Rapid Watershed Assessment for Outer Island Indonesia with a Kalimantan Case Study

PhD University of Hawaii at Manoa 1991Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238–256).Watershed management is a complex, multi-step process requiring cooperative effort among several sectors and levels of government as well as watershed land users. Indonesia, like most developing countries, has difficulty effectively managing watersheds because of inadequacies in: 1) Basic data and scientific research; 2) skilled technicians and scientists; 3) institutions and organizations; 4) funding; and 5) information about watershed land and land use. The first four of these constraints can only be remedied by long term effort, but basic information about land and land use can be acquired rapidly if an appropriate assessment method is devised. Considerable effort has gone into developing watershed assessment methodologies in Indonesia, but these have been too costly and complex to be used by provincial officials responsible for watershed management. Furthermore, most assessment methods are designed for conditions on the Inner Islands (i.e., Java, Madura, and Bali) rather than the Outer Islands that comprise the rest of the nation. The Riam Kanan Basin in South Kalimantan is a typical Outer Island watershed in terms of population density, land, use, and land cover, but is unusual in that it is the site of a major hydro-electric dam and reservoir. The government has attempted to reforest the watershed to combat perceived hydrological and sedimentation problems thought to result from local agricultural practices. An assessment of Riam Kanan indicates that government perceptions are wrong, and that reforestation is ineffective, costly, and disruptive to watershed inhabitants. Watershed farmers actually need government assistance to intensify their cropping systems. The Riam Kanan case study provided the basis for a new methodology called Rapid Watershed Assessment (RWA). It provides a way to quickly and inexpensively assess watersheds on the Outer Islands of Indonesia using resources that are routinely available to provincial government. RWA is based on twelve design principles, and incorporates techniques from land systems mapping, Rapid Rural Appraisal, agroecosystems analysis, and critical area identification/sediment bUdgeting. RWA is technically and institutionally feasible, but its adoption would require major policy changes and a concerted effort by central and provincial governments