Watershed Resilience: Concept and Necessity

Nowadays, natural disasters and human interventions are the main causes of problems at the watershed scale, hence, the management of such challenges is considered as one of the major problems. However, the present approaches for the management of the watershed resource do not appropriately handle the current issues. So that the scope and type of environmental issues are ever increasing and stand beyond the ecosystem tolerance. As communities strive for recover from disasters and move forward, resilient watersheds facilitate better management of natural systems against future hazards. Towards this, the resilience assessment approach has been proposed as a novel approach using existing potentials and pertinent definitions, indicators, and measurement patterns to strengthen multidimensional systems such as watersheds. Since the application of resilience analysis approach in dynamic and complex, it has not been conceptualized and reported until now in watershed systems. Accordingly, the present endeavor is an attempt to conceptualize the resilience of watersheds in order to provide a useful perspective for understanding management decisions and changes related to natural resources in the context of comprehensive watershed management.