Watersheds play a crucial role in sustaining the ecosystem, biodiversity, wildlife, agriculture, and human population by serving as the natural resource base for all forms of life. These natural boundaries of river catchments form a mosaic covering the entire land surface of the earth. Watersheds describe areas of land that feed water to a river, draining through the landscape into tributaries and main river channels. This MEM Special Topic examines the opportunities to redirect funds currently allocated for agricultural and forestry inputs toward a more explicit emphasis on watersheds. It explores why a stronger focus on watersheds is important for Malawi, discusses options for financing interventions aimed at rehabilitating the country’s degraded watersheds, and suggests ways to enhance the involvement of the private sector.
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