.6.2 Knowledge

The situation in Chile is particularly interesting with regards to knowledge, and
highlights many of the contradictions and challenges that characterise the Chilean
case. Gaps in data and information in the water market are a key issue across water
resources management. As the mantra goes, what you measure you manage, and in
the case of the Chilean market, the focus is on data for the market (which itself is
lacking), while the void of data on ecosystem impacts of the water market signals
the lack of concern for managing the watershed system holistically. The DGA
(Desmadryl 2010 ) has expressed their prioritisation of improving and updating the
water information system, not only improving the quality and coverage of data in
the system, but creating a more accessible online platform to improve transparency.
The CNR has also been tasked to assist in the improvement of rights data, due to the
lack of capacity within the DGA. Furthermore, more information on hydrogeologi-
cal and geophysical studies was also deemed to be necessary to establish and assess