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catchment area and, therefore, for all watersheds.
The IWRM perspective has aspects for improving
the adaptive capacity and diminishing exposure
to climate change. This includes, for instance, the
understanding that watershed sections (upper,
mid and lower) are interconnected through flows
and feedbacks of water, chemicals, sediments and
organisms. Additionally, the emphasis on multi-
level management offers institutional flexibility for
responding to extreme climate events, adapting to
long-term climate change, and including elements
of adaptive governance of water.
In addition to the temporal scale, we must consider
the institutional scale in assessing whether policies
are forward-looking. In so doing, we can evaluate
whether policies include paths and evidence for
achieving results in climate change adaptation. In the
Andean countries analysed, most national policies for
adaptation to climate change are in the initial phases,
distributing responsibilities (and hopefully funding)
among sectors. Also, even if the scientific evidence
was incorporated into policy design, policies are not
addressing mountains as a policy target yet, which
limits its capacity to be forward-looking. Moreover,
it seems that countries have chosen the multisectoral
policies path (which is commonly favoured in
environmental management, although an integrated
approach would be preferable) towards climate
change adaptation, which requires institutional
coordination, resources, leadership and vision for
effective performance. It is too soon to know how the
chosen path will respond to abrupt changes, which
require effective rapid responses, and long-term
changes, which require dynamic and flexible policies
adjustable to uncertainty and changing conditions.
The mismatch between sectors’ actions and climate
change effects on ecosystems is a policy gap. In
other words, because ecosystems do not correspond
to specific sectors and vice versa, climate change
impacts on ecosystems remain largely unattended.
Though risks tend to be addressed by sectoral
actions, some risks may be shared by more than one
sector: for example, water risks are shared by health,
agriculture, energy and environment, among other
sectors. As for mountains, many sectors could be
involved, depending on the particular risk. In this
scenario, forward-looking policies should strengthen
institutional arrangements at all levels, involving
public, private and other social actors from the
regional and local levels in policy implementation.
The effects of many of the identified risks are
amplified by prevalent non-climatic problems (e.g.
poverty, marginalization). Thus, a forward-looking
institutional approach would link adaptation
policies and non-climatic policies through plans for
subnational units, which are known in some countries
as territorial management plans. Additionally, when
these plans are scaled up to the national level (e.g.
Colombian National Adaptation Plan) they offer
broad scope for adaptation policies to be included in
specific territories. Moreover, territorial plans may
address problems, which may later positively impact
on the adaptive capacity of ecosystems. Moreover,
an effective climate change adaptation policy would
have to understand the coupled sector-ecosystems
interactions, vulnerabilities and feedback. This
understanding is a step towards managing risk
reduction and adapting to climate change.
Climate change will increase the frequency
and intensity of extreme weather events, with
future scenarios indicating increasing severity of
climate change impacts in the Andean countries.
Furthermore, the ever-expanding integration and
interdependency within the region may increase the
trans-boundary impacts of climate change.Therefore,
instruments of regional integration should consider
strategies for collaboratively addressing large-
scale events (e.g. El Niño), including observation,
monitoring, data and lesson sharing, and investment
schemes for improved adaptation and resilience
to climate change at the regional level. Regional
institutions that play an active role in understanding
climate impacts - such as the International Research
Centre for El Niño (CIIFEN) - and academia should
play an active role in collaboratively addressing and
understanding these large-scale events.
Increasing urbanization of Andean cities and
expanding economic activities will continue to
drive demand for energy and other resources and
services. Therefore, in the long-term, mountains
may gain further strategic importance in supplying
hydropower and other services to cities and lowlands.
Additionally, in a scenario of increased vulnerability
of countries’ energy supplies to climatic variability
and change, establishing a regional energy network
across the Andes could help provide a redundant
energy supply.