The book aims to address the interdisciplinary targets of watershed management in mountain regions based on the current knowledge of the subject. The focus of the book is particularly on monitoring, research, and modelling the interactions between the climate, water cycle, and aquatic ecosystem. The issues of watershed management in mountain regions in different parts of Europe, Africa, America and Asia have been the central theme of the book, which is basically divided into five sections: Institutional aspects in control of mountain regions; Stream-flow processes in mountain catchments; Water chemistry and biota in mountain streams and lakes; Effects of forest practices and climate change on hydrological phenomena; and Soil conservation and control of floods and landslides. The contributions have been peer-reviewed and the interdisciplinary team of authors includes experts from the specialised areas of geography, hydrology, chemistry, biology, forestry, ecology, economy and sociology. The practical applications and management strategies mentioned in the book, deal with the integrated resource management approach, based on the compromise between the development, conservation/ protection of the nature. Finally, the socio-economic and cultural aspects, and ecosystem prevalent in a mountain catchment are discussed in detail.

In this volume, the erosion and conservation measures discussed are, for the most part, those under unirrigated agriculture. The use of irrigation could cause significant changes in the growing seasons, and in the agricultural calendar, especially in the warmer climates where temperature is not a limiting factor. It is further noted that much of the material in this volume has been prepared with the developing countries of the so-called Third World in mind. In many of these countries there is a dearth of basic data, such as long-term hydrological records, detailed soil and topographic surveys, and experimental results for various types of erosion control measures. Some design procedures cannot be imitated or copied directly from those of the technologically more advanced countries. Consequently, emphasis will be placed, wherever possible, upon simple empirical methods of design, and approximate solutions within the limitations of the available data, technical possibilities, and financial resources of the Third World countries. Much of the numerical data and calculations will be presented in the metric system.