Watershed Development Projects
Coordinated Action Lacking

WATERSHED development projects serve to achieve multiple objectives, which call for integrating and balancing various concerns such as environmental conservation, productivity, participation and sustainability in its operational strategy. All these are mutually reinforcing elements for the success of watershed development projects.

In fact, watershed development at the local level is one way of arresting degradation of land and water. It is undoubtedly a good and efficient option which can be treated without A to Z of strictly mechanical methods.

The overriding consideration behind watershed projects has been environmental degradation and the need to restore the disturbed ecological balance. Other factors have been considered as of less importance because the solution lies on the ecology restoration of the degraded land water.

Since watershed development projects are basically land-based development activities, they help in raising the productivity of the farmers. However, being incidental to the treatment programme, this chiefly helps the large landholders who are centrally positioned and are able to manipulate project management in order to obtain maximum benefits.

If production is not emphasised as the goal, one may end up by achieving neither reduction in poverty nor employment.

In reality, watershed development is not possible without proper watershed management, which is a socio-technical process that provides for the conservation, utilisation and development of the natural resources of a watershed befitting all its inhabitants at present and in the future. It formulates the steps needed to preserve and develop watershed resources such as land, water, forest, wildlife and human, keeping in mind their interrelationship.

At present, watershed management programmes are dominated by bureaucracy with many departments engaged but coordinated action conspicuous by its absence. Lack of comprehensive integrated perspective apart from the top-down bureaucracy approach of management is the major factor responsible for poor performance of watershed development projects implemented by government agencies.

Actually, the economic factor has been underplayed in designing most watershed projects, perhaps because of obsession with engineering and environmental dimension issue. However, this is not to undermine the importance of environmental dimension in designing such projects.

Since poverty is both a cause and effect of overexploitation of nature and resources, successful exploitation of watershed development programmes would result in sustainable poverty reduction. However, most watershed projects lack productivity orientation, and research endeavours have been far from satisfactory in developing the methodology for an overall production system and its implication for increasing poor people’s income.

In the past, little conservation efforts were made to diversify the production base in order to extend the benefits to as many people as possible and especially those residing at the margin of society.

Only watershed management, which is both integrated and participatory, helps raise the living standard of the poor. This is because the conservation of a watershed area and the enhancement of the standard of the poor go simultaneously.

In fact, the real difficulty lies in enlisting local community receiving mechanisms at the micro-watershed level. Without a local community institution effective participation by all stakeholders in the watershed development projects will be complicated although the projects are implemented by voluntary organisation.

Several experiences have been gained in different parts of our country in participating watershed projects. However, it has been observed that people’s participation in watershed development activities involving government agencies is at best at the rhetoric level, which is much talked about but least acted upon.

For watershed projects to be sustainable, community managed systems are essential, and they can succeed only with local people’s commitment.

For sustainability it is important that the contribution from the local people be a necessary commitment before the inception of a project because that would ensure a sense of ownership leading to better quality, transparency apart from assuring many for maintenance.

In Nepal, some watershed development projects have been launched although their outcomes are far from satisfactory.

The Bagmati Integrated Watershed Management Programme (BIWMP), one of the biggest European community funded projects in Nepal, is working towards integrated community development through participatory watershed management in Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhuli, Makwanpur, Kathmandu and Lalitpur districts through the respective districts soil conservation offices.

It is reported that the BIWMP is at present involved in formulating integrated sub-watershed management plans in six watersheds under five districts.

Arrangements have been made to provide more than a million rupees for the Upallo Haldi Panaha Sub-Watershed Management Project in Gulmi district.

About 0.6 million rupees has been set aside for watershed management in Surkhet Valley under the present fiscal year 2058/59.

Despite the launching of these projects, how to make them beneficial to the people living within the watershed area? How to enlist maximum people’s participation? How to offset costs in order to increase coverage and maximise benefits to the community? These are some important concerns, which need to be included before embarking any watershed development project.

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