7. Conclusions: Summing Up, Zooming Out, New Challenges Ahead

In this concluding chapter, we elaborate on the contributions of our study in terms of (i) understanding the multi-level dimension of water governance arrangements, and (ii) illustrating the interconnectedness of scales for assessing drivers and barriers of institutional adaptive capacities. We show that the multi-level dimension is crucial to define whether and how much a given governance arrangement in the water sector will be adaptive to respond to climate-related and socio-economic changes. Therefore, governance processes should address issues of fit and scale, particularly in light of uncertainty and unprecedented change. With respect to the interconnectedness, our finding is that determinants of adaptive capacity act in complex combination across scales to produce certain adaptive outcomes. In the second part of this chapter, we make use of the lessons learned from our study to suggest a number of policy recommendations. On the overall, for a political framework to be adaptive, we see the need for an integrated and coordinated approach, shaped around the river basin as the natural unit of reference within a national adaptation strategy formulated by the central state. In turn, the conceptualisation and implementation of such a strategy need to occur at interconnected vertical and horizontal governance scales, and by institutionalising participatory processes at the river basin level.