Operationalising Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 253

and resource (i.e. surface, groundwater, quality, quantity) lines has developed over
many decades, but is seen as a challenge to those trying to prepare the response
system to better cope with increase precipitation extremes and related natural haz-
ards. While in policy and management planning, the canton's authority is weak and
subsidiary, it does have a supportive role in the organisation of the various monitor-
ing networks (Spring Protection, Quality Monitoring, Groundwater levels) when
the communes themselves are unable to fulfil their duty.
One of the main challenges discussed in Part II are those concerning the imple-
mentation of legal provisions at local levels, where capacity and expertise are vari-
able. Developing the requisite professional overview and forward looking
coordinated response to broader challenges (and related investment decisions) that
climate change entails at the local political level, where politicians are often in part
time posts, is an on-going challenge that institutes, such as EAWAG, are focussing
on. On the other hand, at the technical level, support from federal and cantonal
authorities is more prevalent. In the case of the hazard maps, which the communes
must generate for their tributaries, the federal government acts as a technical sup-
port and the canton acts as a connector between the federal government and the
communes. In terms of the Geoplans ( Notfallplanung Hochwasser Kanton Wallis ),
the communes are also responsible for implementation of the plan, but rely heavily
on informational inputs from special engineering consultancies.
A common thread through the Swiss case was the perception of climate change
as a problem for the next generation, something to worry about in 10-20 years'
time, but not an issue that needed to be dealt with now. Similarly to the Chilean area,
stakeholders live at close proximity to glaciated and snow covered areas, and there-
fore have observed glacier recession, changes in snow coverage, increasing instabil-
ity of permafrost and changes in precipitation volumes. Local water managers are
well aware that as these changes intensify, discharge into springs will affect vol-
umes available for water supply, but deem it to be a problem that will need to be
resolved in either 5-10 or 10-20 years' time. More pressing problems relate to the
challenges in balancing rivalries between hydroelectricity and social-ecological
demands on waterways, with increasing regulation for ecological flows in competi-
tion with the development of micro-hydropower and new pumped storage (particu-
larly as the energy landscape is changed in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear disaster).
Increased storage capacity and man-made springs are technical options proposed
for future management of more extreme climate change, when water supply may no
longer meet demand. However, stakeholders, such as farmers and water suppliers,
who have always dealt with the relative scarcity in the Valais, suggest that their past
experiences and tactics in managing the extremes of low to high precipitation means
that they are relatively well prepared for the measures that need to be implemented
to manage such extremes. Therefore, while climate change may not explicitly be
factored into the planning process across local levels, stakeholders suggest that it
subconsciously is part of decision making. Furthermore, heightened awareness of
climate related risks in relation to extreme events have a narrow window of oppor-
tunity. Managers of the TRC and DSFB note the difficulties in developing the level