Operationalising IWMP

Dr. Falendra K. Sudan
The participatory management approaches are influencing the development policies in agriculture, forestry, horticulture, fisheries, rural sector etc. in developing countries. The multi-sectoral and multi-objectives programmes such as integrated watershed management programme (IWMP) are practiced in the mountainous and rainfed areas. IWMP is a very complex programme. It deals with conflicting objectives such as development and environment, maximization of economic benefits and conservation of natural resources, market economy and self-help and food security.
Alongside, resource conservation and protection, the poor, the landless, the women, the disadvantaged groups including transhumance and nomads livelihoods need to be improved. The alternative livelihood opportunities including income generating activities (IGAs) needs to be promoted based upon local raw materials and resources and knowledge and skills. The traditional knowledge and skills need to be improved upon through technical skill transfer by organizing training programmes using local master trainers.
Earlier experiences with watershed development
A number of land development schemes are in operation. Some are watershed based while others are based on administrative boundaries. These schemes put emphasis on soil and land management for sustainable food production and environment conservation and protection.  Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP), Hills-I was undertaken to prevent and reverse the environmental degradation in ecologically fragile Shivaliks and Karewas in Jammu and Kashmir for 7 years (1990-97). Later, it was extended for one more year up to 1998. IWDP was supported by the World Bank. Besides, Jammu and Kashmir, it was implemented in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. To begin with IWDP (Hills-I) was initiated in three sub-watersheds of Devak and Ramkote in Shivalik hills (Jammu region) and Dudh Ganga in Karewas (Kashmir Valley). The IWDP experiences showed that without people’s involvement, the benefits of watershed development and protection are unsustainable. In the absence of participatory approach, with the withdrawals of the project support, the conservation structures created under the project disappear, committees disbanded or abandoned and the people livelihood marginally improved at all or threatened.  Fortunately, these shortcomings were taken care of, to some extent during the implementation of IWDP (Hills-I).
IWDP (Hills-I) was implemented for soil and water conservation. It was targeting at proper land use according to land potential, protection of land against all kinds of deterioration, building and maintaining soil fertility, conserving water, proper management of water for drainage, flood protection, sediment reduction and increasing productivity from all kinds of land uses. Besides, improved vegetative coverage of treated areas, increased community participation and formulation of engaged village users’ group, increased crop yields and increased household incomes of marginal and small farmers, the landless and the women were included as major objectives.
The project has made only a modest impact in the phase first. During the experimentation phase, some shortcomings were bound to remain. At the same time, it must have enriched the experience of the project functionaries. All this has learning experiences for the stakeholders of the project. The lessons learnt must have equipped them better to carry out future tasks more efficiently. The principal lessons learnt from IWDP (Hills-I) include the need to develop an integrated and coordinated approach in planning, implementation and maintenance of watershed development and protection activities. There is also need to increase the awareness of all stakeholders in environmental and socio-economic aspects, to arrest soil erosion and promote in-situ moisture conservation using ridge to valley approach, to assess marketing prospects of rainfed and horticultural products, to improve infrastructure by linking rural roads to markets, developing water harvesting structures and proving safe drinking water, to develop watershed development  indicators, and to involve local NGOs as facilitators in project implementation.
In 1999, the second phase of the project was started in the form of IWDP (Hills-II) for five years. This was targeted at integrated rural development to address the social and natural resources problems.  IWDP (Hills-II) was extended to other rainfed areas in Jammu and Kashmir including Akhnoor and Ramnagar in Shivaliks (Jammu region) and Rajwar and Rambiyara in Karewas (Kashmir Valley). The main objective of the IWDP (Hills-II) was to restore the productive potential of the Shivaliks and Karewas using evolving watershed development and community participation. The project was focused on improving in-situ moisture conservation, water harvesting and land management practices. The institutional development was also targeted at for effective people participation. In Jammu and Kashmir, IWDP (Hills-II) was also aiming to restore on a sustainable basis the productive potential and improving the quality of life, to reduce soil erosion and improve availability of water, to help increase production and income, grain crops, horticulture, fodder, fibre, fuelwood, livestock and household based products, to promote holistic and sustainable agro-ecological development involving people’s participation, to strengthen community participation, and (vi) to develop local institutions.
IWMP is being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir since last about one year and planned to be extended up to 14th Five Year Plan, based on the State Perspective Plan and managed by the State Level Nodal Agency under the Rural Development Department of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. It is guided by the new “Common Watershed Guidelines for Watershed Development Projects” issued by Ministry of Rural Development, Department of Land Resources, Government of India. The common guidelines are based on the principles of equity and gender sensitivity, decentralization, facilitating agencies, community participation, capacity building and technology inputs, monitoring, evaluation and learning, and organizational restructuring. Under IWMP, the project duration has been increased in the range of 4 to 7 years depending upon nature of activities over 3 distinct phases such as preparatory phase, works phase and consolidation phase.
Challenges ahead
IWMP involves scientific management of natural and human resources in a watershed. It is the process of formulating and implementing a watershed protection and rehabilitation action plan. IWMP takes into account the social, political, economic and institutional priorities within the watershed and the surrounding areas to achieve desired socio-economic development. The process of IWMP includes establishing watershed-management targets, formulating and evaluating alternatives, evolving institutional arrangements, choosing and implementing a preferred action, monitoring activities and outcomes, and evaluating performance. IWMP focuses on changes in land use and vegetative cover. It also focuses on structural and non-structural activities in a watershed. IWMP is considered as an important way to plan and implement resource management and rural development. It includes planning for specific resource sectors such as agriculture, forestry, horticulture, rural development, etc. IWMP considers the linkage between uplands and lowlands in both biophysical and socio-economic contexts.
IWMP targets rational utilization of land and water resources for optimum and sustained production. Besides, the focus is also on environmental protection and minimum hazards to natural resources. Increased public participation ensures greater environmental and economic outcomes. IWMP stresses on creating viable resource-management institutions. People centred institutions are essential for rehabilitation of degraded watersheds. Sustainable and robust institutions ensure subsequent rights and responsibilities to support rural livelihoods. The participatory approaches involve decentralized decision making and financial management. It facilitates in cost minimization and benefit maximization in watershed management. Not only this, participation correct the mistakes, increase political awareness, decrease the perpetual dependence and improve sustainability.
Institutionally sustainable IWMP calls for joint resource management involving all stakeholders. It must focus on watershed protection and livelihood enhancement of the poor. Adequate safeguards need to put in place to protect the interests of the poor farmers and rural landless so that when the common resources become more productive, better-off farmers should not take control of them. Otherwise even the customary access rights of the poor are denied. Therefore, community awareness, knowledge, support and participation in decision making is highly desirable for social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The decentralized watershed management ensures effective control over resources by the communities. This will further be strengthened by creating and enforcing appropriate property rights over the common property resources.
( Tbe author is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Jammu, Jammu)

Follow our WhatsApp channel