Outlook on climate change adaptation in the Tropical Andes mountains

Water

Current and projected changes in precipitation, floods, droughts, and glacier melt all bring with them a number of key climate-related risks (identified in Chapter 1), including conflict and political and social unrest over water supply, decreased quality and quantity of water supply, and reduced capacity of mountains to provide water for drinking, sanitation, industries, mining, agriculture and energy. All Andean countries have developed policies to tackle floods and droughts. These policies are developed by different sectors depending on the impacts. For multi-sector responses, reactive logic over prevention generally prevails. For instance, the transport and housing sectors normally respond when floods destroy infrastructure (e.g. bridges, roads and towns), while measures from the energy sector address the effects of flooding on power plants. The agricultural sector responds when floods damage crops and livestock. Similarly, when floods affect drinking water or people’s health, then it is the health sector that responds. Additionally, floods are also considered disasters and are attended to by each country’s risk management agency. The occurence of a strong ENSO in 2015/16 has triggered responses ranging from cleaning the basins to flood management programmes, from finishing the school year early to prevention campaigns. Peru also dropped the idea of hosting the Dakar Rally, alleging possible impacts of El Niño in early 2016. The water management policies of the tropical Andean countries are chiefly guided by the Integrated Water Resources Management approach (IWRM) (Garcia, 2008; Mulligan et al., 2010; Boelens, 2008) although

to manage water-related risks in a changing climate, IWRM needs to be extended with respect to the risks of climate change (Mulligan et al., 2010; Döll et al., 2015). This extended approach incorporates knowledge generation about potential risks and opportunities, implementing adaptation measures and building water management infrastructure. The countries have implemented institutional arrangements for addressing water-related risks, though their effectiveness has not yet been tested. Opportunities Increasing water flow and/or precipitation in some areas of the Tropical Andes may be beneficial if the appropriate policies are in place. Policies should promote research to understand impacts of a wetter climate, and inform the creation of enabling conditions to take advantage of such new conditions. Unstable water supply and soaring demand are leading to water conflicts. This represents an opportunity for forward-looking planning, which promotes a development model drawing on adaptive institutions for addressing conflicts and on land uses that are less demanding on water resources. Policy gaps • Insufficient institutional coordination capacities among sectors threatened by water-related risks. • Limited budget for early warning systems and rehabilitation measures. • Policies andmeasures are biased towards urban areas. • Lack of mountain-specific focus.

Puya clava-herculis bromelia, Ecuador

this is not the only approach used. 52 IWRM promotes the coordinated management of water, land and related resources, to maximize economic and social welfare equitably and without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems (UNEP, 2009). However, in order

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