ABSTRACT
Adaptation was, until recently, neglected in climate change research, with the focus centred instead on the global collective action problem of mitigating emissions (Cerdá and Labandeira, 2010; Cerdá, 2011). In Spain, this is highly relevant because it is expected to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to its location in the Mediterranean area. The Mediterranean region, given its natural climate variability, has had a long history of coping and adapting to extreme events such as floods and droughts. However, the main differentiating factors arising from climate change are related to the uncertainty, range and magnitude of potential impacts (Grove and LopezGunn, 2010). Water resources in Spain are of relevance for all economic sectors, but especially for agriculture and tourism, public water supply and ecosystems. The irregular distribution of water resources combined with natural scarcity in some regions, have resulted in a long history of water resources management at the basin scale. In addition, the country has taken the lead at the European Union (EU) level in incorporating drought planning into river basin management (Garrote et al., 2009; Estrela and Vargas, 2011). Furthermore, the prevention of flood events have recently been integrated into the river basin planning process to comply with the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). This chapter, after introducing the context and the high vulnerability of the Mediterranean region and Spain, frames the discussion on a multilevel planning framework, looking at the EU and national levels. Then, we discuss initiatives taken at the basin level to prepare for climate change and analyse these using a leverage points framework (Meadows, 1999).
