Multiscale analysis for promoting integrated watershed management

Integrated Watershed Management involves many aspects of the biophysical and socio economic world operating at many different scales. It is a complex process since it involves a wide range of stakeholders that live, and compete for limited resources, at different temporal and spatial scales. In order to gain knowledge about appropriate approaches for integrating natural resources management with rural development strategies, this study details a framework designed to implement research and development activities in the Fuquene watershed of Colombia. The framework integrates key spatial information, available at different scales for the site, to facilitate envisioning different land-use scenarios and their impacts upon water resources. Subsequently, selected alternative scenarios of the impact on the identified externalities are analyzed using optimization models. Opportunities for, and constraints to, promoting cooperation among users are identified, using economic games in which more sustainable land-use or management alternatives are suggested. Strategic alliances and collective action are implemented to test the feasibility of environmental and economic alternatives. Their implementation is supported by co-funding schemes designed with private and public stakeholders in the study area. Research needs and limitations of the methodology are discussed The approach described here shows that integration is accomplished only when different scales of decision-making are considered and if activities at plot detail are linked with effects at the watershed scale.