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Projections indicate that the Mediterranean region is an area where drastic changes in climate will occur, which will significantly affect water resources. In a context of increasing pressure on water resources as a result of the reduction in water availability, it is essential and urgent to structure water management in a way that allows for adaptation to the challenges that the changing climate will bring to an already water scarce region. It is necessary to generate experiences and methodologies that are based on real case studies that will lay the foundations for the generalisation of practices of climate change adaptation in water management. In this study, we have developed a ready to use analytical framework to evaluate the coherence of water management plans and programs with climate change adaptation principles. We have tested the applicability of the framework that was developed on the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan (TRBAP). The analytical framework has proven to be easy to apply and to allow for identifying the inclusion or exclusion of key climate change adaptation features appropriately. We have structured this analytical framework as a starting point contributing to further assessments of how climate change adaptation is incorporated in water management.

Climate and other human-induced changes will increase water scarcity in world areas such as in the Mediterranean. Adaptation principles need to be urgently incorporated into water management and stakeholder engagement needs to be strengthened at all steps of the management cycle. This study aimed to analyse and compare stakeholder-preferred water management options (WMOs) to face climate change related challenges and to foster adaptation in four Mediterranean river basins. The challenges and WMOs of the four river basins identified by stakeholders were analysed examining to what extent the WMOs tackled the identified challenges. The impact of the WMOs resulting from a participatory modelling method was included in a comparative analysis of the stakeholders’ WMOs preferences. The results indicate the participatory approach that was applied allowed local priorities and real-world challenges to be defined with adequate detail as well as the definition of tailored responses. The participatory impact analysis provided an integrated view of the river basin as an interrelated system. The participatory evaluation of the WMOs was able to consider a wide range of elements and was able reflect the combined preferences of the stakeholders. Moreover, it allowed groups of basin actors with highly diverse profiles and concerns to further promote sets of these WMOs as input into decision making processes.