Watershed Management Projects Research Articles

Irrigation and collective action: A study in method with reference to the Shiwalik Hills, Haryana

Abstract In recent years decentralized development approaches have gained prominence in the agricultural sector. A host of community based watershed management projects have been implemented that encourage community organizations to undertake management of previously government controlled irrigation systems and forests. Community organizations have been given the responsibility of managing water distribution, collection of irrigation service fees and undertaking routine maintenance of irrigation infrastructure. In this context, analysis of irrigation management has concluded that groups that are relatively homogeneous may fare better than heterogeneous groups in facilitating collective action. However, this article argues that analysis of the influence of group heterogeneity on collective action is complicated because of its multi‐dimensional nature and the presence of non‐monotonic effects in mechanisms linking heterogeneity and collective outcomes. The article discusses the importance of context specification in analysis of group heterogeneity through a discussion of elements of a joint management contract in Haryana (India), identification of key variables with a potential to explain collective action in irrigation management and construction of household endowment and water interest scores to account for the influence of group heterogeneity in facilitating collective action. In the process of applying household endowment and water interest scores, the authors highlight the role of local ecological variation and non‐farm employment in influencing collective action. Proper specification of local context enables the researchers to rely on household endowment and water interest scores to predict conflicts and potential for irrigation service provision and compliance with irrigation service rules.

Measuring the impact of watershed management projects

In the Doon Valley Project of northern India, four different types of participatory evaluation were adopted to meet the various needs of donors and villagers. The method with the most impact, however, was probably the inter-village monitoring, in which visits to other villages helped foster lively competition and joint action to protect the environment.

Fire and aquatic ecosystems of the western USA: current knowledge and key questions

Understanding of the effects of wildland fire and fire management on aquatic and riparian ecosystems is an evolving field, with many questions still to be resolved. Limitations of current knowledge, and the certainty that fire management will continue, underscore the need to summarize available information. Integrating fire and fuels management with aquatic ecosystem conservation begins with recognizing that terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are linked and dynamic, and that fire can play a critical role in maintaining aquatic ecological diversity. To protect aquatic ecosystems we argue that it will be important to: (1) accommodate fire-related and other ecological processes that maintain aquatic habitats and biodiversity, and not simply control fires or fuels; (2) prioritize projects according to risks and opportunities for fire control and the protection of aquatic ecosystems; and (3) develop new consistency in the management and regulatory process. Ultimately, all natural resource management is uncertain; the role of science is to apply experimental design and hypothesis testing to management applications that affect fire and aquatic ecosystems. Policy-makers and the public will benefit from an expanded appreciation of fire ecology that enables them to implement watershed management projects as experiments with hypothesized outcomes, adequate controls, and replication.

Evaluating watershed management projects

Watershed projects play an increasingly important role in managing soil and water resources throughout the world. Research is needed to ensure that new projects draw upon lessons from their predecessors’ experiences. However, the technical and social complexities of watershed projects make evaluation difficult. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, which traditionally have been used separately, both have strengths and weaknesses. Combining them can make evaluation more effective, particularly when constraints to study design exist. This paper presents mixed-method approaches for evaluating watershed projects. A recent evaluation in India provides illustrations.

Contribution of Beneficiary Participation in Project Effectiveness in Watershed Management Projects : A Case Study in Shivalik Foothill Region in Northern India

Contribution of Beneficiary Participation in Project Effectiveness in Watershed Management Projects : A Case Study in Shivalik Foothill Region in Northern India

Inexpensive gauge well for hydrological monitoring at remote multiple sites in watershed management projects

An inexpensive gauge well was designed for hydrological monitoring. The gauge well comprised a pipe stand of internal diameter 230 mm with wall thickness of 35 rom and length as per the convenience, usually 2000 mm. A box with locking arrangement was mounted at the top of the stand pipe to house the stage level recorder. The box can be removed for safe keeping and refixing during the next season.

INTEGRATING SOCIAL BENEFIT COST ACCOUNTING INTO WATERSHED RESTORATION AND PROTECTION PROGRAMS1

ABSTRACT: Successful watershed management requires consideration of multiple objectives and the efficient use of scarce public and private resources. One way to address these multi‐faceted issues is through Social Benefit‐Cost Accounting (SBCA). SBCA is a systematic method of addressing complex social and economic issues relevant to proposed watershed management projects. Benefits of using this technique include: benefits and costs of watershed projects are better understood; politically sensitive issues tend to be put into perspective; and stakeholders' interests are placed on a level playing field. An example from Bogota, Colombia demonstrates how SBCA can be used to value the benefits and costs of a proposed project. By addressing the benefits and costs to all stakeholders, the design of watershed management programs can be improved to achieve goals in a cost‐effective manner.

Rural Women and Conservation of Natural Resources: Traps and Opportunities

Soil and water conservation measures change the state of natural resources, especially of water, soil and vegetation. These, in turn, have very different consequences for women and men. Planners of such programs influence the position of women with their ’gender ideology’ via assumptions which determine the structure and content of programs. Even purportedly friendly efforts on the part of these planners can increase pressure on farm women if they go about their projects without understanding the mechanisms underlying gender relations, the use of natural resources and the position of women.This was revealed in a study of integrated watershed management projects (WSMP) undertaken in a few villages at the foothills of the Shiwaliks in northern India. Once the program was implemented, the rural women were found to spend much more time in activities related to agriculture and animal husbandry, while they spent less time grazing their cattle, collecting fuelwood and bringing water. The values of the gender-related development index (GDI) were consequently higher in project villages. But when placed in perspective against the human development index (HDI), gender inequalities were found to be equally pronounced in both project and non-project villages, revealing an anti-female bias, thus emphasizing the need for planners and policy makers to understand the issues which directly or indirectly affect women’s participation in natural resource management programs.

Participatory environmental management: Contradiction of process, project and bureaucracy in the Himalayan foothills

AbstractUsing comparative Asian experience of organizational change, this article analyses the experience of an Indian organization responsible for environmental management in the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in moving from a standard Indian public sector approach to rural development and environmental management, to a new participatory approach. Successive World Bank funded watershed management projects in the Himalayan foothills were widely held not to have achieved and sustained their full potential in the past, largely due to an absence of effective local management of assets after the projects' end. On the other hand communities and groups have shown on a small scale a capacity to manage resources in a sustainable way. The Government of Uttar Pradesh's (UP) European Union (EU) funded Doon Valley Project has been through a first phase in which a participatory method of village level planning has been initiated. The article addresses the required changes and constraints involved in this first step of transformation. These include issues to do with organizational structure and procedures, training, gender and other social issues, and the dynamics of organizational change. The implications of a participatory approach are far reaching. The ‘off the shelf’ schemes that Government has offered to individuals, groups and communities in all watershed management as well as other rural development programmes are challenged both by the specificities of the Himalayan environment, and by the adoption of a genuinely participatory approach. Allowing people to decide how they will manage their hillsides requires an ability to facilitate that process. Facilitators need to have the flexibility and creativity to offer a variety of technical and managerial possibilities such that individuals, groups and communities can choose what suits them best. Constraints derive partly from the Government's set procedures and schemes in rural development, and from its advocacy of particular well worn technology packages. Constraints also derive from the way in which the whole project has been handled by Government and the Commission of the European Union from the beginning, and from the way in which technical assistance has been organized. It is important that governments and donors learn from such experiences so that future participatory environmental management work can have a greater chance of success.

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE MAISSADE, HAITI, INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROJECT

An economic analysis was conducted of the Maissade Integrated Watershed Management Project in Haiti. This project, implemented by the Save the Children Federation, differs from conventional watershed management projects by investing heavily in the development of peasant organizations in order to gain voluntary and sustained adoption of soil conservation, forestry and community development innovations. Conventional projects have relied on monetary and commodity incentives in order to encourage technique adoption, and are widely viewed to have failed to achieve sustained watershed management. The goal of the economic analysis was to determine if a project representative of the new, participatory approach was economically efficient from donor and peasant perspectives. The aggregate project has a NPV of $336,600 at a 12% discount rate, a benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 and an economic rate of return of 19%. Analyzed separately, the hillside soil conservation component is economically efficient at the project level while the other components (forestry, ravine treatment and group investment) are not. Project value is most sensitive to changes in project outlay inputs and hillside treatment benefits. Both the aggregate project and all separate project components are economically efficient from the perspective of project participants, and all but the group investment component have internal rates of return exceeding 200%. Benefit-cost ratios vary from 2.5 to 30 for participation in the different project components. Investment in hillside soil conservation treatment yielded what was by far the greatest return. This analysis demonstrates that watershed management projects in Haiti which utilize peasant organization approaches can be economically efficient.

People's Participation in the Implementation of Watershed Management Projects : An Empirical Study from Gujarat

People's Participation in the Implementation of Watershed Management Projects : An Empirical Study from Gujarat