Adapting to climate change is a pressing societal imperative. Here, we examine water governance arrangements in Australia’s Murray-Darling basin, evaluating their attributes and adequacy for fostering climate adaptation. We synthesize data from expert interviews and review water and climate policies, analyzing their framing, logic, and dominant discourses. Our analysis indicates that prescriptive top-down planning and administratively rational approaches constrain Australia’s climate adaptation. Current governance regimes inhibit innovation due to dominant governance approaches that are centralist and managerial, reinforcing the status quo and privileging irrigation-based economies. In the Murray-Darling basin, reforms to policy settings and institutional arrangements are needed to mobilize industries and communities in exploring alternative water futures that support transformations. We offer two contrasting archetypes for climate-adaptive water policy based on foundationally different assumptions about what drives climate vulnerability and builds adaptive capacities.

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适应气候变化是紧迫的社会当务之急。在这里，我们研究了澳大利亚墨累-达令盆地的水治理安排，评估其属性和促进气候适应的充分性。我们综合专家访谈的数据，审查水和气候政策，分析其框架、逻辑和主流话语。我们的分析表明，规定性的自上而下的规划和合理的行政方法限制了澳大利亚的气候适应。当前的治理制度由于集中化和管理性的主导治理方法而抑制了创新，强化了现状并赋予了以灌溉为基础的经济的特权。在墨累-达令盆地，需要对政策设置和制度安排进行改革，以动员行业和社区探索支持转型的替代水未来。我们基于关于驱动气候脆弱性和建立适应能力的基本不同假设，提供了两种截然不同的气候适应性水政策原型。

澳大利亚墨累达令盆地的后气候适应性水政策：软选择还是硬承诺？首次出现在《生态与社会》杂志上。