Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
incorporating biophysical and socio-economic factors, and to come up with
recommendations to combat degradation in this region. The specific objectives
of the project were to:
•
Review the extent and severity of forest and soil degradation processes and
the role of ecological and socio-economic factors responsible for them in the
Himalayan region.
•
Analyse the ecological and socio-economic impacts of forest and soil degradation
for the selected watersheds by using field and laboratory techniques and parti-
cipatory research methods.
•
Develop and apply biophysical and bio-economic models to quantify the forest
and soil degradation processes under existing and alternate ecological, techno-
logical, and economic regimes.
•
Suggest integrated participatory conservation strategies to optimize land use in
terms of conservation of forests and soils in the selected watersheds.
2) Have there been any (major) changes to these objectives and for what reason?
No
C) Project activities
1) Which activities were employed to meet the objectives?
The focus was on studying the systems behaviour in its entirety and to develop
sustainable management strategies, which are technically feasible, economically
viable, and socially acceptable. One catchment was selected in each study country.
Within the catchments, field experiments, household surveys and participatory research
techniques were used. The collected data were used for GIS-based soil erosion and
bio-economic models for the selected watersheds. Data generated by earlier studies
was used for estimating temporal change. The emphasis was on capturing the changes
in the stock of forests and soil resources, both actual and simulated under alternate
policy scenarios. The results of the bio-economic model provided a theoretical basis
for identifying the relative importance of different factors that contribute to the degra-
dation processes in the region. These results will enable authorities, farming organi-
zations etc. to define sound policies and regulations aiming at achieving sustainable
management of the natural resources in this ecologically fragile region of the world.
The overall project consisted of several activities that were executed by the
different partners, which will not be reviewed here. Alterra was responsible for
erosion modelling. The focus of the work done by Alterra was as follows.
Installation of equipment
•
Equipment to measure rainfall, soil moisture content and discharge was installed
in all 3 countries.
•
Manuals were written to allow the local partners to collect the data and to
maintain the equipment.
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