Converging threats: assessing socio-economic and climate impacts on water governance

Purpose - It is increasingly recognised that water will be the prime medium through which climate change impacts will be felt. But water governance issues are already deemed to be a prime cause of a global water issues. Not only will climate change affect the function and operation of existing water infrastructure and institutions but additionally, current frameworks may not be robust enough to cope with climate change impacts. Effective water governance is seen as essential to building adaptive capacity in communities to manage future climatic uncertainty and stress. The purpose of this paper is to assess socio-economic and climate impacts on water governance. Design/methodology/approach - As a first step in assessing adaptive capacity of two river basins, this paper explores current vulnerabilities in a Swiss water governance arrangement, and then proposes the subsequent implications for water resource management within a climate change context. It presents results from a governance assessment in the specific context of integrated water resource management and suggests a means to develop the assessment to address the issue of climate change and extreme events. Findings - A low level of integration and highly segregated approach to water resources management suggests that the potential ramifications of climate change and expanding water uses may not be adequately reflected in their current governance framework. Originality/value - The paper explores the current governance context in order to improve the understanding of how regulatory and institutional regimes may facilitate the development of adaptive capacity. It then proposes additional methodological steps to improve on such an assessment to take into better account the dynamic interplay between the human, hydrological and climate components of the system.