Watershed management in the Himalayan Mountains, the highest mountain range and one of the most densely populated in the world, was the topic of this session.
Mr. Joshi discussed the causes and consequences of watershed degradation in the Himalayas. He indicated that poor land use practices in the Himalayas are causing serious problems in downstream countries. For example, sediments from the Himalayas into the Bay of Bengal are creating a new island of about 40,000 sq Km in size. He indicated that watershed management programmes are needed in all the countries in this region and that these programmes can be administered through single agencies, the "one umbrella approach," or by line agencies with their own respective responsibilities. The latter is most common and requires coordination. Joshi completed his paper with detailed case studies of Bhutan, India, and Nepal.
A panel discussion by K. Upadhyay, P. M. Baisyet and H. R. Stennett followed Joshi's presentation. The panel focused on watershed management in Nepal. The social and political implications of soil erosion were discussed and the point was again made that human needs and priorities of local people must be accounted for to mobilize support for watershed management.
Panel members felt that rural development in Nepal should be closely linked with watershed management. His Majesty's Government has allocated 2 to 10% of all major infrastructural projects to watershed management activities.
The protection of natural forests and wildlife is important in Nepal, particularly with the rise in tourism. However, some forests and plantations should be harvested for products (fuelwood, fodder, etc.) to demonstrate the value of well managed forests. Better means of managing and harvesting forests [especially road construction and logging activities] are needed.
Nepal has initiated the development of a master plan for watershed management to determine priorities for the country. Political and administrative boundaries represent problems for administering and implementing watershed management. Nepal's Decentralization Act may present problems for watershed management if all 75 districts have to be administered separately. Some aggregation of activities was suggested to assist implementation of projects, including:
Vertically integrated conservation activities with backward and forward linkages to farming systems, research and demonstration facilities.
Construction of physical and institutional infrastructures.
Supplementary activities which are horizontally integrated with watershed management, e.g., development of biogas plants, micro-hydro systems, etc.
Provision of social services.
Concern regarding the role of donor agencies was expressed. It was felt that the presence of donors in implementation may discourage nationals from developing their own capacity for implementation. Perhaps donors should concentrate more on training and leave implementation to national agencies. The multiplicity of donors leads to the coexistence of different objectives, different approaches, and different work methods which complicate the task of subsequent institutionalization within governmental structures. It was proposed that guidelines for donor agencies may be useful while the donors are implementing projects.
