Introduction (History) of watershed management approach

A) The 3rd Five Year Plan (1965-1970), the watershed management was first

apprehended in Nepal. An autonomous Bagmati Zone Afforestation Office was

established under the guidance of Department of Forest.

B) The 4th Five Year Plan (1970-1975), the Department of Soil and Water

conservation DSWC) was established to organize the soil conservation works systematically and institutionally, within Ministry of Forests in 1974.

C) The 5th Five Year Plan (1975-1980),

-Shivapuri watershed Area development Board (1976) was created,

-Nepal remote sensing centre (1979) established in DSCW,

-concepts of integrated watershed management introduced,

-Regional development concept in soil conservation and watershed management was introduced

-14 watershed management projects with the support from government and development partners were implemented in the four regions of the country.

-River control works in the watersheds were also continued from DSWC.

D) The 6th Five Year Plan period (1980-1985),

– the initiation of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of development project was first initiated by DSWC in Nepal

-The name of DSWC was changed into DSCWM,

-river control works were transferred to Ministry of water resources

-the name of Ministry was changed to Ministry of forest and soil conservation (MoFSC).

-The Soil conservation Act, 1982 and Regulation, 1985 came into effect.

-High level National resource Conservation Commission (NRCC) formed

under MoFSC.

E) the 7th Five Year Plan (1985-1990),

-DSCWM emphasized on integration of water resource, agriculture and forest development works.

-People’s participation and people’s awareness programme in watershed

management were envisaged.

F) 8th Five Year Plan Period (1992-1997),

-was in fact a turning point in people’s participation in watershed management.

-People participation guidelines with the provisions of formation of users groups and partnerships with NGOs and CBOs in watershed management was developed.

-DSCWM established its territorial offices in 35 districts.

-Conservation of churia hills, promotion of bio-engineering practices and conservation education in watershed management were focused.

G) the 9th Five Year Plan Period (1997-2002),

-the Nepal Environment Policy and Action Plan –II (NEPAP) enunciated policies of involving local communities and civil society and promoting new technology in cropping pattern, agriculture and land use system in watershed management.

-The protection of churia hills considering the vulnerability to erosion and landslides of chure regions was emphasized.

– recognized watershed management as supporting other programmes in poverty reduction.

H) The 10th Five year Plan ( 2002-2007),

-was the continuation of activities of 9th plan regarding involvement of private sectors and civil society in improving the livelihoods of the rural poor and strengthening the institutional governance process.

-Participatory and integrated sub-watershed planning approach and networking of watershed management stakeholders were emphasized. The DSCWM expanded its territorial offices to 55 districts.

I) the 11th Three Year Interim Plan ( 2007-2010),

-emphasized the livelihoods improvement and poverty reduction of poor, Dalits, disadvantaged groups, women through the implementation of participatory and income generation activities in watershed management.

-The territorial office of DSCWM expanded to 56.

Institutions and Organizations

• Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (KCAP), WWF, ICIMOD, WWF, etc.