Adaptive Capacity of Transboundary Basins in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Sahel

This research evaluates transboundary adaptive capacity of river basins in the CLICO study area: the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the Sahel. It draws from research on international environmental cooperation and climate change adaptation to develop a framework of transboundary adaptive capacity. The analysis uses this framework to create a system of indicators that captures six features of transboundary basins. As many adaptation policies must be implemented at the national level, the intra-basin dynamics of each basin are then analyzed to determine if any one co-riparian constitutes the weakest link in a basin. Lastly, to determine connections of capacity across scale, basin level and basin-country unit level metrics are compared with metrics of national level adaptive capacity and treaty-adaptive capacity as developed by other researchers.