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Freshwater ecosystems are often of high conservation value, yet many have been degraded significantly by direct anthropogenic impacts and are further threatened by global environmental change. Traditionally, conservation science and policy has promoted principles based on preservation and restoration paradigms, which are linked to assumptions of stationarity and uniformitarianism. Adaptation requires new approaches based on flexibility, iterativity, non-linearity, and redundancy. Many high alpine river networks represent near natural, pristine river systems and important biodiversity 'hotspots' of European freshwater fauna. However, there remains a lack of guidance on alpine river conservation strategies under a changing climate at EU, regional and local levels. A critical evaluation of current conservation and adaptation principles and governance frameworks was undertaken with relation to predicted climate change impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Case studies are presented from two alpine zones in mainland Europe (the Pyrénées and the Swiss Alps). The complexity of climate change impacts on hydrological regimes, habitat and biota from both case study regions suggests that current legislative and policy mechanisms, which frame conservation approaches, need to be realigned. In particular, a shift in focus from species-centric approaches to more holistic ecosystem functioning conservation is proposed.A methodological approach is set out that may help conservationists and resource managers to both prioritise their efforts, and better predict future habitat and biotic responses to set ecological baseline conditions. Due to the complexity and limited potential for preventative intervention in these systems, conservation strategies should focus on: (i) the maintenance and enhancement of connectivity within and between alpine river basins and (ii) the control and reduction of additional anthropogenic stressors.

Climate variability and change are directly challenging the viability and sustainability of social-ecological systems. This is particularly true for water resources. Effective water governance is at the heart of alleviating water challenges and is thus considered crucial for building adaptive capacity to cope with future uncertainty and impacts from climate change. Despite advances in the conceptualisation of adaptive capacity, there are few empirical examples that look systematically across cases to identify how to implement measures and actions that build and mobilise adaptive capacity. This paper contributes to the understanding of adaptive capacity to climate stress by analysing the bridges and barriers to adaptation across water governance and management regimes in the case of the Canton Valais, Switzerland and the state of Georgia, USA. We find that while there is no single way to build and mobilise adaptive capacity across different scales of governance, the analysis points to a set of common bridges and barriers for building adaptive capacity to a variety of climatic events. Common bridges include trust and actor relationships, regional collaboration, leadership, and regulatory and legislative aspects. Common barriers include political, regulatory and legislative, and perception and cognitive aspects.

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Abstract:As the human and financial costs of natural disasters rise and state finances continue to deplete, increasing attention is being placed on the role of the private sector to support disaster and climate resilience. However, not only is there a recognised lack of private finance to fill this gap, but international institutional and financing bodies tend to prioritise specific reactive response over preparedness and general resilience building. This paper utilises the central tenets of resilience thinking that have emerged from scholarship on social-ecological system resilience as a lens through which to assess investing in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for resilience. It draws on an established framework of resilience principles and examples of resilience investments to explore how resilience principles can actually inform decisions around DRR and resilience investing. It proposes some key lessons for diversifying sources of finance in order to, in turn, enhance "financial resilience". In doing so, it suggests a series of questions to align investments with resilience building, and to better balance the achievement of the resilience principles with financial requirements such as financial diversification and replicability. It argues for a critical look to be taken OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 9049 at how resilience principles, which focus on longer-term systems perspectives, could complement the focus in DRR on critical and immediate stresses.

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The Rhône basin is one of Europe's major rivers. It stretches from its source in the Swiss Alps through to the Lake Geneva and then down through France to its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, where its delta constitutes the Camargue Region. It crosses three different 'cantonal' jurisdictions in Switzerland alone, while its course through Lake Geneva itself demarcates the border between France and Switzerland. This presents a valuable opportunity to analyse the multitude of challenges that face the management of a river flowing through such a variety of different hydrological contexts and institutional settings (Swiss, French and European). For the first time, this special issue collates interdisciplinary insights into the challenges faced by the governance systems across the entire Rhône basin. Papers present insights into barriers and opportunities for effectively responding to the many political, economic and climatological challenges facing the managers of the River Rhône overthe coming decades.