PESHAWAR, Aug 3: Work on the hydro-meteorological network in the Sharkul watershed of Mansehra district has been completed with the financial assistance of European Union.

The network will monitor the dynamics of forests and soil erosion and its degradation under various rainfall intensities in the Himalayan region.

The network, comprising five hydrological and two meteorological stations and eights erosion plots under different land uses, i.e. agriculture, pasture and forestry, was established as a part of the Himalayan Forest and Soil Degradation project to study and analyze the dynamics of forests and soil degradation at watershed level in the region, said a press release issued on Saturday.

The European Union assisted the Pakistan government through the Ministry of Environment in the execution of the project, which was launched in October 2001, in the Sharkul watershed of Mansehra district, with the involvement of technical experts from the Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar.

The project aims at studying the existing system behaviour and develop strategies for sustainable management of watershed areas in the Himalayan region.

Another aspect of the project is to apply the participatory management approach of watershed management and develop bio-physical and economic models for control of forests and soil degradation under existing and alternate ecological, technical and economic regions.

A detailed soil survey is also underway with the collaboration of Soil Survey of Pakistan. This will be followed by the study and analysis of socio-economic factors contributing to the forests and soil degradation processes.