Cross-Comparison of Climate Change adaptation Strategies Across Large River Basins in Europe, Africa and Asia

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...

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Published in:	Water resources management Vol. 24; no. 14; pp. 4121 - 4160
Main Authors:	Krysanova, V, Dickens, Ch, Timmerman, J, Varela Ortega, C, Schlüter, M, Roest, C.W.J, Huntjens, P, Jaspers, A.M.J, Buiteveld, H, Moreno, E, Pedraza Carrera, J. de, Slámová, R, Martínková, M, Blanco, I, Esteve, P, Pringle, K, Pahl-Wostl, C, Kabat, P
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2010 Springer Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Adaptation adaptive management Atmospheric Sciences Basins Case studies Civil Engineering Climate adaptation Climate change Drivers Drought Earth and Environmental Science Earth Sciences Earth, ocean, space Emissions Environment Environmental impact Exact sciences and technology Freshwater Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences Greenhouse effect Hydrogeology Hydrology. Hydrogeology Hydrology/Water Resources impact Infrastructure Integrated approach International policy Natural disasters Policies regimes Resource management risk River basins Rivers Strategy SWOT analysis vulnerability Water availability Water resources Water resources management Water shortages Rhine Basin Central Asia Asia Europe Africa Adaptation to climate change Climate change Water management River basin Questionnaire Elbe, Guadiana Driver Barrier Amudarya Orange Rhine Nile Equatorial Lakes region floods adaptation case studies frequency Amudarya Elbe Guadiana lakes projection Orange Rhine climate change policy rivers resources climate water planning Questionnaire Driver drought water resource management strategy
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Summary:	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.
Bibliography:	P00 D00 F20 201093283 http://edepot.wur.nl/143132 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0920-4741 1573-1650
DOI:	10.1007/s11269-010-9650-8