NRA, ICAR‑NBSS, LPU and DOLR organized a national consultation to strengthen science‑based watershed management.

In view of climate change and increasing water scarcity, India has taken an important step towards reorienting its watershed management on a scientific basis. Under this initiative, National Rivers Authority (NRA), Indian Council of Agricultural Research‑National Land Survey Service (ICAR‑NBSS), Lovely Professional University (LUP) and Department of Land Resources (DoLR) conducted a national level consultation. The forum was attended by representatives of Central and State Governments, climate experts, hydrologists, Geo‑Information System (GIS) experts and representatives of NGOs to discuss the current watershed management challenges and present data-driven solutions.

The main objective of the consultation is to prepare a national roadmap integrating scientific models, remote sensing, water harvesting techniques and community participation to ensure sustainable availability of water resources. Participants pointed out that many watershed schemes over the years have not yielded the desired results due to technical deficiencies and neglect of local socio-economic conditions. This new initiative will use high‑resolution satellite data, climate prediction models and detailed information on water-land interactions for water resource assessment.