THE protection of forests and rivers is at the heart of protecting the ecology of the Himalayas. But any long-term, sustainable effort must include the concerns of people living near forests and rivers.

This article describes the estimation of natural recharge and determination of aquifer parameters of a watershed located in coastal belt around Tuticorin town, Tamil Nadu, India, using radioactive tracer and pumping test methods. Recharge measurements were made at several spots to weathered gneiss, shale limestone, quartzite and coastal alluvium formations using tritium injection technique.

A study was carried out for the simulation of sediment yield from an agricultural watershed falling in laterite zone of West Bengal using event scale Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE).

Land degradation, subsistence farming with poor crop harvests and lack of employment opportunities has resulted in poverty in eastern ghats of Orissa. To avert the situation, IWDP and TDET watershed projects were implemented in Kokriguda watershed which represents the resource position of this tribal region, during 1997 to 2003.

Hydrological risks to agriculture are mainly due to inadequate or erratic rainfall resulting in deficit water stress to crop plants. The susceptibility of agriculture production system to such risks can be assessed from the characteristics of rainfall, soil and plant.

In this paper a new dimension has been added to watershed management by proposing a whole programme by reorienting Bioindustrial Watershed Management. Land holdings are small, and are getting smaller. Even after all the available agricultural production technology, the small land holder's income are still remain small.