Chapter 11
Adaptive Capacity of EU Transboundary
Water Governance: The Dynamic
Dimension of Resilience
11.1 The Role of Adaptive Capacity in Hydropolitical
Resilience
The application of “conventional” hydropolitical indicators to the resilience of transboundary water cooperation in the previous chapter has revealed important vulnerabilities in the collective management of shared watercourses within the European
Union. These vulnerabilities may become critical drivers of political tension, if
the current trends of hydrological change continue to unfold as projected within
the existing system of transboundary water governance. The likelihood of conflict
would, however, be significantly reduced or even eliminated, if the governance of
shared waters among EU member states could be flexibly adjusted to these emerging
pressures.
The ability of a governance system to adjust to changing external circumstances is
captured by the notion of adaptive capacity that has entered the water policy discourse
from the resilience and systems science literature. According to this literature adaptive capacity is a central feature of resilience for it enables a social-ecological system
to absorb disturbance while retaining the same fundamental structure, function and
identity (Hill 2013). Gupta et al. define adaptive capacity as the “characteristics of
institutions that empower [the relevant] actors to respond to short and long-term
impacts either through planned measures or through allowing and encouraging creative responses from society both ex ante or ex post” (Gupta et al. 2010). Here, the
focus is on the ability to proactively plan for change (top-down) and/or to create the
conditions for bottom-up action by social actors. Others, like Claudia Pahl-Wostl,
place the emphasis on the learning capacity of systems to move from incremental improvements of established routines to fundamental transformation (Pahl-Wostl
2009).
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
G. Baranyai, European Water Law and Hydropolitics, Water Governance - Concepts,
Methods, and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22541-4_11
169
Adaptive Capacity of EU Transboundary
Water Governance: The Dynamic
Dimension of Resilience
11.1 The Role of Adaptive Capacity in Hydropolitical
Resilience
The application of “conventional” hydropolitical indicators to the resilience of transboundary water cooperation in the previous chapter has revealed important vulnerabilities in the collective management of shared watercourses within the European
Union. These vulnerabilities may become critical drivers of political tension, if
the current trends of hydrological change continue to unfold as projected within
the existing system of transboundary water governance. The likelihood of conflict
would, however, be significantly reduced or even eliminated, if the governance of
shared waters among EU member states could be flexibly adjusted to these emerging
pressures.
The ability of a governance system to adjust to changing external circumstances is
captured by the notion of adaptive capacity that has entered the water policy discourse
from the resilience and systems science literature. According to this literature adaptive capacity is a central feature of resilience for it enables a social-ecological system
to absorb disturbance while retaining the same fundamental structure, function and
identity (Hill 2013). Gupta et al. define adaptive capacity as the “characteristics of
institutions that empower [the relevant] actors to respond to short and long-term
impacts either through planned measures or through allowing and encouraging creative responses from society both ex ante or ex post” (Gupta et al. 2010). Here, the
focus is on the ability to proactively plan for change (top-down) and/or to create the
conditions for bottom-up action by social actors. Others, like Claudia Pahl-Wostl,
place the emphasis on the learning capacity of systems to move from incremental improvements of established routines to fundamental transformation (Pahl-Wostl
2009).
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
G. Baranyai, European Water Law and Hydropolitics, Water Governance - Concepts,
Methods, and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22541-4_11
169