Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-4 (section)

=== 4.8.7 Strong Political Support ===

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According to AR5 ( [[#Jiménez%20Cisneros--2014|Jiménez Cisneros et al., 2014]] ), barriers to adaptation in the water sector include lack of institutional capacity, which, together with political support, constitutes one of the feasibility dimensions towards limiting global warming to 1.5°C ( [[#de%20Coninck--2018|de Coninck et al., 2018]] ) ''.'' As the IPCC SROCC ( [[#IPCC--2019a|IPCC, 2019a]] ) and SRCCL (Shukla et al., 2019) suggest, limited institutional support can challenge adaptation efforts in water management.

Climate adaptation planning approaches can be constrained by several economic, institutional, developmental and political barriers ( [[#Anguelovski--2014|Anguelovski et al., 2014]] ; [[#Eisenack--2014|Eisenack et al., 2014]] ), including strong political support, that is, the lack of collective willingness to take action. Despite the ongoing accumulation of scientific evidence as to the seriousness of the impact of climate change on water resources, state action has not always been effective. There are now a rising number of case laws addressing the state’s failure to implement adaptation policies and resultant climate change litigation ( [[#Setzer--2019|Setzer and Vanhala, 2019]] ; [[#Peel--2020|Peel and Osofsky, 2020]] ), including in the water sector, as in the leading case Leghari v Federation of Pakistan (2015 WP. No. 25501/201), in which a farmer sued the national government for failure to carry out national climate change policies impacting on the constitutional right to life ( [[#Preston--2016|Preston, 2016]] ).

The 2015 Paris Agreement made a significant impact on the status quo, with almost all the countries agreeing to limit global warming to 2°C or less. The preparation of NDCs under the Paris Agreement contributed positively to national climate policies and helped focus on the centrality of water in adaptation planning ( [[#Röser--2020|Röser et al., 2020]] ). In total, 92% of countries that mention adaptation in NDCs also include water ( [[#GWP--2018|GWP, 2018]] ). Low-income countries make specific reference to rain-fed or irrigated agriculture and livestock. In contrast, middle- and high-income countries include developing management, governance mechanisms and increased disaster risk reduction in their NDC pledges ( [[#GWP--2018|GWP, 2018]] ). Floods were the critical climate hazards identified in the adaptation components of NDCs, followed by droughts (85 out of 137 countries for floods and 80 out of 137 for drought). Also, the water sector was identified as the top priority sector for adaptation actions in the NDCs for 118 out of 137 countries, followed closely by the agricultural sector with 100 out 137 ( [[#GWP--2018|GWP, 2018]] ) based on data from [[#UNFCCC--2017|UNFCCC (2017)]] . Many developing countries have included quantitative targets for adaptation in the water sector ( [[#Pauw--2018|Pauw et al., 2018]] ). Similarly, water-related impacts and adaptation often feature prominently in NAPs ( [[#DEFRA--2018|DEFRA, 2018]] ).

Evidence suggests that adaptation failure in the water sector is due to policy and regulatory failures ( [[#Keohane--2016|Keohane and Victor, 2016]] ; [[#Oberlack--2018|Oberlack and Eisenack, 2018]] ; [[#Javeline--2019|Javeline et al., 2019]] ), reflecting political myopia ( [[#Muller--2018|Muller, 2018]] ; [[#Empinotti--2019|Empinotti et al., 2019]] ; [[#Pralle--2019|Pralle, 2019]] ) ( ''high confidence'' ).

International donors and supranational/transnational legislation (e.g., EU law) can support the capacity of national and sub-national governments to act and remove possible barriers to the effective implementation of climate change adaptation policies in the water sector, including obstacles posed due to lack of financial support for the developing countries ( [[#Massey--2014|Massey et al., 2014]] ; [[#Tilleard--2016|Tilleard and Ford, 2016]] ; [[#Biesbroek--2018|Biesbroek et al., 2018]] ; [[#Rahman--2018|Rahman and Tosun, 2018]] ) ( ''medium confidence'' ).

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