ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the theoretical components of 'adaptive water governance' and how those elements unfold in the Bolivian context. While moving water through different forms all over the Earth, the hydrological cycle also connects water with broader biophysical environments: atmospheric, marine, terrestrial, aquatic and subterranean. Water cycle and ecosystems are interconnected through physical and biological processes, like precipitation and evapotranspiration by vegetation, respectively. One of the most popular and simplest definitions of ecosystems services is the one given by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in their Ecosystems and Human Well-Being synthesis report: ecosystems services are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Changes in flow regimes or water quality due to activities upstream, or due to climate change, will disturb coastal ecosystems and provoke devastation impacts on estuaries, wetlands and the marine environment. Together with the need for a holistic approach consistent with water's natural cycle, challenges that climate change has posed for water governance relate to high levels of uncertainty.
