Increasing water scarcity is being experienced in Thailand, leading to more attention being directed to watershed management. This paper describes a project undertaken to assess and organise the information base available for integrated watershed management planning in northern Thailand. The situation is complicated by the presence of over half a million hilltribe peoples, many of whom practise slash and burn agriculture and are also unable to produce sufficient food to survive. Although a considerable amount of watershed management information exists, it is located in many different agencies, difficult to gain access to, of dubious quality, very variable in spatial and thematic coverage, and seldom applied to resolve management problems.
