The Conservation of Iranian Wetlands project, initiated in 2005 by Iran’Department of Environment, the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility, aims to mitigate the threats to biodiversity and environmental sustainability faced by Iranian wetlands by creating a national wetlands management system piloted in three demonstration sites. By managing these risks, the project also supports Iran in meeting its international commitments under the Ramsar Convention on wetlands (signed in 1971).