Abstract

Considering the general weakness of the Chilean water management system (ChWMS) to move towards adaptive water governance, we analyzed the legal, institutional, and social arrangements designed in Brazil and France and highlighted possible alternatives that can be applied in Chile. The assessment focuses on water rights allocating systems and their levels of flexibility in coping with uncertainties introduced by climate change, the involvement of collective action in decision-making, and the development of an integrated monitoring system. The results indicated that the ChWMS should follow the path of legal and institutional decentralization reforms that Brazil and France have already taken. However, in order to promote such reforms and increased collective action, Chile requires a significant cultural change and a political will receptive to those demands. We suggest that the academy may be the actor best suited to initially represent society and balance the public-private partnership that currently defines river basin organizations