Watershed management in Iran: history, evolution and future needs

In order to achieve sustainable development, planning an appropriate management program is essential. Watersheds are the main units of land management and the main objective of this paper is to review the history, current status and future management needs of these units in Iran. For this purpose, the concepts of watershed and watershed management were explained and organizational structure, activities and current approach to watershed management have been investigated. Four case studies of the approach and practices of watershed management in Iran and abroad were also mentioned (two internal samples and two external). The historic course of watershed management in Iran indicates that signs of changing approach are ongoing from a traditional mechanical to the systemic management approach. As a general conclusion for improving integrated management of watersheds in Iran, some suggestions were offered as follow: improving the current organizational structure of watershed management and establishing committees called watershed council, considering the scale of the watershed, applying a united and appropriate watershed management model, shifting the attitudes from technical engineering to managerial approaches toward the nature of watershed management, watershed participatory governance and establishing an unitary and coherent organizational structure.