گروه نامشخص

The Project for Modeling Public Participation in the Restoration of Lake Urmia
The results of implementing a number of sustainable agricultural pilot projects by the CIWP with the help of the Ministry for Agricultural Jihad in various locations around Iran, including a village near Lake Urmia, showed the great available potential for reducing water consumption and the consumption of chemical inputs provided that the income of the farmers was maintained. In order to expand these outcomes and in order to promote public participation in the protection and restoration of wetlands, “the Project for Modeling Public Participation in the Restoration of Lake Urmia” was added as a new activity to the agenda of the CIWP as the representative of the Department of Environment in 2014 with the help of the government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This project was first started by covering 41 villages in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan Provinces.
Successful outcomes and the time-consuming nature of developmental projects led to the extension of this partnership for seven consecutive years in 170 villages in Eastern and Western Azerbaijan Provinces. Then, the attention and allocation of international resources along with utilizing governmental and non-governmental infrastructure lead to the formation of a social movement at the national and local levels for the restoration of Lake Urmia.
Some of the important outcomes of this project during recent years include promotion of cross-departmental partnership, social responsibility, and attracting the participation of local communities in the restoration of Lake Urmia. In this regard, more than 12 thousand people from local communities and farmers in the catchment area of Lake Urmia has so far participated in this project after receiving relevant training.
Some other results of this project include:
•    Reducing water consumption and increasing irrigation productivity by 25.4 and 41.9 percent, respectively;
•    Creating new job opportunities for 250 local experts;
•    Establishment of a number of local companies and NGOs working with the project (30 companies and 12 NGOs);
•    Creating green employment for more than 750 female villagers through establishing rural micro funds.