| Abstrakt: |
Introduction: In the past decades, the development of human needs, climate changes, urbanization, and the rapid development of industry, agriculture, drought, floods, and soil erosion have caused watershed degradation. On the other hand, resources are used to exploit natural resources. An imbalance in the functioning of watersheds causes various hydrological, ecological, economic, and social functions to face various problems and reduce the watershed health and associated functions. A healthy watershed plays an essential role in ensuring the stability of socio-economic systems and improving human well-being. Due to their complexity, they should be restored and controlled through ecological risk assessment to ensure their restoration and effective management. Therefore, comprehensive watershed management is vital to maintaining the health and sustainability of natural resources and watersheds. Materials and methods: Watersheds as socio-ecological systems have management complexities due to the interaction between the components of ecosystems, the types of activities carried out in them, and the dynamics of these systems. Hence, it is necessary to consider different watershed management approaches to conserve watershed services appropriately. Towards that, the Watershed Management Ladder (WML) consists of three main approaches: non-integrated (fragmented) watershed management, integrated watershed management, and comprehensive watershed management. It is being employed to recognize the position of the watershed in the study ladder. In this research, a field visit to the region was first conducted to draw a conceptual model according to the goals, visions, and missions of the stakeholders. The detailed implementation studies of the Fakhran Watershed were then comprehensively reviewed with the primary goal of evaluating the management position of the Fakhran Watershed in the watershed management ladder. In this regard, at first, the management approaches of the ladder were explained. Then, each approach was investigated according to the detailed implementation studies of the study watershed. On the other hand, since each watershed is placed on the rungs of this ladder according to the conditions and research carried out, brief solutions necessary to move to higher rungs in the Fakhran Watershed were also presented. Results and Discussion: The non-integrated watershed management approach, interdisciplinary sub-approaches, and watershed approach have been carried out based on the studies conducted in this watershed. The research results in Iran indicated that non-integrated watershed management approaches, integrated watershed and comprehensive management of watersheds, and the place of watersheds in WML are yet to be evaluated. Therefore, the current research discusses the position of the Fakhran Watershed in Iran’s South Khorasan in WML. Nonetheless, the implementation-research approach, including health and sustainability assessment, which is one of the essential aspects of this approach, has to be studied in the watershed. In this regard, in the studies of the Fakhran Watershed, the scale of the watershed has been considered to solve hydrological and ecological problems, and the watershed approach has been taken into account in this watershed. The next step of this approach is the implementation-research step, but the plans are implemented again based on the guidelines that still need to be evaluated and updated. So, success at different levels of management in watersheds requires having appropriate knowledge in explaining processes and dealing with various events in watersheds, which is a departure from the current conditions and evokes health in performance and sustainability in providing watershed services. Accordingly, in addition to indigenous knowledge, modern science is influential in empowering communities and moving toward sustainable development. It can be used in the comprehensive management of watersheds and other knowledge. The Fakhran Watershed is, therefore, placed in the third rung of the non-integrated watershed approach. Conclusions: A significant part of these deficiencies and the need for the placement of the studies of this watershed in the higher rungs of WML are towards the description of public services and similar and common existing syllabi for the developmental and implementation projects. It confirms the necessity of revisiting the description of goal-oriented and problem-oriented services in the developmental and implementation projects. Accordingly, watershed officials and policymakers should use new scientific and community-oriented approaches in line with the changing social, economic, cultural, and managerial needs to take up the watershed management position to the upper rungs of WML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
