Innovations under the Shadow of COVID-19

The National Manager of the Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project, CIWP, discussed the innovations used by companies implementing the project of “Modeling Local Participation for Restoration of Lake Urmia” in East and West Azerbaijan Provinces for advancing shared activities at the time of the COVID-19 spread.

While appreciating and acknowledging the accountability, dependability, and continuous efforts of stakeholders and colleagues in advancing the goals of the project of “Modeling Local Participation for Restoration of Lake Urmia”, Ali Arvahi, the National Project Manager of CIWP talked about the operational innovations of the experts in implementing companies.
The National Manager of CIWP expressed his satisfaction with the performance and progress achieved through the efforts of implementing companies in recent years and added “since early February of 2020 when the COVID-19 spread into Iran, and in face of the restrictions for visiting and contacting villagers, the implementing and local companies located in some of the city districts in the Lake Urmia basin in East and West Azerbaijan Provinces that are implementing participatory methods in agriculture in order to optimize the consumption of agricultural inputs (including water, fertilizers, and chemical pesticides) and to improve the livelihood of farmers in the area, have not stopped their supporting efforts for informing and training local farmers and the local community, and have implemented a number of innovative measures in this field including one-on-one interactions with the farmers in case of visiting villages, utilizing audiovisual tools, preparing media-based training material, and providing virtual training on technical methods instead of group training workshops, as well as increasing the follow-ups to ensure that farmers are applying the techniques.
It is worth mentioning that unfortunately in some of the pilot villages of this project due to losing a number of village residents, there are commute restrictions for the nonresidents, and in such cases, communication is only done in a virtual manner and using phone calls”.
Arvahi also added that during recent years similar to the last year, the project of “Modeling Local Community Participation in Lake Urmia Restoration” has tried to define a number of activities in various effective water and soil management fields in 150 pilot villages in East and West Azerbaijan Provinces. Among other things, these activities include the establishment of sustainable farming practices, the establishment of livelihood models compatible with water scarcity, and facilitation of founding micro-funds for female village residents.
The important point in implementing such activities is the boosting of capacities and capabilities of local implementing companies for performing measures related to the above-mentioned projects. In this regard, 35 rural women active in one of the projects on livelihoods compatible with water resources as well as in micro-funds for female villagers in Ghareh-Ghouzlou, Akhound-Gheshlagh, Yangikand-Khanebargh, Zavaregh-Chapghalou, and Ghareh-Chapagh in Bonab County worked in small groups and individuals as volunteers to manufacture 7,500 masks and 1,920 scrubs while following strict health rules to provide them to healthcare centers to help the workers in those centers.
Finally, Arvahi expressed his satisfaction with the current state of Lake Urmia and added that “at the moment, Lake Urmia with a water level of 1271.65 meters and an area of 3080 square kilometers is in its best condition during the last six years, and this is owed to the continuous efforts of relevant authorities and stakeholders in the Urmia Lake Restoration Program and all the public and private stakeholders as well as changes in the behaviors of the local community in the catchment area of this lake.”
At the end, he explained that in the meantime, CIWP is preparing plans for consolidating the valuable outcomes obtained by implementing “Modeling Local Participation for Restoration of Lake Urmia”, and in this regard, it is predicted that with the help of key stakeholders and devising a suitable road map, this important objective can be realized. Among the most important activities in this regard, the documentation and finalizing of “Modeling Local Participation for Restoration of Lake Urmia”, preparing a management toolkit for realizing this objective, effective and constant communication with relevant key ministries including the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, efforts for approving and communicating the operational plan at various levels of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad, planning for the provision of the model in the National Headquarters for Coordination and Management of Wetlands, attracting support from various operational departments, and finally consolidation of the protection for Lake Urmia and other wetlands in the country in different chapters of the Seventh Socioeconomic Development Plan for Iran, can be mentioned.