Adaptation at Regional Level: Challenges of a Regional Climate Change Governance

The implementation of climate change adaptation strategies mainly takes part at a regional scale. This scale refers to the functional and spatial dimensions of most climate change effects. Therefore, the regional scale is most adequate for processing cooperative governance formations, for progressing the regulatory framework, for implementing institutional innovations and conducting collective conflict solutions. One of the main findings in the new field of climate adaptation research refers to the necessity of an intersectoral and integrative cross-cutting issue for the consideration of climate change effects. The main aspects of an integrative perspective include a reconciliation of adaptation measures with global climate change mitigation goals, dealing with uncertainties in climate change scenarios, the integration of adaptation measures into various sectors and creating of acceptance for adaptation measures and their implementation instruments. These aspects lead to extensive discussion and coordination needs between governmental and civil society actors. This paper summarizes a framework of regional climate change governance and offers conclusions for the local practice and climate adaptation research. Referring to the action fields of spatial and regional planning, forestry and agriculture in the model region of Northern Hesse, generalizable good practice examples of institutional settings, governance formations and instruments for conducting successful adaptation strategies will be presented.