Comparative effect of conventional and adaptive management approaches on watershed health

Watershed management initiatives are designed to conserve essential soil, water, and vegetation resources while ensuring production and agricultural sustainability. As a result, assessing watershed management projects is a must for future executive planning and natural resource management. However, there has yet to be a quantitative performance evaluation of alternative watershed management techniques on the watershed's overall health. The current study used the pressure-state response (PSR) conceptual framework to assess watershed health in the current scenario and identify the related functional criteria and indicators at the sub-watershed level. Field surveys and reviews of available information were used to identify and characterize current watershed concerns and challenges. The PSR framework was used to assess the impact of conventional watershed management measures and a problem-oriented adaptive management strategy on watershed health in the Mikhsaz Watershed in northern Iran. The influence of changes in the contribution of the study criteria to the health and corresponding scenarios on modifying the watershed health was evaluated. A health index score of 0.68 revealed a healthy class in the current circumstances. The health index was somewhat enhanced after adding the typical or conventional measurements in the research area (i.e., 0.69). Adaptive management techniques in response to the identified issues improved the watershed's health index by 7.2% (i.e., 0.74) in a more efficient, technically acceptable, and ecologically benign manner. As a result, the adaptive management measure increased economic productivity by 61% compared to the conventional measures. The study's findings call for a global revival in watershed management policy, focusing on developing nations.