Objectives of Watershed Management

The main goal of Watershed Management – sustainable management of natural resources to improve the quality of living for the population – is to be accomplished by the following objectives:

• supply and securing of clean and sufficient drinking water for the population;
• provision and securing of access to sanitation;
• improvement and restoration of soil quality and thus, raising productivity rates;
• reducing the impact of natural hazards (especially in the context of climate change);
• improvement of the income of the population with simultaneous regeneration of natural resources;
• improvement of infrastructure for storage, transport and agricultural marketing;
• improvement of physical health (supported by clean drinking water, access to sanitation, improved nourishment);
• advancement of (environmental) education and self-help;
• improvement of an effective management of the financial resources available for environmental and international cooperation (Bollom 1998; Förch and Schütt 2004 b; Panda 2003).

'What does WM comprise' is explained on the next learning page.