Strategies, approaches and systems in integrated watershed management

Strategies, approaches and systems in integrated watershed management

Descripción

Watershed degradation in many third world countries threatens the livelihood of millions of people and constrains the ability of countries to develop a healthy agricultural and natural resource base. Increasing populations of people and livestock, particularly in the steep, mountainous watersheds of Nepal and the Himalaya region, are rapidly depleting the existing natural resource base because the soil and vegetation systems cannot support present levels of use. In a sense, the carrying capacity of these lands is being exceeded. As populations continue to rise, the pressures on forests, rangelands, and marginal agricultural lands lead to inappropriate cultivation practices, forest removal, and grazing intensities that, in the extreme case, leave a barren environment that yields unwanted sediment and damaging streamflow to downstream communities. With a reduction of 11.3 m2 hectares of tropical forest each year and population densities in excess of 600 people/km in places like Java, act ions must be taken soon.