18 Questions
What is one consequence of carrying out much work in soil and water conservation without effective watershed management?
Narrowly focused projects and quick fix solutions
Which type of projects included a major focus on watershed management, according to the text?
Integrated rural development
Where did the ASEAN Watershed Project involve seminars, symposia, workshops, and study tours?
Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore
What is a major environmental issue for the 21st century according to the text?
Land scarcity
What is a potential consequence of human encroachment on hazardous areas?
Floods, landslides, and torrents
What do Best Management Practices (BMPs) and watershed management technologies effectively stop according to the text?
Water pollution
What factor tended to contribute to the success of watershed projects?
Greater local participation and less complex institutional structures
What was emphasized as important in promoting long-term sustainability in watershed management training projects?
Local involvement and consideration of cultural and socioeconomic dimensions
What was identified as a need for achieving sustainable outcomes in watershed projects?
More participatory planning methods and close collaboration with local resource users
What is a major challenge in promoting local participation in watershed management projects?
Conflicts over land use and resource rights
Why are ex post evaluations of watershed management projects often lacking?
Absence of comprehensive monitoring of costs and benefits
What is a key consideration for successful projects in smaller watersheds?
Appropriate incentives to motivate local people
What ancient civilization organized their economic and political systems based on watersheds?
Ancient Polynesians
What have expanding human populations and their increasing demands for natural resources led to?
Intensified watershed degradation
What is a significant consequence of the increasing human demands for resources, according to the text?
Some of the most biologically productive watersheds becoming seriously degraded
What is the significance of watersheds according to ancient Chinese proverbs?
Watersheds determine the flow of rivers and the quality of water.
How did the Polynesians who settled Hawaii organize their economic and political systems?
Based on the sound management of land and water together.
What has led to the degradation of some of the watersheds with the greatest biological production?
Expanding human demands for resources.
Study Notes
- Projects aimed at promoting local participation in watershed management may not be effective in the long term once subsidies or cash payments end.
- Maintenance of soil conservation structures and tree planting in degraded areas often cease, highlighting the importance of using appropriate incentives to motivate local people.
- Few projects reported ex post evaluations, potentially due to an absence of comprehensive monitoring of costs and benefits.
- Monitoring is essential for tracking projects and making adjustments to achieve objectives, as well as determining project success for donor agencies.
- Less ambitious projects in smaller watersheds are more successful in achieving objectives than larger, more complex projects.
- Projects focusing on mountainous uplands and island systems have unique challenges due to hydrologic response, fragility of lands, and population pressures.
- Tenure issues, including land and resource access, were noted in about one-fourth of project documents.
- Land and resource tenure is neglected in project planning and must be recognized for sustainable programs in watershed management and development.
- Appropriate socioeconomic studies need to be conducted early in project planning to understand pre-existing land use and tenure arrangements.
- Lack of successful engineering structures for soil and water conservation in small islands like Jamaica, due to incompatibility with farmers' resource use patterns and labor allocation.
- Conflicts over land use and resource rights are more common in small island watersheds due to population density and limited resources.
- Financial constraints to natural resources programs on small islands also pose challenges.
- Projects in mountainous areas of Nepal, India, and Myanmar require special considerations and interdisciplinary approaches due to unique challenges posed by montane and island ecosystems.
- Extreme meteorological events associated with monsoons exacerbate watershed problems, particularly in montane and small island ecosystems with densely inhabited watersheds.
- Upland and lowland inhabitants often face differences in socioeconomic well-being, adding to the challenges of watershed management.
Explore interdisciplinary and participatory methods in watershed management and learn about the challenges of narrowly focused conservation projects. Understand the need to address both the symptoms and the underlying causes of soil and water conservation issues.
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