Living Land

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Image: Patrizia Cocca/GEF

Terraces in the Nainital district of the Himalayas are helping farmers to keep the topsoil and increase water penetration

knowledge of the resource base and tools for decision support

(for example resource mapping). As a result, the priority inter-

ventions reflected strong links between livelihood needs and

drivers of ecosystem degradation in the watersheds, which

created opportunities for a GEF catalytic effect through the

integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach.

The priorities included interventions for controlling land

degradation at watershed level; reducing pressure and depend-

ence on the natural resource base through fostering markets

for non-timber forest products; biodiversity conservation and

management through watershed planning and community

participation; and increasing adaptation to climate change

in natural resource-based production systems. The interven-

tions were based on good practices for integrated management

of land, soil, water and forest vegetation to ensure improve-

ments and maintenance of critical ecosystem services in the

watersheds. For example, ponds and recharge pits on upper

levels of slopes were used to reduce erosion, capture water for

recharge, enhance rejuvenation of traditional water sources

and increase moisture for plant regeneration in the water-

sheds, including high value perennial grasses for livestock

feeding. Other best practices with regards to soil conservation

include terrace repairs with the help of vegetative boundary,

rainwater harvesting in village ponds, dry stone check-dams,

irrigation channels and river bank protection.

The Uttarakhand SLEM project was a unique opportunity

to implement the watershed guidelines of the Government

of India approved a few times before the beginning of the

project. The Watershed Management Directorate (WMD)

serves as a state-level agency to manage all the watershed

projects in the state. Multidisciplinary teams of four to six

specialists seconded from line departments (horticulture,

agriculture, animal husbandry, minor irrigation, forestry and

community mobilization) played a key role in providing tech-

nical support across the watersheds. In addition to expertise

from line departments, the WMD also mobilized a wide range

of national institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs)

to harness technical support for delivering interventions.

The institutions contributed training and capacity needs,

demonstration of new technologies, microfinance, and devel-

opment of market value chains for communities across the

targeted watersheds. These efforts further increased the poten-

tial for communities to take advantage of improvements in

land and water resources for income generation, such as

through use of high-value crops (ginger and turmeric) and

adaptive livestock breeds (goats and buffalo). These oppor-

iving

and