The Assessment of Adaptive Capacity - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 51

Chapter 4
The Assessment of Adaptive Capacity

Abstract This chapter reviews the methods and challenges for the assessment of
adaptive capacity. It presents and discusses the ranges of governance determinants
of adaptive capacity as they have developed out of the different discourses such as
good governance, adaptive governance, adaptive management, vulnerability and
resilience. It concludes that the relative paucity of deep empirical examples explor-
ing adaptive actions in periods that might be representative of a future warmer world
remains a challenge in the operationalisation and characterisation of adaptive capac-
ity as well as in the development in understanding how to mobilise it as climate
change impacts take hold.

Keywords Adaptive capacity indicators ￿ Governance determinants of adaptive
capacity ￿ Assessment of adaptive capacity ￿ Analytical challenges to assessing
adaptive capacity ￿ Resilience based assessment of adaptation outcomes

4.1 Adaptive Capacity

In the preceding decade, adaptive capacity has become a more mainstream concept,
yet significant challenges still remain in characterising and measuring it. To reiterate,
climate change implies a speed and magnitude of change, which poses risks that are
beyond the human experience and potentially at the boundaries of coping ranges
(Adger et al. 2007 ). In order to better understand actions and means of expanding coping
ranges, a growing body of literature has focused on identifying and developing deter-
minants and indicators of adaptive capacity. Within this body of literature, indicators
and determinants have tended to often be used without clear definition and sometimes
interchangeably as can be seen in the discussion in the following section.
Determinants can be seen as a broad range of factors (technical, financial,
institutional) that influence, affect or determine the outcome or nature of something.
Indicators are seen as useful tools to interpret, monitor and provide information