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Similarities in the reported success factors and challenges to coordination suggest that further analysis and sharing of lessons learned could support countries in their efforts to coordinate adaptation across sectors and levels of governance. A detailed comparative evaluation of the merits and drawbacks of various approaches to coordination cannot be made based on the self-assessment survey results. A full comparative evaluation would demand information on the societal context as the effectiveness of a particular approach is likely to depend on general societal structures and not only on the approach chosen for coordinating climate change adaptation. Adaptation governance mechanisms have been found to depend not only on political systems (centralised, administrative-federal or federal) but also on other variables such as financial and economic circumstances, cultural values and societal expectations (Venturini et al., forthcoming). For the same reason it is difficult to make any definitive claims on the differences in approaches to horizontal and vertical coordination. Whatever the approach, unclear responsibilities, limited cooperation among stakeholders, lack of knowledge exchange, legal issues (e.g. conflicting legislations) and conflicting values and interests can become obstacles to effective coordination. Ultimately these obstacles are likely to be reflected in incoherent policies for adaptation. Addressing the challenges of coordination should be a high priority although solutions to them are likely to depend on the particular societal context, including general governance structures.