CIWP started its activities since 2005 along with the Iranian Department of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme with the objective of mitigating or eliminating threats to the sustainability and survival of Iranian wetland ecosystems. Accordingly, during the last 15 years,CIWP focused on developing integrated management plans based on the ecosystem approach, and so far, 17 integrated management plans have been developed, approved, and formally announced for the wetlands in the country. These plans have been developed through a bottom-up participatory process, approved at various administrative levels in cities and provinces, and have been implemented by the organized intersectoral management structures that has local communities and NGOs as members.