Climate Change Adaptation as a New Global Norm in the Water Sector? Between Symbolism and Dilution

Abstract

Climate change impacts on societies and ecosystems are relatively new concerns in the water sector. A steadily growing literature emphasizes the need to reform water governance in order to make it more adaptive. In this contribution, I ask whether climate change adaptation can be considered as a new norm of policymaking and what this is implying for the governance of water. Building on the literature and on empirical material gathered from case studies, this chapter emphasizes the complex and erratic nature of adaptation policy processes, which may result in outputs that highly diverge from the positive expectations held in the literature and in international fora. 2