Choo Ta Goh

An Integrated Approach for Stakeholder Participation in Watershed Management

Water is an essential element for life. However, the rapid urbanization and industrial development in the past decades have put stress on water resources. Water resource management is intended to solve watershed problems on a sustainable basis, and these problems can be categorized into lack of water (quantity), deterioration in water quality, ecological effects, poor public participation, and low output economic value for investment in watershed-related activities. Involvement of stakeholders is of utmost importance to ensure no one is left behind in the sustainable management of water resources. Hence, an integrated approach has emerged as a shift from the structural approach to a nonstructural approach, that is, from engineering-based solutions to community-based solutions, aiming to induce policy-driven institutional change, particularly the coordination and integration of multiple stakeholders toward sustainable watershed management