IPROMO
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ON RESEARCH AND TRAINING ON SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF MOUNTAIN AREAS

Course 2013:Understanding Upland Watershed Management

Introduction

 

The sixth edition of the summer IPROMO course will be devoted to understanding the role of upland watershed management. By providing high-quality freshwater, regulating discharge and run-off, and hosting fertile arable land and huge forests resources, watersheds play a pivotal role in the ecology of our planet and contribute significantly to the wealth and welfare of human societies.

Over centuries, upland cultures have developed sophisticated livelihood practices that allow local people to make a sustainable living in the special (and sometimes harsh) environment of watersheds. The socio-economic importance of watersheds is twofold: for local inhabitants and for lowland users of watershed produce.

Increasingly,an integrated, collaborative watershed management has become widely accepted as a promising approach for conserving water, land and biodiversity, enhancing local livelihoods, improving the economy of upland inhabitants and people living in downstream areas, and ensuring sound sustainable natural resources management overall.

Objectives

 

The course will be held in Ormea (Piedmont - Western Italian Alps) and will involve around 30 participants from all over the world. The overall purpose of course is to provide post-graduate students, researchers and technicians with a scientific knowledge and understanding of the importance of upland watershed management and the approaches and methods for a new generation of watershed management. The course will focus on the main features of watershed management in particular resource management and land use systems. It will look at the linkages with climate change, with disaster risk management, with food security and nutrition, and improving livelihoods and economic activities in a watershed. It will also include lectures on governance, institutions and gender issues.

Structure and Venue

 

The activities will start on the 12th of July with a welcome and overview of the course and end on the 22th of July with a closing ceremony; the course will include lectures, seminars, group work and a field trip. The lecturers will be experts from the UN system, universities, international organizations and NGOs. As in previous years, the activities will be organized by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat at FAO and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin, with the financial support of the local institutions (in particular the “Comune di Ormea”) and international organizations.

Click here for the provisional schedule of the course.

Basic information

 

Organisers:

Scientific Director: Prof. Ermanno Zanini - DI.VA.P.R.A. Faculty of Agriculture - University of Torino, Italy. 
Mountain Partnership Secretariat: Rosalaura Romeo, FAO, Rome. 
Official language of the course: English


Official language of the course: English

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