Regional Mountain Conference

This contribution presents an empirical case study organized around a ten-month action research process on water supply challenges in Upper Carinthia, a region increasingly affected by changes in water quantity and the spatial-temporal availability of water throughout the year. The research process originated from the locally identified issue of recurrent water scarcity, leading to reduced regional resilience and water insecurity. Subsequently, reduced snow accumulation, prolonged dry periods, and increased rainfall events in both amount and magnitude can be observed, further intensifying these vulnerabilities. Building on the existing regional association “LAG Nockregion-Oberkärnten”, this research cooperation aims to promote strategic planning for water availability and utilization, environmental education, and knowledge transfer. After identifying a need for adaptive policies, the research process reveals that water security in Upper Carinthia is not only endangered by climate-induced changes in precipitation and natural storage but also intensified by seasonal overuse, water-intensive needs like private pools, and fragmented organization resulting from a mix of private and public providers.

Using action research as a methodological approach, this PhD project combines participatory problem definition, co-production of knowledge, and iterative research cycles to investigate the question: “Which regional governance capacities characterize water supply in the regional association of the Nockregion-Oberkärnten?” The study employs a set of qualitative research methods, including document analysis of planning and regulatory frameworks, stakeholder workshops in August 2025 and March 2026, and 13 semi-structured interviews with regional authorities and representatives from agriculture, tourism, and water utilities, both private and public.

Research results are analyzed inductively using grounded theory, allowing empirical findings to directly inform local interventions via policy recommendations and subsequent research on regional water governance. Firstly, the study shows that climate change leads to new patterns of water availability, posing new, so far unknown, obstacles to resilient regional development in the European Alps. Secondly, the study demonstrates how action research can serve as a hydro-social learning laboratory, generating scalable data to address regional issues and identify state-of-the-art questions regarding Alpine water use and governance. Upscaling these case study findings can foster an understanding of the benefits of knowledge co-production for water-related transformations under climate change.