Integrating climate adaptation initiatives for coastal resilience: governance lessons from the Catalan coast

Abstract

Mediterranean coastal regions face increasingly interconnected climate risks that require adaptation across sectors and governance levels. Despite growing policy commitments and a widening portfolio of adaptation initiatives, implementation often remains fragmented. This study examines the governance conditions under which diverse climate adaptation initiatives can be integrated to support coordinated regional and local resilience. Using the Catalan coast (Spain) as a case study, the analysis draws on nine adaptation initiatives developed through the European IMPETUS project. These initiatives are interpreted through four response types used as analytical lenses—technological, ecological, social-behavioral, and policy-integrated—and analyzed using a governance diagnostic framework based on five governance dimensions: mandates and responsibilities, coordination mechanisms, funding structures, planning and regulatory embedding, and implementation capacity. The IMPETUS Catalonia demonstration provides a common empirical setting for the analysis, drawing on the documentary, technical, implementation, and stakeholder material generated around the nine initiatives. The findings identify institutional alignment across governance dimensions as an important condition supporting or constraining adaptation integration. Technological initiatives show stronger alignment with established mandates, funding arrangements, and implementation capacity. Ecological and social-behavioral initiatives face greater coordination and long-term embedding challenges. Policy-integrated characteristics are present across all initiatives yet primarily support the implementation of individual initiatives rather than stronger connections among different adaptation approaches. Overall, adaptation objectives are increasingly embedded within planning and decision-making processes while technological, ecological, and social-behavioral initiatives continue to evolve in parallel. The study contributes a governance diagnostic framework for analyzing adaptation integration and shows how institutional alignment helps identify governance conditions that support or constrain integration. The framework offers an approach for diagnosing governance barriers and strengthening more coordinated climate adaptation in Mediterranean coastal regions.