Since it became clear that mitigation efforts will not suffice to halt climate change, governments have complemented them with adaptation efforts. While adaptation to climate change in unitary states is mainly concerned with mainstreaming or integrating respective goals and measures horizontally into a variety of sectors, federal states such as Austria or Germany add a vertical dimension to the challenge: here more than anywhere else, climate change adaptation also requires coordination between federal and provincial governments. While the literature on environmental federalism suggests that federal states are ill-equipped to protect global public goods but have advantages in solving local environmental problems, it is unclear how helpful federalism is in addressing local impacts of a global problem. We address this gap by exploring to what extent two sectors highly vulnerable to climate change but rarely subject to policy analyses flood protection and tourism embrace adaptation at and across federal, provincial and local levels of government in Austria. With regard to horizontal mainstreaming, the paper shows that both sectors struggle with adaptation issues in their own ways. With regard to vertical mainstreaming, it reveals strong coordination and support functions of the provinces (in particular in flood protection). Since municipalities are often overwhelmed by the complexities of climate change, we conclude that federal systems could prove helpful in mediating between national guidance and local adaption measures.
Clar, C; Steurer, R
Mainstreaming adaptation to climate change in a federal state setting: Policy changes in flood protection and tourism promotion in Austria?
Osterreichische Zeitschrift Fur Politikwissenschaft