Human-induced climate change has increased the Earth’s temperature by approximately 1°C. This shift in global temperatures has caused extensive damage to nature and society and it will continue to do so in the upcoming decades as temperatures are projected to further increase. In Europe, drought events have increased in frequency, intensity, and duration, leading to increased pressure on water resources and agriculture. This is particularly alarming, as agriculture is fundamental to global food security. Agriculture and water are closely related and climate change has turned water management into an even more complicated issue. Therefore, future water management has to be addressed with climate change adaptation. Climate change adaptation, however, is a highly challenging process. Stakeholders and decision makers might lack adequate climate risk perceptions, thus underestimating the need to implement adaptation measures. Additionally, adaptation plans might be missing, deficient, or could propose the implementation of measures with low impact or negative impact; the last is known as maladaptation. Therefore, climate change adaptation requires a careful planning. The objective of this research is to explore ways to improve and support the climate change adaptation process for the agricultural sector. To achieve that, this dissertation seeks to present evidence of the effectiveness of four different adaptation measures in the agricultural sector to adapt to on-going and future climate change and particularly to improve water management practices. This study started by engaging relevant stakeholders in a qualitative modelling process with the purpose of understanding their climate risk perceptions and document their actions and adaptation plans. Following which, a quantitative system dynamics model was developed and calibrated to test the effectiveness of the adaptation plans on two study regions in Europe. The research took place in two highly similar agricultural regions, North East Lower Saxony in Germany and ...