Enhancing Rural Livelihoods through Participatory Watershed Development in India

Abstract

"India is remarkable not only in the scale of its wastelands, and in the volume of government funds committed to reversing degradation, but especially in the attempt to link environmental improvement and poverty reduction. The governments 1994 Guidelines for microwatershed rehabilitation envisage a high degree of participation and local autonomy in the design and implementation of rehabilitation. This paper reviews experience to date in putting the Guidelines into practice."