<p>The effectiveness and capacity by which society manages its watershed resources is mediated by different factors, namely: economic considerations—financial capital; technical and administrative capacity—intellectual capital; social governance capacity—social and institutional capital; and legal framework—political capital. The levels within which these factors can be analyzed include the macro-level, that is, the national level; and the micro-level that operates at watershed management unit.</p>
<p>There are three foci of inquiry with regards to attempts to adopt a watershed-based approach to water resources management:</p>
<ul>
<li>there is a need to look into the conditions that affect the linkages between watershed resource management and the sustainability of governance and production systems</li>
<li>there is a need to analyze the manner governance mechanisms can be “directed” towards improving livelihood sustainability and the maintenance of watershed resources</li>
<li>there is a need to assess the processes in which governance and production mechanisms are transformed as forest-based communities within watershed areas are integrated further into mainstream market and political structures</li>
</ul>
<p>Corollary to this is an evaluation of the implications of these transformations in scale to watershed management, particularly to managing the resource using the watershed approach.</p>