Beeju Poudyal

bpoudyal@afu.edu.np

1
 Overview of Syllabus
1. Definition and concept of watershed, micro watershed, sub-watershed, and
basin level understanding (1)
2. Watershed delineation approaches (contour map based) (1)
3. Concepts of watershed management, participatory watershed management (1)
4. Watershed characterization (1)
5. Watershed Monitoring and Approaches (1)
6. Concepts if critical, vulnerable watersheds with illustrative examples (1)
7. Application of GIS in watershed management (2)
8. Watershed conditions in Nepal: Examples of critical and vulnerable
watersheds (1)
2
Cont..
9. Salient features of Watershed conditions in Churia/Terai,Midhill & High
Himal (1)
10. Integrated watershed resources management in High himal, Mid hill and
Churia region of Nepal (2)
11. Program & approaches adopted for watershed management in
Nepalese context 1
12. Watershed resources and peoples dynamics/linkages (1)
13.Sloping Agriculture land Technology (SALT), concepts and its types for
watershed Rehabilitation (2)

3
Cont..
14. Concept and scope of World Overview of Conservation Approaches and
Technologies (WOCAT) World Overview of Conservation Approaches and
Technologies (WOCAT) and Nepal Conservation approaches and
Technologies (NEPCAT) for watershed management. (2)
15. Current programs/plans of watershed management: Department of soil
conservation, ICIMOD, and other relevant agencies. (1 )
16. Project level experiences sharing implemented under different ministry
(1 )
17.Soil and water conservation: Concepts of soil properties, erosion, mass
wasting, and their impacts on watershed health. (2)
4
Cont..
18.Causes of watershed degradation, Indicators of watershed
deterioration, climate change impacts on watershed resources. (2)
19. Concepts of land degradation and impacts on watershed conditions
(1)
20. Concepts of landslide susceptibility mapping for identification of
potential land sliding zone (1)
21. Low cost soil bioengineering techniques for watershed
rehabilitation (2 )
22. Upstream and downstream linkages, concepts of Payment for
environmental Services (2)
5
 Watershed :Concept
Introduction:
Watershed is:
❑An area of land that collects the water that falls in within its boundaries
and directs into a common outlet
❑A precipitation collector
❑That piece of land shedding water to a single point
❑An area of land that drains or “sheds” water into a specific waterbody.

6
Cont..
❑Watersheds can vary in size
❑Some are smaller(eg. A tiny mountain creek might be as small as a few
square meters) and some are bigger in size (eg. Mississippi River watershed
in US is the largest one draining more than three million square
kilometers).
❑Some watersheds are enormous and usually encompass many smaller
ones.

7
 Watershed: Concept
❖ British Usage: Catchment is the area from which runoff occurs, and,
watershed is the boundary of a catchment.
❖ American Usage: Watershed/ Drained Basin is the total area catching the
runoff, and,
❖ Divide (or drainage divide) is the boundary between two watersheds.
❖ Catchment is also called a Drainage Basin.
❖ Watershed, Drainage area, Catchment area, River Basin and Drainage
Basin –Terms used Interchangeably.
❖ BUT generally: Watershed, Catchment and Drainage area are used for
small streams and rivers, while, Drainage basin and river basin are used
for large river systems with numerous sub-watersheds or sub-catchments
nested within it 8
 Definitions of Watershed
❖ Various scientists have defined watershed in many ways:
❖ Watershed is a unit of land catching precipitation and serving to move
and concentrate water at some lower elevation (Krygier, 1963).
❖ It is any surface (varying from a few hectares to several thousands sq km)
in which rainfall is collected and conveyed to a common natural water
way(Botero, 1983).
❖ Topographically delineated area that is drained by a stream, and a major
river basin as a collection watershed (Brooks, 1993).
❖ It is an area with a fixed drainage (water) divide as a boundary and
drained through a common outlet of creek/stream/river or drained to
common place, such as lake (Sthapit, 1998). 9
Cont..
❖ Watershed is a hydrological unit of an area draining to a common outlet
point (Sharda, et al., 2006).
❖ Watershed is an ideal natural unit over which hydrological processes are
integrated and for which a water balance may be constructed to show the
disposal of precipitation into a number of subsequent forms i.e.
interception, soil moisture and ground storages, evapo-transpiration and
run-off.

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Watershed: Concept

11
Watershed area showing drainage divide
12
 Types of watershed
❖According to Singh, 1994, the classification of watersheds based on the
size:

Size (ha) Classification

50,000-2,00,000 Watershed
10,000-50,000 Sub-Watershed
1,000-10,000 Mili-Watershed
100-1,000 Micro –Watershed
10-100 Mini-Watershed 13
Cont..

14
Watershed Management
➢ Introduction:
• It is the integrated use of land, vegetation and water in a geographically
discrete drainage area for the benefit of its residents, with the objective of
protecting or conserving the hydrologic services that the watershed provides
and of reducing or avoiding negative downstream or groundwater impacts
(Darghouth et al., 2008).
• It is dedicated to solving watershed problems on a sustainable basis.
• Any human action aimed at ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources in
a watershed.
• It provides a framework for integrating different land-use and livelihood
systems (e.g. forestry, pasture or agriculture) using water as the entry point in
the design of interventions.
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Watershed Management
➢ Introduction:
• It is the process of guiding and organizing the use of land & other resource in a
watershed to provide desired goods and services without adversely affecting
the environment or ecological balance.
• It involves multiple resource types & requires understanding of the
relationships among land use, soil, water, flora, fauna and human communities.
• Also important are linkages between upland and downstream areas & their
interdependence.
• Economic, social & political forces that shape development work within
socio-political boundaries, while the forces of nature affecting land & water
resources respect only natural (watershed) boundaries.
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Watershed Management
➢ Elements of Watershed Management :
• Land: soil, water, rock, vegetation, animals and other resources
• People: social, economical, cultural condition of upstream and downstream area
• Management: policy, legislation, administration, institutional capacity, technology
and resources

➢ Watershed management should:

• Be participatory, adaptive and experimental
• Involve all relevant stakeholders
• Identify an appropriate balance between development and protection

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Watershed Management

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 Evolution of Watershed
Management Program in the World

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 Different Aspect of Watershed
Management in Developed and
Developing Countries
Activities Developing Countries Developed Countries

Output Farm production Water yield

Focus Livelihood of the communities Water quality

Program Community based socio-economic More on natural resources

activities management
Approach Applied science and participatory Science based
approach
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Action People oriented Natural resources oriented
Objectives of Watershed Management
❑To accomplish optimum production of high quality water and reduction of flood
and sediment damage
❑To conserve or improve agriculture, forestry, range lands, wildlife and recreation
resource base
❑To improve the wellbeing of the surrounding communities
❑To develop and test through research and assessments, suitable watershed
management strategies that address adaptation to climate change
❑To develop, manage and sustain production systems that are well suited to the
existing environment and resource base and that can be sustained for future
generation
❑Overall improvement of environment and livelihood of the local communities
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Watershed Management Approaches
➢ Watershed Management Approach:
▪ The approach to people's participation in watershed management in Nepal, has
been evolving since 1974 (Sharma and Wagley, 1996).
▪ People’s participation has been described in terms of all parts of the project
cycle: watershed resources assessment; project activity planning;
implementation, maintenance, follow-up and benefit sharing; and extension
efforts.
▪ But in the absence of legal framework for people's participation in the past,
influential persons attempted to obtain all the benefits of a project's activities in
the name of community participation.

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Watershed Management Approaches
➢ Watershed Management Approach:
▪ People’s participation in watershed management has gradually increased after the
Decentralization Act in 1982 and it has been institutionalized since 1991.
▪ Participatory NRM was introduced as a consequence of the failure of the past
approaches.
▪ The wide failure of past policies and control mechanisms to effectively manage
natural resources and rise of more democratic regimes have led to new
opportunities for negotiation between the government and local people.
▪ In the past, enforcement often was unsuccessful because of increasing population
and more demands on the natural resource base.
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Evolution of Watershed Management
Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:
▪ In 1974, Government of Nepal established Department of Soil and Water
Conservation (DSCWM) under the Ministry of Forest to improve mountain
watersheds.
▪ The department has been planning, implementing and monitoring soil
conservation activities within a framework of the principles of integrated
watershed management (IWM) since then (Wagley and Bogati, 1999).
▪ IWM approach was designed from the very beginning in the watershed
management program.
▪ It clearly marks major step forward in terms of addressing the problems of
watershed communities in all their complexities (Paudel, 2002).
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 Evolution of Watershed Management
Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:
▪ However in early periods (70s–80s), only central level (top-down)
target oriented, physical engineering conservation method was
practiced in watershed management program (JICA/HMG(N), 1998;
Ohler et al., 2000).
▪ The watershed management approaches gradually included the
bottom-up planning and people’s participation.
▪ Different stages in the evolution of watershed management in Nepal
are described in the following table.

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 Evolution of Watershed Management
Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:

Year Approaches Activities

First Stage (1974 to Central level planning Project based activities conducted by construction
1980) (top-down) companies or hired labour.

Second Stage (1981 Initiation of Key persons or local leaders were taken into
to 1985) Decentralization consideration in the project implementation process.

Source: (JICA/HMG(N), 1998; Ohler et al., 2000; Wagley and Bogati, 1999)
26
 Evolution of Watershed Management
Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:

Year Approaches Activities

Third Stage (1986 In line with VDC, DDC and DSCO on project implementation
to1990) decentralization were taken into consideration in planning process,
user groups were established. Started to handover
community forestry.

Source: (JICA/HMG(N), 1998; Ohler et al., 2000; Wagley and Bogati, 1999)
27
 Evolution of Watershed Management
Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:

Year Approaches Activities

Fourth stage (1991 Bottom-up approach, and Sub-watershed planning was institutionalized.
to 1994) people’s participation Most activities were implemented through
users. RRA, PRA techniques came into use to
collect socio-economic data.

Source: (JICA/HMG(N), 1998; Ohler et al., 2000; Wagley and Bogati, 1999)
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Evolution of Watershed Management Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:

Year Approaches Activities

Fifth stage Institutionalization of Gender and social equity consideration, rights and
(1995 Participatory approach, access to community resources for local
onwards) Watershed boundary to communities, indigenous knowledge integrated into
political boundary new technology approach. UGs’ formal
registration. The link between UG and VDC
became more formal.
Source: (JICA/HMG(N), 1998; Ohler et al., 2000; Wagley and Bogati, 1999)

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Evolution of Watershed Management Program
➢ Evolution of Watershed Management Program:

Now, Basin Level watershed management is started in Nepal.

Major River Basins of Nepal :
1. Karnali River Basin
2. Mahakali River Basin
3. Koshi River Basin
4. Gandaki River Basin
30
 Participatory Watershed Management
Participatory watershed management refers to the process of formulating and
carrying out a course of action involving the manipulation of natural resources in a
watershed with active participation of the people right from the planning stage to
implementation, monitoring and evaluation stages.
Objectives:
1. To contribute in meeting the people’s basic needs for forest and food products
by improving the productivity of the land through the conservation and
management of watershed resources.
2. To assist in maintaining ecological balance by reducing pressure from natural
hazards such as floods and landslides.
3. To improve the capacity of local communities and local institutions/groups in
managing soil and water resources.
31
Why is Participatory Watershed Management
important?
• Local people are the main stakeholders in watershed management.
• It is the local people who will be the most benefitted if the resources within the
watershed are conserved.
• People will suffer most if these scare resources are destroyed.
• Watershed management starts right form the households.
• It can fully utilize local/indigenous knowledge.
• Ensures maximum use of local resources.
• Guarantees the continuity of the watershed management programs
• Participation is vital for the sustainability.
32
Why is Participatory Watershed Management
important?

Source: Arnstein, S. (1969) ‘A ladder of citizen

participation’, Journal of the American Institute of
Planners 35.4: 216–224

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 Participatory Watershed Management
Development Element Traditional Approach Current Approach

Purpose Single (soil conservation) Multiple(social, economical and environmental)

Need assessment and Central level government staff Community help to identify the gap and select the
planning priorities

Strategy Increase production and Emphasis on livelihoods, ecosystem services

conservation poverty and sustainability
Approach Centralized, top down planning with Participatory, community based, focus to the
little input from community women and poor communities, landscape
approach
Institution Government and donor agencies NGO, CBO, and private and government
institutions
Working size Large watershed Small watershed, sub watershed
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Output Target Meet, quantities Qualitative, Sustainability
 Watershed Management
Approaches
➢ Watershed Management Approach:
▪ Line agency implementation / Participatory – Decentralized Approaches
▪ Sectoral / Integrated (Holistic) Approaches
▪ Conservation in Individual farm / Community Lands
▪ Basin / Watershed / Sub-watershed / Micro-watershed / Political Unit
▪ Model farmer / Group Approach
▪ Project / Program Approach

35
 Watershed Management Approaches
➢ Line agency implementation / Participatory – Decentralized Approaches:
▪ The development strategies of soil conservation and watershed management were mainly
to plan, implement and maintain the soil erosion control works by the government itself.
▪ The development works were conducted by government without consultation with local
people.
▪ It was mainly top-down approach.
▪ It was later realized that the DSCWM should adopt the participatory and decentralized
approach in Watershed Management to address the local development need by
mobilizing local resources including local participation and act collectively by
communities in order to make a difference in their lifestyle and living standards.

36
Line agency implementation / Participatory – Decentralized
Approaches:
▪ Watersheds can not be managed in isolation, implies management of all the
resources in integration.
▪ For integrated way of managing watershed, one institution should take a strong
role (lead agencies) for coordination and integration and other responsible
activities in integration.
▪ The development partners to support the program directly works with the lead
agencies.
▪ The lead agency coordinates with other responsible line agencies for
coordination, program design, planning and integration.
▪ Current DSCWM, (now Department of Forests and Soil Conservation) acted as
lead agencies and other concerned departments work as line agencies to support
the integrated program. 37
 Sectoral / Integrated (Holistic) Approaches:

▪ It is synonymous to Project Approach.

▪ The sectoral approach to watershed management have specific geographical area, goal,
objectives and program components.
▪ Sectoral approach is a piece meal approach and does not address all the dimensions of
watershed degradation problem.
▪ In watershed management, the sectoral approach does not yield promising results as the
watershed management is the integrated management of all the natural resources available
within the watershed through coherent and coordinated environment with the sectoral line
agencies for the protection of the environment and livelihoods improvements of the poor and
disadvantaged communities.
38
 Conservation in Individual Farm /
Community Lands:

▪ DSCWM brought a practice of doing soil conservation work in individual farm.

▪ The programs for individual farm for both improve productivity of land and income

generation are terrace improvement, agro-forestry, conservation farming, grass

planting, planting fruit crops etc.

39
 Basin/Watershed/Sub-watershed/Micro-
watershed/Political Unit:
▪ DSCWM(now DoFSC) is trying to focus watershed management into a river basin

management approach.

▪ This will be shift from micro level (sub-watershed) to macro level (basin level) where

DSCWM(Now DoFSC) will work for environment sustainability.

▪ The river basin management approach will be integrated and its purpose will be to serve the

people and manage the environment sustainably through protection, rehabilitation,

reclamation of the basin.

▪ In the basin approach, major focus will be given to the sustainable management of

environment rather than utilization and management of the basin as a whole. 40

Model farmer / Group Approach:
▪ Soil Conservation and watershed programs place high priority on farmers.

▪ National policy on watershed management has emphasized to implement soil conservation

activities in such a way that the activities contribute both conservation and generate quick
income.

▪ Development projects implemented by DSCWM(now DoFSC) have trained local farmers and

their users' groups on appropriate land use management at farmers field level.

▪ The projects have generated many local level innovative farmers as model farmers, who have

significantly contributed for conservation and utilization of natural resources.

41
Project / Program Approach:
▪ Program approach is an integrated national multi sectoral programs, which are normally and

have a variety of funding partners.

▪ This is a shift from an exclusive focus on project inputs and activities towards broader policy

concerns and development impact.

▪ In Project approach, projects are designed and managed independently and are placed under a

single program to achieve greater simplicity and flexibility in the allocation of funds,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

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Watershed Management Approaches

43
 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Introduction:
▪ Monitoring:
▪ Monitoring is an important component for planning, implementation and completion of an
integrated watershed development project.
▪ It is inherently related to project activities. It is a diagnostic study that helps in decision-
making and policy changes of the ongoing project.
▪ Both monitoring and evaluation of a project are important for funding authorities of the
project.
▪ Monitoring is a process of continuous assessment of project activities in the context of
implementing schedules.

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 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Introduction:
▪ Monitoring:
▪ Monitoring takes care of day-to-day progress and management of the project.
▪ It is the regular observation and recording of activities taking place in the watershed project
and also a process of routinely gathering information or data on all aspects of the project.
▪ It involves checking on how the project activities are progressing.
▪ Monitoring also involves giving feedback about the progress of the project to the
donors/sponsors and beneficiaries of the project.
▪ The gathered data are used in making decisions for improving project performance.

45
 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Introduction:
▪ Monitoring:
▪ Monitoring setup involves defining the objectives of monitoring system to design a
program to systematically look after the achievements, to select the indicators, location,
methods and frequency of observation and to organize, motivate and train people.
▪ Evaluation:
▪ Evaluation gathers information from the observed data on monitoring and these are presented
in a form which is easy to understand.
▪ Evaluation may require some additional studies to obtain data which are available for
monitoring.
▪ Different investigators have worked on monitoring and evaluation of the watershed project.
46
 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Purpose of Monitoring:
▪ The purposes of monitoring watershed programs are as follows:
i. To carry out the analysis of the situation in the village community and the project and to
determine whether the inputs in the project are well utilized.
ii. To study the problems faced by the community in carrying out the project are identified to
find a solution. And thereby it ensures that all activities are carried out properly by the right
people and in time.
iii. To determine whether project plan is suitable for solving the problem at hand.

47
 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Monitoring Tools:
▪ Numerous monitoring tools are available to determine the values of indicators over time.
Some of the commonly used tools are as follows:
i. Community workshops are arranged to evaluate the extent of performance and achievement.
ii. Farmers can record their simple and easily observable changes in their farms in logbooks.
These records produce information in detail.
iii. Community may evaluate some technical indicators such as sediment yield, fodder
productivity, change in quality of the living standard, crop productivity, involvement of self-
help groups (SHGs) or user groups (UGs) etc.
iv. Geographical information system (GIS) is another monitoring tool which can provide lot of
information

48
 Watershed Monitoring
➢ Monitoring Tools:
v. Field indicators such as soil denudation, advance or reduction in gullies, land use Pattern
and changes, channel scouring etc. are observed and measured.
vi. Remote sensing satellite imageries and aerial photographs are to be taken at the beginning of
the project and it should be repeated periodically
vii. Video monitoring
viii. Hydro-meteorological data measurements
ix. Watershed modeling

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 Watershed Conditions in Nepal
➢Nepal’s terrain is dissected by many rivers and streams to form a complex of
watersheds and natural and human-induced processes operate on these
watersheds.

➢The main processes that led to the degradation of watersheds are landslides, soil
erosion, floods, biodiversity loss and unstainable water extraction and farming
practices resulting in loss of soil fertility, the depletion of water table, drying up
of springs, desertification and sedimentation.

➢The only country-wide assessment of watershed condition was completed in 1983

by the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management (DSCWM
1983). 50
 Watershed Conditions in Nepal
➢ Watershed Condition:
▪ It is an estimated index representing the current state of soil erosion in an area in comparison
with that of area under natural or "well managed" condition.
▪ The watershed conditions were categorized into five classes:
i. Excellent: In or near undisturbed condition. Natural erosion processes including
landslides may be present.
ii. Good: Minor amounts of disturbances may be present. Correction can come about through
normal management practices.
iii. Fair: Significant disturbance in the soil mantle and / or stream channel exist. Productivity
of land is diminished.
iv. Poor: Disturbance by accelerated erosion is serious and results in considerable stream
sedimentation and reduced land productivity.
v. Very Poor: Accelerated erosion is advanced. Agricultural and forest productivity is absent
or greatly reduced. 51
 Watershed Conditions in Nepal
➢ Watershed Condition:

Watershed Conditions Proportion of Land

Very Poor 10%
Poor 3%
Marginal 19%
Good 35%
Very Good 33%
Source: DSCWM, 1983 52
 Suggested Read………
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280628539_Land_use_Cha
nges_and_Soil_Degradation_Affecting_Soil_Quality_in_Watersheds_of
_Nepal

53
 Critical and Vulnerable Watershed
in Nepal
➢Studies indicate that watershed management in Nepal has produced benefits in
the areas of conservation farming, community forestry, agro-forestry, and
conservation engineering
➢The government’s Bagmati Integrated Watershed Management Project reported a
40% increase in the annual yield of maize from terrace improvement, a 25%
increase in the use of previously unproductive land, a 40% rise in female
membership in groups, an 80% drop in offseason migration, and an increase in
user group participation by disadvantaged groups.
➢Climate change study findings in Nepal have identified patterns that may result in
critical shortages of water used for drinking, irrigation, and other uses.
➢Global models forecast that by 2060 stream flows may become less reliable and
monsoon rainfall more intense and potentially more erratic 54
 Critical and Vulnerable Watershed in
Nepal
➢To respond to climate change, Nepal’s National Adaptation Program of Action
recommends urgent action on effective, multipurpose use of water resources,
conservation of watershed areas, and upgrading and expansion of
hydrometeorological stations
➢A study of the vulnerability of communities in watersheds in the middle hill and
mountain regions showed that the most vulnerable were in the far west of Nepal
with a significant concentration of vulnerable watersheds in the Karnali River
Basin

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“Settlement patterns in the Karnali River Basin are controlled by the
availability of mountainside land that is not too steeply sloped, allows
terracing, and is suitable for agriculture. The majority of such land is
found at about 1,200 meters above sea level. Water scarcity was
reported by communities to be a significant problem for the 85% of
households at these elevations that are not located close to rivers.
Water insecurity and shortages of water occur during the extended dry
period that begins in October and lasts until the monsoon begins in
June. In some settlements, water shortage has been reported to last 3
months, and during this period women and children are reported to
spend 3 to 8 hours a day traveling to collect water.”

56
 Critical and Vulnerable Watershed in
Nepal
➢Karnali river basin is the most vulnerable towards climate change in Nepal. Among them Upper
Karnali watershed, Mugu Karnali Watershed and Budhi Ganga Watershed the most vulnerable
ones (Siddiqui et al., 2012).
➢It is well-known for intense monsoon rainfall and unstable, steep slopes, experiences high rates
of soil erosion, landslides and sediment loads in rivers and tributaries
➢Seasonal or semipermanent out-migration of men----Increasing pressure on women-----women’s
role only on production works on land---they do not won the land or have the social standing to
make the decision-------male owner are hard to contact due to out-migrating------------------------
---difficult to involve in watershed protection and planning procedure

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 Churiya Region:

➢The five different physiographic regions of Nepal (Terai, Churia, Mahabarat, Himalaya and high
mountain) has its specific characteristics on landscape, geology, socio economic and to other natural and
anthropogenic settings. Among these landscapes Churia has been highly concerned due their rapid
degradation, vulnerability to erosion and excessive human encroachment.

➢The Churia region of Nepal represents one of the country’s most fragile ecosystems with friable soils,
high vulnerability to various natural hazards such as extreme heat, water scarcity, wild fires, flooding
and landslides.

➢It is extended as a contiguous landscape from east to west in 37 districts.

➢ Churia is bordered by the Mahabharat range in the north and by the Terai in the south.
➢ In the west, the Churia range is separated from the Mahabharat range by valleys known as duns or
inner Terai.
Churiya Range:
➢Churia Hills are the southern-most range of hills in Nepal lying between the plains of the Terai
and the mountain ranges of the Himalayas with an elevation ranging from 120m to 2,000m

➢Churia is considered to be playing a vital function as a watershed for the downstream Terai
plain - where the bulk of the Nepalese population resides and relies on delivered water
resources for domestic and agricultural purposes.

➢Churia is also important for safeguarding the lives, livelihoods and properties in the Terai plains
by regulating the water flow (reducing the flow in monsoon and ensuring the flow in dry
season).

➢Churia hill‘s contributions to the livelihoods of upland dwellers (and nearby communities) are
mainly in the form of non wood forest products while the major contribution to the downstream
communities is in the form of water supply which supports about half of the total population
living in this area (Bhabar and Terai), and construction materials such as boulders, pebbles,
gravel and sand.
Churia Range

➢ With nearly 60% of the Churia under forest cover and rich in biodiversity, it is alarming that
the region is considered vulnerable to natural disasters such as landslides, erosions, and flood
and climate change impacts.

➢ Vulnerability of already fragile ecosystem is further aggravated by numerous anthropogenic

interventions such as:
i. Settlement through encroachment,
ii. Clearing of forests for cultivation,
iii. Over exploitation of timber and other forest products through illegal logging,
iv. Uncontrolled grazing of livestock,
v. Excavation and extraction of sand and gravel - thereby rapidly changing the face of the
region.
 President Chure-Terai Madhesh Conservation
Development Program
• Former President of Nepal, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav directed the government about the urgent
need of Chure conservation and GON initiated “Rastrapati Chure Conservation Program” as a
top priority project in 2009.
• A total of 14,000 ha of encroached forest have been recovered, a total of 120000 households
that practiced open grazing have fully adopted stall-fed animal husbandry system, conservation
of biodiversity hotspots, tree plantation, model plantation in province 4 and for the protection
of upstream sites serving as a demonstration site ( Rayamajhi et al., 2019).
• Construction of conservation ponds for rain water harvesting
• Land and forest area saved by the river training works, bio-engineering activities
• Yet, there are different problems to be addressed, such as politics influenced works rather than
the technical guidance, works done in patches, threat of river training structures caused by
illegal and rampant extraction of riverbed materials, non realistic EIA and IEE etc.
Mid Hills
➢The expansion of community forestry practices since the late 1970s and, recently,
outmigration have led forest cover to increase in Nepal's mid-hills catchments

➢The catchments traditionally provide food and income for local communities, and
they are increasingly important for ecological functions, particularly downstream
water use.
➢There is a clear need for improved scientific understanding of forest–water
relationships that takes into account the site- or species-specific hydrological
effects of forest development in Nepal's mid-hills catchments.
MID HILLS
➢In the mid hills, the problems are mainly severe surface erosion from unprotected
farms, degraded forests, and denuded grazing lands.
➢Severe gully formation occur on poorly managed farms, in the overgrazed and
degraded forests.
➢The newly cut roadsides and haphazard construction of roads without proper use
of soil stability techniques result in frequent landslides and erosion.

➢Most of the rural populations engage in subsistence farming without having

proper irrigation facilities.
 Mid Hills

➢Water scarcity severely affects the

rural economy as more than 80% of
populations rely on agriculture for
their livelihood. In most parts of the
mid-hills, farmers rely on rain-fed
agriculture, and thus, their cultivation
is seasonal.
➢In recent years, the process of drying
springs in the mid-hills has become a
major threat. The construction of roads
has disconnected the water source and
resulted on drying up of the springs in
many cases.
Mid Hills
High Himal
➢The ‘Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation’ (THED) (Eckholm, 1975) referring
that the degradation of forest resources, improper land use and cultivation of crops on fragile
steep land due to population pressure are the main causes of accelerated soil erosion and land
degradation across the Himalayan region impacting the plains.
➢It implies that a few million Himalayan hill farmers are responsible for the massive landscape
changes that affect the lives and property of several hundred millions people living in Gangatic
plain in India and Bangladesh (World Resource Institute, 1985; Rasul and Karki, 2007).
➢The fundamental perception of the ‘Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation’ (Ives,
2004) has been changed over time as many researches conducted in mountain areas after the
1990s have found that only anthropogenic factors are not responsible for Himalayan
degradation (Blaikie, 2001).
➢Active geology, steepness, fragility, high rainfall and local evolved land management factors
that also contribute to environmental degradation in the mountain areas
High Himal

Negative
effects of Soil
erosion in
the High
Himal
High Himal
Restoration measures :
➢Maintaining vegetative cover to minimize direct impacts of raindrops and to
impede surface flow
➢Improving soil physical conditions to prevent crusting, increase infiltration and
reduce surface runoff and adopting conservation agricultural practices
➢Removing excess water overflow through suitable engineering techniques
➢Following agricultural practices such as terracing so as to reduce slope length to
minimize build-up of surface runoff
➢Rotational grazing
➢Indigenous knowledge promotion to sustainable use of the natural resources
What is needed now?
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
▪ It is a set of water and habitat assessments that compare areas within a watershed for
restoration and protection value.
▪ It is a coarse-scale tool that supports decisions regarding:
i. Where on the landscape should efforts be focused first?
ii. What types of actions are most appropriate to that place?
▪ It provides an initial filter for regional and local governments in landscape-level planning.
▪ Results can identify areas of the landscape that are:
▪ Priorities for acquisition (or protection via conservation easements)
▪ More appropriate for restoration (mitigation/conservation banks)
▪ Less likely to be damaged from development impacts.

71
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
▪ This helps direct limited funds to areas with greater probability of successful protection and
restoration of aquatic and terrestrial resources, while providing a predictable land use
framework.
▪ Such a framework guides continuous land and water quality improvement leading to
sustainable development within watersheds.
▪ Purposes of Watershed Characterization in Land Use Planning:
✓ Sustain and restore aquatic resources.
✓ Establish a common approach to coordinate planning efforts.
✓ Involve the community in developing a green infrastructure plan.

72
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
▪ Study of the watershed characteristics forms an important component of the subject of
geomorphology and is studied under the topic head of quantitative geomorphology.
▪ Some of the important geometrical parameters of the watershed are:
i. Area:
▪ The area of the watershed is defined as the area of the closed curve forming the
horizontal projection of the catchment boundary.
▪ Once the watershed has been delineated, its area can be determined by approximate
map methods, planimeter or GIS.

73
➢
Watershed
Introduction:
Characterization
ii. Stream Order:
▪ It is a classification reflecting the pattern of branches
that unite to form the trunk stream leaving the
watershed.
▪ The smallest stream at the start of the network is
designated as of ‘order 1’. Two channels of order 1
when joined produce a stream of ‘order 2’. Two
channels of order 2 when joined produce a stream of
order 3, and so on.
iii. Stream Density Sd:
▪ The ratio of the number of streams (Ns) of all orders to
the area of the basin (A) is known as stream density
(Sd) of the watershed.
𝑵𝒔
𝑺𝒅 = 74
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
iv. Drainage Density Dd:
▪ The ratio of the total length of streams of all orders within a basin to its area. Thus, if L=
length of a stream in a basin,
σ𝑳
𝑫𝒅 =
𝑨
▪ The drainage density is a measure of how well the drainage basin is drained by the stream
network.
v. Relief:
▪ Maximum basin relief is the elevation difference (in meters) between the watershed outlet and
the highest point on the basin parameter.

75
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
vi. Slope:
▪ Usually, a slope profile prepared along the main stream is used to characterize the slope of the
catchment.
▪ The ratio of drop in elevation and horizontal distance
vii. Length:
▪ The length of the catchment is defined as the length of the main stream measured from the
basin outlet to the remotest point on the basin boundary.
▪ The main stream is identified by starting from the basin outlet and moving up the catchment.

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 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
viii. Shape:
▪ There are a number of ways of designating and quantifying the shape of a catchment. Some of
the commonly used shape parameters are Form factor, Shape factor, Compactness
Coefficient, Circulatory ratio, Elongation ratio, etc.
▪ Form factor: [Catchment area / (Catchment length)2]

A/L2
▪ Shape factor: [(Catchment length)2 / Catchment area]

L2/A

77
 Watershed Characterization
➢ Introduction:
▪ Compactness Coefficient: [Perimeter of the catchment /Perimeter of the circle whose area is
that of the basin]
0.2821 P/ 𝑨
▪ Circulatory ratio: [Catchment area / Area if circle of catchment perimeter]

12.57 A/ P2
▪ Elongation ratio: [Diameter of circle whose area is basin area / Catchment length]

1.128 𝑨 /L

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THANK
YOU !!! 79