Integrated watershed approach for combating drought in a semi-arid region of India: the case of Jhabua watershed.

The integrated watershed management approach for the semi-arid regions of India is considered to be very important due to the inadequate availability of water resources. The drought experienced in recent years has brought on an environmental and socio-economic crisis in these regions. The role of the watershed management has been crucial and development of alternative water resources has been critically important. To overcome the isolated sectoral development planning and implementation, as was done in many of the previous land based programs in India, an integrated concept of watershed development through participatory planning and actions has been followed for combating drought in Jhabua watershed in Madhya Pradesh state, India. This research paper will look into the successful watershed management experience of our on-going research project, and appropriate watershed strategies for the Jhabua watershed.