Assessing Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 283

13.2 Synthesis

Figures 13.1 and 13.2 present a synthesis of the results so that the linkages between
governance context and adaptive capacity can be more clearly shown. Drawing on
Tables 10.3 and 10.4 , Fig. 13.1 highlights the concentration of categories of adap-
tive outcome per case area. The Swiss case has a higher concentration of transfor-
mative and persistent adaptation outcomes, while the Chilean case has a higher
concentration of passive and persistent cases. In the framing of adaptive capacity as
the enhanced ability to transform or adapt to new challenges or states, the inference
follows that the higher the adaptive capacity, the more transformative the adaptive
outcomes should be.
As hypothesised in Part I, the adaptive outcomes from the Swiss cases corre-
spond with more transformative and adaptive actions and management approaches
as well as a more positive correlation with the adaptive capacity indicators (Fig. 13.2 ).
On the other hand, the adaptive outcomes in the Chilean case correspond with less
transformative outcomes as well as a less positive correlation to the adaptive capac-
ity indicators (Fig. 13.2 ).
In characterising the governance context, it is worth repeating that the Chilean
governance mode is represented by a centralist, neo-liberal market model while the
Swiss case is representative of a decentralised multi-level governance model. As has
been discussed in the sections above, despite the different governance models, both
cases share common challenges in the development and mobilisation of proactive
and reactive adaptive capacity, perhaps partly since both models ascribe a similar
level if not type of autonomy to the local level (in Chile to the user rights holders
and in Switzerland at the local level). Figure 13.2 provides a more nuanced charac-
terisation of the governance context by presenting a synthesis of the governance
related indicators of adaptive capacity as operationalised in Chap. 12 and assessed
in the previous section above.
Results indicate a correlation between more transformative and persistent adap-
tive actions and the decentralised governance context of the Swiss case. The centra-
lised and yet neo-liberal market model of the Chilean case is dominated by a number
of passive actions, which can be seen to correlate with potential longer term degra-
dation of the resilience of the social-ecological system (e.g. Water Code, Art 314
allowing for more intensive exploitation of groundwater resources). However, both
cases are correlated with a number of persistent adaptive actions.
Figure 13.2 clearly highlights the tension between the rigid and inflexible legis-
lative context in the Chilean case, with the higher levels of autonomy at the user
levels, which frustrates and constricts the ability of water managers and the owners
of use rights to adapt in a more proactive manner to hydrological changes and
stresses in the basin. While reactive coping techniques can be quickly called upon
through the networks and traditions that exist, more long term preperations and
transformative approaches for meeting the mounting challenges are blocked by lack
of trust and cooperation, lack of agency at regional operational levels and lack of
accessible and appropriate information on water resources.