Assessing barriers and enablers in the institutionalization of river-basin adaptive management: evidence from the Maipo Basin, Chile.

Abstract

Adaptation to global-change processes is conventionallybased on assessment of human and environmental drivers andvulnerabilities. Institutionalizing adaptation involves interactiveplanning, implementation, and iterative evaluation of responsemeasures and their outcomes, accompanied by adaptivecapacity enhancement. When applied in a river-basin context,adaptive management has to respond to hydroclimaticvariability and uncertainty coupled with rapid growth in urbanand agricultural water demands and often the deterioration ofecosystem services. Less well understood are the challengesand opportunities for institutionalizing adaptation, which weassess here. While seeking to distill generic understanding, weconsider the institutionalization of adaptation in the Maipo RiverBasin in Chile, where prolonged drought and human-inducedwater scarcity have been compounded by sectorally isolatedresponse initiatives. Lessons of broader relevance include thepivotal role of science-policy co-production, the need forbroad-based public support, examination of synergies anddisjunctures in public and private interests, and flexible yetsustained institutional learning.