Dimensions of Adaptive Water Governance and Drought in Argentina and Canada

Climate change in many local and regional scales is expected to include climate hazards and extreme conditions including hailstorms, droughts, floods, hurricanes, hail, tornadoes and storms. Droughts are serious climate hazards threatening water supply for human consumption and also agricultural production and are anticipated to increase in intensity and duration in both Mendoza, Argentina and southern Alberta, Canada. Both Mendoza and Alberta have irrigated agriculture and their rivers are fed primarily by snowmelt and rainfall runoff from mountainous headwaters. Many similarities exist between water law and governance in the Mendoza river basin, Argentina and the Oldman river basin in southern Alberta, Canada. However, many differences also exist. Can these governance systems ensure the continuation of agricultural production in the area into the future given increased development and climate change?Utilizing the institutional design principles of adaptive capacity and water governance, this paper will compare and contrast the water governance institutional structures in the two study areas. Data was obtained from two multi-disciplinary studies of institutional adaptation to climate change studying vulnerability of local agricultural producers and communities to climate change, and the interplay of water governance structures, and adaptive capacities. The water governance systems of both countries show concerns relating to gaps in information and equitable outcomes; in addition there are concerns of a lack of capacity to enable reflexivity. Both systems have been responsive (although there is room for improvement). Through strengthening these identified weaknesses these systems can continue to be resilient into the future.