watershed management
Block 1: Watershed Management
1.2 “Actors” in watershed management
1.2.1 Introduction
The concept of “actors” , “actors’ analyses”, “actors’ network”, “actors’ communication”, “actor’s oriented perspectives” are few of the concepts raised in assessing actors’ role in development discourse, which could also be applied in watershed management.
Approaches and technologies for watershed management have evolved through time. The current quest for watershed management is subsumed in a concept “integrated watershed management” (IWM). The concept of IWM embodies several approaches which are quite different from past experiences. Participatory approaches, from problem identification to project implementation, become cornerstones for successful watershed management and/or for sustainable land management. Regarding the governance of watershed, Genskow and Born (2006) depicts that “one of the most significant institutional innovations in natural resources and environmental management over the past decades or so has been widespread emergence and growth of collaborative and partnership based watershed initiatives”. In this it is necessary to think “…a wide range of governmental and non-governmental actors, whose decisions influence the health and integrity of ecological systems. The challenge for a watershed governance program is to get this portfolio of actors and programs to work together more effectively. Watershed management should therefore be viewed as an effort to build, manage, and maintain inter-organizational networks; in other words, to develop an institutional ecosystem...”
Watershed is a special kind of common pool resource: an area defined by hydrological linkages where optimal management requires coordinated use of natural resources by all users. Management is difficult because watershed systems have multiple, conflicting uses, so any given approach will spread benefits and costs unevenly among users. Hence, multiple players are there in managing
1.2 “Actors” in watershed management
1.2.1 Introduction
The concept of “actors” , “actors’ analyses”, “actors’ network”, “actors’ communication”, “actor’s oriented perspectives” are few of the concepts raised in assessing actors’ role in development discourse, which could also be applied in watershed management.
Approaches and technologies for watershed management have evolved through time. The current quest for watershed management is subsumed in a concept “integrated watershed management” (IWM). The concept of IWM embodies several approaches which are quite different from past experiences. Participatory approaches, from problem identification to project implementation, become cornerstones for successful watershed management and/or for sustainable land management. Regarding the governance of watershed, Genskow and Born (2006) depicts that “one of the most significant institutional innovations in natural resources and environmental management over the past decades or so has been widespread emergence and growth of collaborative and partnership based watershed initiatives”. In this it is necessary to think “…a wide range of governmental and non-governmental actors, whose decisions influence the health and integrity of ecological systems. The challenge for a watershed governance program is to get this portfolio of actors and programs to work together more effectively. Watershed management should therefore be viewed as an effort to build, manage, and maintain inter-organizational networks; in other words, to develop an institutional ecosystem...”
Watershed is a special kind of common pool resource: an area defined by hydrological linkages where optimal management requires coordinated use of natural resources by all users. Management is difficult because watershed systems have multiple, conflicting uses, so any given approach will spread benefits and costs unevenly among users. Hence, multiple players are there in managing
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