Climate change and water resource management are universal concerns, but the ways in which individuals and groups are affected, as well as their responses, can differ significantly. To address these variations, the guide's first section provides concise summaries and introductions tailored to specific target groups, helping readers navigate to the most relevant sections. These targeted summaries cover the following topics:

• Urban drinking water and sanitation services
• Water for economic purposes
• The role of water reserves in mitigating climate change induced droughts – managing watersheds and evaporation-sheds
• Droughts, Floods & Land: Water resource management in the times of dual hydro-risk
• Policy makers and policy implementers

The guide includes an awareness-raising section that emphasizes the crucial role water plays in shaping climate processes. The common assumption that “wetter areas will get wetter, and drier areas will get drier” is insufficient for forming localized strategies. Instead, a more nuanced understanding is necessary for effective local actions. It is advisable to use an approach rooted in deficit logic, focusing on the relationship between available soil moisture reserves and evapotranspiration capacity, which influence heat mitigation. The development of drought, as well as the options to manage it, is closely tied to the characteristics of an area's evapotranspiration deficit.

Building on this approach, the guide's third section explores various organizational, regulatory, and technological/nature-based solutions that different sectors can adopt to cope with increasing aridity. This structured approach separates often overlapping issues—such as water scarcity, water shortages, and long-term drying processes—so that targeted actions can be developed for each.

The thematic structure of the guide organizes tools into categories that aim to:

• Manage emerging crises (e.g., urban water shortages) as they progress (Chapter 11)
• Prevent crises through more rational use of scarce water resources in cities (Chapter 8) and in the economy (Chapter 9)
• Mitigate or avoid crises by improving water supplies, provided that broader water retention and soil water resources allow (Chapter 10)

Achieving these goals requires the implementation of both organizational and infrastructure solutions, combining "grey" and "green" infrastructure (Chapter 6). Our approach focuses more on organizational and regulatory strategies than on purely technological solutions. Implementation aspects of these measures are also covered (Chapter 7).

In the fourth section, we provide case studies to illustrate the interplay between organizational and regulatory strategies, drawing on examples from the region.

Given the complexity of the issues at hand, this guide covers a wide range of topics. Although we’ve focused on what we consider the most essential and lesser-known aspects, rather than providing an exhaustive list of tools, we’ve also compiled a selection of detailed guides and reports to aid further research.

The work was supported by the European Climate Foundation (ECF G-2309-66845)