Institutional Adaptation to Climate Change: Current Status and Future Strategies in the Elbe Basin, Germany

Current water management systems are characterized by complexity and increasing uncertainty: water has to be allocated to competing uses and new legal or managerial requirements pose challenges, such as the implementation of European directives. Water management needs to adapt to fundamental changes in the physical and human environment. Climate change is one of the most important challenges of current and future water management and requires adaptive management strategies in order to cope with its impacts.