Technical Report Challenges Facing Watershed Management in Iran by using Delphi Technique

Degradation and over exploitation of natural resources is the most important constraints to sustainable development in many developing countries. Looking at the destruction Facts and figures of range lands, forests, soil erosion and water loss in our country represents numerous challenges in this field. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the current challenges of watershed management in the country. The population for this study consisted of natural resources management experts in the throughout country that had sufficient knowledge and experience. Delphi results, which were conducted in three rounds, showed that the most important challenges of watershed management for the country included: multiplicity of decision centers, lack of external organizational coordination, lack of real participation of stakeholders in designing and implementation of projects and disregarding economic-social studies that had high averages, respectively. Extracted challenges were classified in various categories included: Management challenges, policy-making, research and informing, participation and social justice and economic challenges. Based on the identified challenges, we conclude that watershed management in Iran lacks integrated approach. Therefore, implementation of integrated management is essential to sustainable watershed management.