Confronting scale in watershed development in India

Syme, G J and Reddy, V R and Pavelic, P and Croke, B and Ranjan, R (2012) Confronting scale in watershed development in India. Hydrogeology Journal , 20 (5). pp. 985-993. ISSN 1435-0157

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Abstract

The issue of scale is examined in the context of a watershed development policy (WSD) in India.WSD policy goals, by improving the natural resource base, aim to improve the livelihoods of rural communities through increased sustainable production. It has generally been practiced at a micro-level of less than 500ha, as this was seen to be a scale that would encourage participative management. There has been some concern that this land area may be too small and may lead to less than optimal hydrological, economic and equity outcomes. As a result there has been a move to create guidelines for meso-scale WSD of above 5,000ha in an endeavour to improve outcomes. A multidisciplinary team was assembled to evaluate the proposed meso-scale approach. In developing an adequate methodology for the evaluation it soon became clear that scale in itself was not the only determinant of success. The effect of geographical scale (or level) on WSD is determined by the variation in other drivers that will influenceWSDsuccess such as hydrological conditions, land use and available institutional structures. How this should be interpreted at different levels in the light of interactions between biophysical and socio-economic scales is discussed

Item Type:	Article
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
CRP:	UNSPECIFIED
Subjects:	Others > Watershed Management
Depositing User:	Mr Sanat Kumar Behera
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2012 09:15
Last Modified:	05 Oct 2012 12:33
URI:	http://oar.icrisat.org/id/eprint/5378
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10040-011-0824-0
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Acknowledgement:	The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial and intellectual support of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
Links:	Author

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