Operationalising Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 260

communes can limit the ability for the canton to give advice, negotiate and
coordinate; nevertheless, plans such as the Plan Generaux d'evacuation des Eaux
are implemented, and the canton provides an important link (e.g. launching studies)
between the communes and the federal level.
Examples of shifting responsibilities between the public and private sectors and
the different levels of administration point to the limitations of the traditional
approach to water management at the lowest possible level in the face of increas-
ingly more complex problems. At the commune level, certain private activities have
been transferred to the public realm. For example the management and remediation
of extreme weather damage is no longer managed privately, but was seen to not only
require the commune structure but even canton level commitment, since the level of
remediation work and investment began to exceed the ability of the traditional struc-
tures in place to cope with it (e.g. in Baltschieder, which was heavily impacted in
2000, the commune had to take over the clean-up operation, rebuilding the streams
and water infrastructure, in conjunction with the canton). This shift in the aftermath
of such extreme events has tended to remain post event, and although the traditional
associations have stayed in place, their roles are diminished, but fostered and sup-
ported by the commune or canton (see above).
In other areas, there has been shift of responsibility from commune to canton.
For example, the new hydropower concession will no longer be purely in the
commune's authority, but administered through both the communal and cantonal
levels . Under the new concession period, not only can communes become share-
holders in order to take part of the installation under the commune's ownership,
but the concession is reviewed and agreed to by the canton (e.g. to ensure envi-
ronmental flow requirements, refer to Table A7 and Sect. 5.2 ). In general, the
canton has tended only to intervene in issues pertaining to water provision and
hydropower at the commune level when there has been a problem in which the
cantonal authority needs to intervene. The increase in oversight at the canton
level allows an increase in oversight and implementation of ecosystem provi-
sions, while respecting the strength of communal sovereignty over its resources.
It also provides a separate body that can negotiate between rights holders and
users in the case of conflicts in the complex negotiation of concession agree-
ments as has been shown to be important in other studies of climate change adap-
tation (Huntjens et al. 2010 ) .
The value of trust in building cooperation and collaboration for resolving com-
plex water management problems is also relevant in the negotiation of energy con-
cessions. The concessions represent a long-term, multi-generational use rights based
relationship between state and private actors, and are the basis of significant invest-
ment. Concerns about climate impacts are an important factor that must be taken
into account in this relationship. The polarisation of the different interests in the
TRC has not necessarily been reflected in the multi-stakeholder negotiation process
of concession renegotiation in other areas of Switzerland. For example in Glarus,
the inclusion of environmental organisations in the concession negotiation has
ensured that ecological factors are considered in the agreement, thereby less recourse