Climate Change Adaptation Initiatives Research Articles

A Literature-based Overview of Current Narratives on the Capacitation of Community Leaders in Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

In most many countries worldwide, community leaders (CLs) are expected to play an important role in mobilising and soliciting contributions from others for the proactive implementation of climate change adaptation strategies. Due to a lack of capacity at the local leadership level, several local-level climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives have not been effectively actioned with most of them frequently excluding local decision-makers, and key community stakeholders. Basing assessment on what is available in the literature, it is evident that there is urgent need for the scientific community to develop innovative strategies that facilitate the meaningful implementation of informed climate change policies. To successfully address the challenges of climate change, this paper posits that it is necessary for researchers, policy makers and planistrators must endeavour to explore and implement actionable local-level climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. The take-home message from this paper is that the time to act is now and refrain from doing so until it is too late to do so for tomorrow may never come. The likely implications for the benefits of proactive and effective community leaders are considered against this backdrop and insights from literature-based multi-level governance, participatory learning, action-oriented transformative leadership initiatives that were sourced from the literature.

Climate Change and Community Resilience: Insights from South Asia

This book presents case studies, stories and examples of climate change adaptation initiatives from seven South Asian countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—highlighting traditional and indigenous knowledge with community engagement. The book has 27 studies (chapters) organized under six themes (Parts): concepts and models; traditional knowledge and sustainable agriculture; technology adoption; disaster risk reduction; urban sustainability; and alternative livelihoods.

China's public health initiatives for climate change adaptation.

China's health gains over the past decades face potential reversals if climate change adaptation is not prioritized. China's temperature rise surpasses the global average due to urban heat islands and ecological changes, and demands urgent actions to safeguard public health. Effective adaptation need to consider China's urbanization trends, underlying non-communicable diseases, an aging population, and future pandemic threats. Climate change adaptation initiatives and strategies include urban green space, healthy indoor environments, spatial planning for cities, advance location-specific early warning systems for extreme weather events, and a holistic approach for linking carbon neutrality to health co-benefits. Innovation and technology uptake is a crucial opportunity. China's successful climate adaptation can foster international collaboration regionally and beyond.

Canada and ocean climate adaptation: tracking law and policy responses, charting future directions

This research article provides a law and policy summary of climate change adaptation initiatives in Canada at the ocean-climate nexus. Three levels of governance are examined (national, provincial, and Indigenous) with a focus on the Atlantic region. The research method was the review of relevant and newly amended laws, regulations and policy statements, and related commentaries. The roles of the federal government are first described with key developments including the launch of a Climate Adaptation Platform in 2012 to share adaptation experiences and information and release of a National Adaptation Strategy and accompanying Adaptation Action Plan in November 2022. Federal adaptation efforts in the areas of fisheries, aquaculture and shipping are also reviewed along with progress in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures. Provincial adaptation initiatives are next summarized with a focus on the four Atlantic provinces. Those provinces have established a regional hub, CLIMAtlantic, to provide climate information and advance climate-related research and training. Each province has developed a climate action plan which includes climate adaptation priorities. Indigenous-led climate engagement and adaptation initiatives are finally described including the publication in 2019 of a National Inuit Climate Change Strategy, regional initiatives of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat, and the development of climate adaptation plans by select First Nation communities in the Atlantic region. The paper concludes by discussing future law and policy directions to make Canada more “climate ready.” Adoption of climate adaptation strategies for governmental departments and agencies with ocean and coastal responsibilities should be a priority. Incorporating climate change adaptation responsibilities through legislative and regulatory changes also needs to be considered, for example, by amending Canada’s Oceans Act to recognize the role of oceans in climate adaptations and mitigation, to authorize the designation of MPAs as climate refuges and to require adaptive and dynamic MPA management plans through strict monitoring and timely review provisions. Indigenous peoples must be effectively included in all climate adaptation discussions and planning.

Assessing Indigenous and Modern Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change Among Legumes Producers in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region, Ghana

Globally, climate change adaptation initiatives have significantly improved recipient farmers’ livelihoods by increasing their resilience, production, and overall standard of living. Climate adaptation results in noticeably higher yields from food crops. Climate change events have had a detrimental impact on farmers in Ghana, especially in the Upper East region. This includes producers of legumes in the Bongo District, which is a part of the fragile savanna semi-arid zone. The growing food insecurity and failure of legume crops point to serious losses in climate change adaptation methods. Farmer’s adaptation strategies have fallen short over time, necessitating a revision of programs to assist growers of legumes in the Bongo District. The obstacles connected with indigenous and contemporary adaptation techniques to climate change are also examined in this study, along with local and contemporary stakeholders’ involvement in adaptation efforts. The primary data was gathered through the use of focus group discussions and interviews. In three communities, 70 farmers who grow legumes were sampled using a simple random sampling technique to select the respondents. The study concludes that farming and mixed cropping are important indigenous adaptation techniques, whereas forecasting and greater variety are important modern adaptation strategies. The MoFA and the Bongo District Assembly are the two important entities in executing adaptation plans, while local farmers were highlighted as key stakeholders. Additionally, it was determined that weak extension services and a lack of integration of indigenous adaptations into contemporary practices could pose serious obstacles to developing climate change adaptation strategies. The study recommends integrating local and contemporary adaptation strategies to combat climate change.

Community Resilience to Address Urban Vulnerabilities: A Case Study of Flood-prone Communities

Urban vulnerability is a priority concern and communities must build resiliency to respond to disasters and mitigate its negative impacts. This is a case study on the 2011 Matina flash flood affecting thousands of families in the following barangays: Matina Crossing, Matina Pangi and Matina Aplaya. The study areas are heavily populated, with business, and institutional establishments. Using the qualitative method, this paper highlights the vulnerabilities of the community and examined the role of risk communication and social capital that enable communities, groups and institutions respond quickly to the hazards of flooding. Review of literatures reveals that Davao City is a flood prone area, major tributaries drain towards the Davao Gulf. Affected families in these areas comprised 61.57% of the total affected families of the 2011 flash floods. The average number of households per family is 4.3, while the total number of casualties reached 29 – majority are women and children. Results of the study revealed that despite the lack of communication management protocols, there is a strong sense of social capital exhibited by communities, institutions and various groups involved in the emergency response. Inter-governmental, and cross boundary efforts for climate change adaptation initiatives to reduce vulnerabilities among communities must be factored in given the nature of ecosystems and river systems draining towards Davao Gulf. Further it is recommended that ecosystem-based and community-based adaptation be explored to build more resilient communities who able to with stand and reduce vulnerabilities during natural hazards such as flooding.

Conflict-Sensitive Climate Change Adaptation: A Review

Climate change adaptation (CCA) evolved in the global policy framework in the early 1990s. However, it began to flourish about a decade later through a subsequent development of institutions, policies and supporting financial mechanisms. Various adaptation approaches and development practices have been evolving over the last couple of decades through a process of scrutiny, debates, and critiques. One such recent approach is called conflict-sensitive adaptation, which encompasses concepts to understand potential conflict-inflicting elements and peacebuilding aspects of adaptation interventions. This paper examines 35 peer-reviewed research articles that have analysed field data with the notion of conceptualising conflict-sensitive CCA initiatives. Emerging key results were presented and discussed in different academic forums to stimulate peer reflections and debates. We found that the understanding of conflict-sensitive adaptation has its universality in engaging with diverse stakeholders. However, practicalities were different in the cases of the global north and the global south. In the global south, there is a concentration of research in areas of pre-existing conflict in Africa and Asia, where climate change links are often assumed from IPCC reports in order to compensate for the unavailability of field data. However, from the perspective of adaptation politics and governance, there is a concerted urge for the emancipatory participation of local and marginalised populations. We argue for a need to pretest adaptation projects through a conflict lens. Decolonising the adaptation and understanding of local geography is critical in such planning.

Gender, Climate Change Adaptation, and Cultural Sustainability: Insights From Bangladesh

The focus of this paper is mainly to investigate climate change adaptation practices and the applicability of a cultural sustainability approach in understanding gender dimension of the residents of the southwest coast of Bangladesh. It is one of the most vulnerable regions in South Asia due to the significant impacts of climate change. The long-term effects of climate change in this region are the increasing salinity in farmlands, heatwaves, and sea-level rise. The southwest coast of Bangladesh is a classic example of “good practice” as well as the center for learning, implementing, and communicating climate change adaptation actions in practice. The reason for this the collective action carried out to initiate and improve adaptation activities by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of Bangladesh, as well as several national and international development and non-government organizations (NGOs). Using a systematic review of literature, and field-based case studies, we examined how gender and cultural issues (such as the adaptive capacity of men and women, and the transformation of gendered power relations) have been addressed to successfully implement climate change adaptation initiatives in the context of the nominated study area. Our study results revealed that both male and female participants were strategic and capable of dealing with climate change impacts, although the adaptive capacity of the former group was comparatively sturdier than the later. The extent of cultural sustainability was found to be weaker in the study region compared to many other coastal communities in the country. The efforts made by NGOs in collaboration with the governmental bodies of Bangladesh were found contributory in providing knowledge of climate change along with the techniques to adapt to its consequences for the people of the study region. Similarly, the activities of NGOs were found influential in helping the government to support people in adapting to climate change in terms of the gendered and cultural sustainability perspectives. Our findings contribute to the field of climate change impacts in understanding the complexities of rural development.

Flexible and comprehensive criteria for evaluating climate change adaptation success for biodiversity and natural resource conservation

Assessing the success of climate change adaptation initiatives and expenditures requires consideration of multiple complex dimensions that interact across time and space—a task that is difficult and sometimes controversial. These challenges are exacerbated in conservation contexts where there are no clear and accepted definitions, goals, strategies, and evaluation criteria for adaptation. Using a Delphi expert elicitation (n = 18) involving successive semi-structured interview and survey phases, we address this gap by developing a concise yet comprehensive set of criteria to evaluate the success of adaptation projects. Through this process we identified 16 evaluation criteria organized into four categories: (1) use of information, (2) project management, (3) ecological and social outcomes, and (4) advancing the field of adaptation. We then trialed these criteria using an online survey of adaptation practitioners (n = 47), including to assess the relative importance of the various criteria for evaluating climate adaptation projects as compared with the views of experts involved in the Delphi survey. Results highlight a potential disconnect between what is considered important in theory (as perceived by experts) and in practice (as perceived by practitioners). Finally, we discuss potential use of the evaluation criteria.

Interrogating Climate Adaptation Financing in Zimbabwe: Proposed Direction

Reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing the long-term coping capacities of rural or urban settlements to negative climate change impacts have become urgent issues in developing countries. Developing countries do not have the means to cope with climate hazards and their economies are highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and coastal zones. Like most countries in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe suffers from climate-induced disasters. Therefore, this study maps critical aspects required for setting up a strong financial foundation for sustainable climate adaptation in Zimbabwe. It discusses the frameworks required for sustainable climate adaptation finance and suggests the direction for success in leveraging global climate financing towards building a low-carbon and climate-resilient Zimbabwe. The study involved a document review and analysis and stakeholder consultation methodological approach. The findings revealed that Zimbabwe has been significantly dependent on global finance mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change as its domestic finance mechanisms have not been fully explored. Results revealed the importance of partnership models between the state, individuals, civil society organisations, and agencies. Local financing institutions such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) have been set up. This operates a Climate Finance Facility (GFF), providing a domestic financial resource base. A climate change bill is also under formulation through government efforts. However, numerous barriers limit the adoption of adaptation practices, services, and technologies at the scale required. The absence of finance increases the vulnerability of local settlements (rural or urban) to extreme weather events leading to loss of life and property and compromised adaptive capacity. Therefore, the study recommends an adaptation financing framework aligned to different sectoral policies that can leverage diverse opportunities such as blended climate financing. The framework must foster synergies for improved impact and implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives for the country.

Role of Spatial Analysis in Avoiding Climate Change Maladaptation: A Systematic Review

With the rapid development of climate change adaptation over recent decades, a considerable amount of evidence has been collected on maladaptation associated with climate change adaptation initiatives, particularly in terms of risk transfer and risk substitution. Increasing our understanding of maladaptation is important for avoiding negative outcomes of adaptation project implementation. However, maladaptation has received limited research attention. Previous research has focused on frameworks that can assist in defining and avoiding maladaptive risk and be applied to adaptation initiative planning processes. Adaptation may cause more significant influences on spatial land change than the direct effect of climate change does. Identifying the adaptation consequences that are likely to result in maladaptation is crucial. A combination of spatial land analysis and climate change analysis can be used for the aforementioned identification. However, empirical case studies on methods that can assess and evaluate the risk of maladaptation by integrating spatial and temporal aspects in a land spatial modeling tool have not been conducted. The present study aimed to fill this research gap by exploring the existing knowledge on maladaptation to climate change. We examined the interaction among spatial analysis, evaluated maladaptation frameworks, and project design to extend our conceptual understanding on maladaptation to climate change. We adopted a systematic review method that involved considering several questions including the following: (a) What are the definitions and categories of maladaptation? (b) What methods and theoretical frameworks exist for the assessment and evaluation of maladaptive risk? (c) How have climate-related research communities considered issues of maladaptation? (d) What are the experimental studies on land use change that can be referred to for minimizing maladaptive risks in future adaptation planning? In conclusion, further research on maladaptation should integrate spatial land analysis methods to facilitate the identification and avoidance of maladaptive risk in the initial stage of adaptation planning.

Insurantialization and the moral economy of ex ante risk management in the Caribbean

This paper unpacks the emergence of pro-poor insurance-based climate change adaptation initiatives within development and disaster management agencies. It details how the equation between insurance and ethical climate change adaptation emerged through development economists’ moral and technical critique of ex post disaster relief, which positioned insurers’ unique styles of thought and practice as ethical and technical solutions to the problem of how to manage the state’s financial capacity. However, an example of Dominican disaster budgeting demonstrates how insurantialized disaster governance both compliments and contrasts with alternative disaster financing strategies based in Caribbean states’ efforts to create autonomy from plantation dependencies. In the contemporary Caribbean, the moral imperative to become economically self-sufficient reconfigures state-donor-market-society relations in ways that further hollow out Caribbean states’ political independence.

Philippine Institutions and Complex Institutional Arrangements for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

Addressing climate change necessitates creating new, or building the capacity of old, institutions. Institutions are vital tools that determine the intensity by which climate change considerations are incorporated into the decision-making process, designs, and plans. This article aims to illustrate that it is necessary to understand the institutional environment where the CCA endeavors will be implemented such that local climate change adaptation (CCA) policies, plans, and programs can be implemented effectively. The paper also intends to demonstrate that, along with the scientific and technological discussions, institutional conversations should be among the initial vital steps in CCA planning, and that the institutional dimension should be the foundation of broader reforms toward an effective CCA implementation. The paper accomplished this by investigating the conditions in the local agriculture and CCA in the Philippines. The paper applied the Institutional Environment Matrix as the main analytical framework. The analysis showed that the existing institutional dynamics in the Philippines have impacted the effectiveness of the introduced CCA policies and efforts. The Local Government Code of the Philippines had counterproductive interplays with other institutional rules; first in agriculture, and afterwards, in CCA. The Code has devolved tasks to the local governments, provided local government units with extensive authority over their jurisdictions, and improved autonomy in local governance. However, it lacks the arrangements that would create (dis)incentives for individual and collective actions (i.e., rewards and penalties, payoffs on actions). Likewise, institutional mechanisms to support the devolution of government services are wanting. Such institutional environment in local governance has curtailed the effectiveness of local agricultural policies and the efficient implementation of new CCA policies. This article advocates that analyzing the institutional environment where the CCA endeavors will be implemented will enable policy makers and CCA planners to understand better and to have deeper perception of the interlinkages between and among institutional arrangements. In the case of the Philippines, if the local agricultural institutional environment was considered in the design and implementation of the CCA policies, institutional support mechanisms that can address the existing issues and concerns in local agriculture may have been incorporated into these policies. Such action may have helped implementers to avoid the same difficulties in operationalizing CCA initiatives. Accordingly, the paper analyzed how CCA is operationalized through an institutional lens, and presented how institutional analysis is important in policy making. It further demonstrated the complexity of institutional linkages and raised the conversation on the institutional dimension of CCA.

Climate change adaptation planning in remote contexts: insights from community-based natural resource management and rural development initiatives in the Pacific Islands

ABSTRACT Planned climate change adaptation initiatives are being developed with both external and endogenous resources at an increasing rate, especially in developing countries. As climate change continues to pose risks to vulnerable communities, there is a growing need to identify lessons learned in the process of planning and implementing climate change adaptation strategies. This is even more pressing for communities in remote contexts where access to resources and support services is limited. This study used thematic analysis to identify key insights from a 20-year old community-based resource management and development initiative on a remote island in Fiji. Four themes emerged relating to: perceptions of environmental change, links between conservation initiatives and people’s livelihoods, balance between external support and community-driven efforts, and the continuity of initiatives. Whilst acknowledging that every community in the Pacific has unique capacities for dealing with climate change, the four identified themes are considered applicable to other subsistence-dominated peripheral communities within Fiji, the Pacific Islands region and beyond. This has the potential to improve planning processes and ensure both continuity and efficacy of efforts towards supporting sustainable livelihoods in communities already experiencing the impacts of climate change.

What factors predict the quality of hazard mitigation plans in Washington State?

Hazard mitigation plans can help to reduce communities’ losses when faced with natural hazards, some of which (e.g., floods) are projected to intensify with climate change. A growing body of plan evaluation literature seeks to measure the quality of these plans, given that higher-quality plans may be more likely to achieve their objectives (e.g., reducing a community’s losses from flooding). Processes of collaboration (i.e., joint decision-making by various agencies and stakeholders) and diffusion (i.e., the spread of ideas between jurisdictions over time and space), among others, may influence plan quality, although empirical evidence is limited. This study assessed potential predictors of plan quality for 33 county-level hazard mitigation plans in Washington State, using a combination of survey data, county characteristics, and previously determined plan quality scores. Significant predictors of plan quality included indicators of vertical (state-to-county) and horizontal (county-to-county) diffusion, as well as economic capacity, although indicators of collaborative dynamics, along with several other hypothesized predictors, including past disaster experience (i.e., severity) were not significant. Hazard planning professionals at the federal, state, and local levels may benefit from integrating these findings into future work, in conjunction with other climate change adaptation initiatives. Specifically, fostering peer-to-peer interactions between counties might help to produce and disseminate knowledge about climate solutions.

Drivers, Barriers and Success Factors in Climate Change Adaptation for Smallholder Farmers: A Case Study in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam

This paper aims to identify appropriate approaches and interventions of local governments and extension services through identifying the most potential adaptive measures in agricultural production of local farmers in Thai Nguyen province (Vietnam) and analyses of key drivers, barriers and success factors for climate change adaptation (CCA).The study was conducted during October 2019 – April 2020 in Thai Nguyen and two selected communes with 92 smallholder farmers and relevant stakeholders from the provincial to commune levels using both quantitative and qualitative methods.Results showed a highly vulnerable situation of the local farmers under the context of climate change with 60.9% and 44.6% of the interviewed farmers stating reduced crop/livestock productivity and crop losses, and reduced arable production land and number of crop seasons/year respectively.Ten most potential livelihood models and production practices were identified. For example, animal husbandry (pigs, cattle) combined with biogas digester installation; intercropping between fruit crops and annual crops; use of drought and disease resistant maize varieties; changes of crop patterns and calendars; water saving production techniques, etc. Driver, barriers and success factors for CCA suggestguiding actions for the local government and extension services to plan adequate approaches and interventions for embracing and upscalingthe CCA initiatives towards climate resilient farming communities.The guiding actions include:strengthening capacity of extension staff; providing update market information to farmers for their decisions of crops and livestock; disseminating new and locally appropriate CCA models and practices together with on-field demo-plots and farmer field schools; and building capacity for community organisations, production groups/cooperatives to promote community learning for wider adoption and thus sustainability of their farming systems in response to the changing environment.

Mainstreaming climate change adaptation into pro-poor development initiatives: evidence from local economic development programmes in Ghana

ABSTRACT Climate change remains a serious threat to climate sensitive pro-poor development interventions in the Pru District of Ghana. This study examined how climate change impacts on Local Economic Development (LED) interventions, the extent to which climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives are integrated into LED and the challenges associated with the mainstreaming process. Qualitative research design and purposive sampling was used to collect data from 28 respondents at the Pru District Assembly with an interview guide. The results show that climate change adversely affects the following LED programmes; beekeeping, micro-credit for agricultural development programme, and fishing net and outboard motor programmes. The findings further indicate that climate-smart Agriculture, aquaculture (Fish Cage Culture) and Sustainable natural resource utilization and management the CCA initiatives mainstreamed into pro-poor LED in the Pru District to reduce the inevitable impacts of climate change. The study identified multifaceted challenges militating against CCA mainstreaming in the District to include inadequate resources for CCA, inactive stakeholder and institutional collaboration, and lack of continuity of CCA programmes. This paper recommends strong government support for CCA programmes, commitment of adequate resources and effective stakeholder and institutional collaboration. The paper concludes that effective integration of CCA into pro-poor LED is a panacea to achieving sustainable local development.

An assessment of perceived participatory climate change adaptation initiatives in Ghana

PurposeThis paper presents assessment results on the level of perceived knowledge in climate change and the extent to which participatory awareness in adaptation initiatives by management and the public in key selected areas identified to be highly impacted by climate change has fared.Design/methodology/approachExploratory research design, using snowball, purposive and simple random sampling methods, was employed to assess respondents' level of knowledge in climate change and participatory adaptation awareness activities. Focus group discussion was finally used to appraise returned responses that compared indigenous knowledge with scientific data to examine variables influencing key determinants.FindingsAge, gender, the level of education and work experience were all significant in determining outcome of responses by respondents on perceived level of knowledge in climate change and awareness in adaptation engagement efforts by the public. The study also confirmed existence of perceived knowledge and awareness gap with a marginal difference of 28% between management and stakeholder respondents.Practical implicationsAnthropogenic activities leading to climate change impacts are rarely linked to individual actions, lifestyles and community's sociocultural practices and choices.Originality/valueThere is a disconnect between what climate change managers know and are doing in terms of adaptation and mitigation efforts and what stakeholders should know and are expected to do toward achieving functional participatory engagements in Ghana. It calls for needs assessment on a governance system that will chart a new order to transform individual and household attitudes through curriculum development, awareness training, coping strategies to capacity building for members of the communities and households.

Adaptation to the Climate Crisis: Opportunities for Food and Nutrition Security and Health in a Pacific Small Island State

AbstractClimate change, malnutrition, and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are three of the most significant health challenges of this century, and they share fundamental underlying drivers. Pacific Island countries (PICs) are at the forefront of the impacts of climate change, which is likely to affect food and nutrition security (FNS) directly and indirectly, and many countries have existing high NCD burdens. This paper surveys the climate change adaptation (CCA) landscape in one PIC, Vanuatu. It explores the extent to which FNS and diet-related NCDs are considered and addressed within CCA initiatives. A comprehensive review of the literature related to CCA, FNS, and NCDs in Vanuatu was combined with 32 semistructured interviews with key experts and stakeholders. This study found that some promising groundwork has been laid for tackling the effects of climate change on FNS in policy and governance, agriculture, coastal management, and nutrition. However, several opportunities for strengthening CCA were identified: targeting urban populations; complementary integration of disaster risk reduction and CCA; incorporating local knowledge; applying a systems-based framing of NCDs as climate-sensitive health risks; and emphasizing human-centered, community-led CCA. Vanuatu will continue to be affected by accelerating climate change. A strong foundation for CCA presents clear opportunities for further development. As food and nutrition insecurity and diet-related NCD risk factors are increasingly exacerbated by climate change, alongside other socioeconomic drivers, it is crucial to find new and innovative ways to increase transformational resilience and adaptive capacity that also improve nutrition and health outcomes.

From EU Directives to Local Stormwater Discharge Permits: A Study of Regulatory Uncertainty and Practice Gaps in Denmark

Climate changes and urbanization push cities to redesign their drainage systems, which may increase separate stormwater discharges to local recipients. In the EU, regulation of these is governed by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Floods Directive, but national implementation varies and is often supplemented with local non-legislative guidelines. By reviewing trends and discrepancies in the Danish regulation practice for separated stormwater discharges, this article investigates how the directives are put into effect. A legislative gap for separate stormwater discharges introduces uncertainty in the discharge permit conditions, which especially affect conditions targeting water quality. We point to several topics to be addressed, e.g., the level at which the regulation of separate stormwater discharges takes place, opportunities for coordination with flood risk and climate change adaptation initiatives, as well as uncertainties regarding the application of Best Available Techniques. Working with these issues would elevate the regulation practice and aid regulators in reaching a more holistic and consistent approach, thus improving chances of reaching the desired recipient status before or after the WFD deadline in 2027. This could be undertaken at river basin, river basin district or national level, but there is also potential for harvesting mutual benefits by addressing these challenges internationally.