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Community Watersheds for Sustainable Development and Improved Livelihoods in Dryland Areas of Asia

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/3796/
 
Title Community Watersheds for Sustainable Development and Improved Livelihoods in Dryland Areas of Asia
 
Creator Wani, S P
Sreedevi, T K
Wangkahart, T
Dixin, Y
 
Subject Watershed management
 
Description Rainfed areas constitute globally 80% of cultivated area and will continue to contribute significantly for global
food security. The crop yields in the farmers' fields in rain-fed areas of developing countries are lower by two to five folds than
the achievable yields. Rainwater use efficiency is generally very low. In order to achieve food security and reduce poverty,
rainfed agriculture needs to be upgraded by adopting community watershed approach for sustainable development.
Watersheds are not merely hydrological units but. are dynamic systems comprising human beings and animals; and link
upstream and downstream areas and are prone to a number of externalities. India has adopted watershed approach over time
for development of rainfed areas and substantial investments to the tune of US$ 6 billion have been made till 2006. However,
the performance of the watershed program is not to the desired level as 66% of the programs are performing below average.
Recent comprehensive assessment of watershed programs in India [evealed that community watersheds not only for soil and
water conservation measure but also need to be holistic and inclusive addressing equity and gender concems, productivity
enhancement, employment generation, income enhancement and also building resilience of the community and the natural re
sources to meet the challenges of the future including climate change. This paper describes the importance of rainfed
agriculture and shortcomings in the current watershed programme and new paradigm of community watershed development
along with insights by learcings from large number of watershed programs in Asia.
 
Date 2009
 
Type Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/3796/1/WEES_Community_watersheds_SPW_2009.pdf
Wani, S P and Sreedevi, T K and Wangkahart, T and Dixin, Y (2009) Community Watersheds for Sustainable Development and Improved Livelihoods in Dryland Areas of Asia. In: International Conference "Water, Environment, Energy and Society" (WEES-2009), 12-16 January 2009, New Delhi, India.