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Land use changes are altering the hydrologic system and have potentially large impacts on water
resources. Rapid socio-economic development drives land use change. There is an urgent need for
technologies and models that can quantify the impact of land use change and management practices in an
organized manner. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) integrated with Geographic Information
System (GIS) has great potential in current estimation, future prediction and proper decision making in
terrestrial ecosystems. This review discusses the current utilization of SWAT in impact assessment of land
use/cover change and best management practices. Resulted, deployment of SWAT and land use/cover
simulation models for impact assessment improves accuracy, reduces costs, and allows the simulation of
a wide variety of conservation practices at watershed scale. This review demonstrates the synergistic role
of SWAT and GIS technologies in improving watershed management.
Keywords: watershed, Land, hydrological processes, SWAT.