摘要
Across the Himalaya, lesser Himalayan watersheds are the most vulnerable to environmental degradation. It is due to fragile conservational disposition, increasing developmental pressure and tourism. Micro-watershed prioritization is the best scientific option for managing the natural resources while maintaining pace of development. In this study, a typical sub-watershed of the lesser Himalaya (Tons sub-watershed: TSW) has been selected for prioritizing its micro-watershed and proposing a suitable and sustainable site for a small hydro-water plant installation. Micro-watershed prioritization is based on the integrated analysis of geo-morphometric, land use/land cover, lithological and soil type parameters associated with tools of remote sensing and geographical information system. This study characterized four micro-watersheds in TSW: 2C6C1a1, 2C6C1a2, 2C6C1a3 and 2C6C1a4 and assessed the risk and vulnerability of natural resources degradation. Individual category parameter for each micro-watershed has been evaluated, compared and ranks have been assigned based on their capacity to induce erodibility. Integrated theme-based rankings have been determined for each micro-watershed and final (composite) prioritization has been done accordingly. The results reveal that micro-watersheds 2C6C1a2 and 2C6C1a3 fall under medium priority, micro-watershed 2C6C1a4 indicates low priority, while micro-watershed 2C6C1a1 falls in high priority zone in the study area. The developed methodology and the results presented here will be imperative to prepare a comprehensive micro-watershed management planning. The results will be utilized to understand the topography, nature of the basin and demarcation of suitable site for the installation of a small multi-purpose hydropower plant in the study area.