 Cross-Comparison of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies Across Large River Basins in Europe, Africa and AsiaValentina Krysanova (), Chris Dickens, Jos Timmerman, Consuelo Varela-Ortega, Maja Schlüter, Koen Roest, Patrick Huntjens, Fons Jaspers, Hendrik Buiteveld, Edinson Moreno, Javier Pedraza Carrera, Romana Slámová, Marta Martínková, Irene Blanco, Paloma Esteve, Kate Pringle, Claudia Pahl-Wostl and Pavel Kabat Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2010, vol. 24, issue 14, 4160 pages Abstract: A cross-comparison of climate change adaptation strategies across regions was performed, considering six large river basins as case study areas. Three of the basins, namely the Elbe, Guadiana, and Rhine, are located in Europe, the Nile Equatorial Lakes region and the Orange basin are in Africa, and the Amudarya basin is in Central Asia. The evaluation was based mainly on the opinions of policy makers and water management experts in the river basins. The adaptation strategies were evaluated considering the following issues: expected climate change, expected climate change impacts, drivers for development of adaptation strategy, barriers for adaptation, state of the implementation of a range of water management measures, and status of adaptation strategy implementation. The analysis of responses and cross-comparison were performed with rating the responses where possible. According to the expert opinions, there is an understanding in all six regions that climate change is happening. Different climate change impacts are expected in the basins, whereas decreasing annual water availability, and increasing frequency and intensity of droughts (and to a lesser extent floods) are expected in all of them. According to the responses, the two most important drivers for development of adaptation strategy are: climate-related disasters, and national and international policies. The following most important barriers for adaptation to climate change were identified by responders: spatial and temporal uncertainties in climate projections, lack of adequate financial resources, and lack of horizontal cooperation. The evaluated water resources management measures are on a relatively high level in the Elbe and Rhine basins, followed by the Orange and Guadiana. It is lower in the Amudarya basin, and the lowest in the NEL region, where many measures are only at the planning stage. Regarding the level of adaptation strategy implementation, it can be concluded that the adaptation to climate change has started in all basins, but progresses rather slowly. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Keywords: Climate change; Water management; Adaptation to climate change; River basin; Questionnaire; Driver; Barrier; Amudarya; Elbe; Guadiana; Nile Equatorial Lakes region; Orange; Rhine (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:24:y:2010:i:14:p:4121-4160 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/s11269-010-9650-8 Access Statistics for this article Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA) |
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