Resilient watersheds for integrated river basin management

Co-organized by: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Department of Forests and Soil Conservation (DoFSC), Government of Nepal

Background

Efficient river basin management is vital for sustainable development in Nepal. The sectoral approach to the management of land and water ecosystems has led to the achievement of only narrow objectives of individual projects, at times with unintended consequences that have widened gender and social inequalities. Addressing environmental issues requires the inclusion of women and men and the marginalized, partnerships among different stakeholders, coordination between horizontal and vertical layers of government, public awareness, feedback to watershed managers, and enhanced institutional capacity.

Climatic changes in combination with socioeconomic drivers are creating pressures on watershed characteristics and functions. The impacts are felt not only within the watershed but also on communities who depend on watersheds for livelihoods and other services. There is a need for proper understanding and quantification of the resources and impacts on communities who depend on watersheds for livelihoods and other services.

The IRBM approach

Integrated river basin management (IRBM) addresses issues related to water and maximizes socioeconomic benefits while protecting mountain ecosystems. This approach also improves the coordination of different stakeholders from different sectors at different scales. To focus on the IRBM approach, the government has already established river basin management offices in all the major river basins of the country. These new institutional structures aim to foster coordination among relevant stakeholders and institutions and generate collective and integrated data for efficient watershed management.

The efficient use of data and information is vital for effective and efficient IRBM, which addresses upstream–downstream linkages, pushes climate change mitigation, and explores adaptation mechanisms.

About the training

This training on “Tools and approaches for generating data and information for a resilient watershed” is part of an ongoing collaboration between the DoFSC and the Koshi Basin Initiative at ICIMOD on strengthening IRBM. It will focus on generating data and information on different watershed components and enhancing the capacity on different analytical tools. These tools and approaches will be useful for water resource management, watershed profiling, and preparation of a framework of watershed prioritization on the basis of importance and vulnerability/risk.

The training will cover the generation of watershed data and will touch upon a conceptual perspective of IRBM to understand watershed characteristics, land use, watershed delineation, quantification of watershed climate, watershed hydrology modelling, soil erosion estimation and landslide, governance approaches and institutional frameworks, and integrating gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) into watershed management plans.

After the training, the participants will be able to:

• Access and extract elevation and landcover data, delineate watersheds, and prepare watershed information maps
• Quantify climate (temperature, precipitation) information of watersheds
• Use the hydrological model to calculate water availability, evapotranspiration, and runoff components of watersheds
• Quantify the soil erosion of a particular area and gather information on historical landslides data
• Adapt the tools and technique learned for adaptive governance
• Integrate GESI data in watershed management to achieve equitable access over resources

Participants

This training is targeted for technical staff who are or will be generating data and information regularly as part of their regular duties. The primary target participants expected to be from the DoFSC, basin management centres, provincial government, Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Offices, Forests Research and Training Centres, and Watershed Resource Management Centres. They are expected to have a basic understanding of watershed processes and climatic datasets and a working understanding of GIS.

Agenda

Download concept note Agenda List of participants

Training Coordinator

Resource persons