Assessing Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 271

Chile Switzerland

Applicability :
Appropriateness
and application of
the data to the
decision making
process.

Issue of wet years being used to assess water availability
from which to make rights allocation; data set from
which Resolution 39 is constructed is out of date
against current hydrological parameters. Final
decisions on projects rest at presidential level (on a 4
year rotation); 80 % water security measure over 30
year period to inform permanent water rights
allocation, but in Copiapo, one wet year was chosen
so abstraction is adjusted to a wet season as droughts
increase. Difficult to find and apply data on environ-
mental and social costs.

Every 4-5 years there is a new communal authority,
requiring knowledge to be transferred and
re-assimilated. Challenges to cantonal oversight
from local level sovereignty of water and
implementation. Technical and hydrological data
informs the management of different sources of
water (e.g. spring monitoring for domestic
supply), with real time data and annual averages,
as well as hazard response systems (MINERVE &
CERISE). Application of data from measuring
stations (e.g. expected flows) to flood protection
plans for those communes that have completed
implementation.

Monitoring
and
assessment

Consistency :
Consistency
across data sets,
coordination in
collation.

Central perception in Santiago on functionality of water
resource management differs significantly from that in
the regions, where impacts of governance approach
are experienced. Wide range of actors (public and
private) conduct mapping investigations, but lack of
clarity concerning decision making process on
contrasting data.

MINERVE requires consistent monitoring of
precipitation for increased accuracy in forecasting
and prognosis (canton & hydropower); observa-
tions and evaluation responsibility presides at
canton level, maintaining the overview over the
municipalities for ad hoc extremes and longer term
planning project such as the TRC. Hydrological
data network is extensive but not target-oriented,
and cross-over/discrepancies between different
levels and sector involved in monitoring, and the
different demarcations of responsibility.

Diversity : Diversity of
inputs into the
decision making
system.

Disparity between technical expertise and the monitoring
inputs available to administrative departments and
water managers.

Inventories on irrigation and fields and meadow, high
collation of different data sets; comparatively less
data available on glacier melt contributions to
run-off, but research programmes to fill gap.
(continued)