The Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project (CIWP) is a joint initiative between the Government of
Islamic Republic of Iran (led by the Department of Environment), Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which started in 2005 and was scheduled to end
in April 2013. However, in response to a recommendation of the Terminal Evaluation a scale-up
phase was approved by the Department of Environment and UNDP to ensure that CIWP’s results are
systematically up-scaled both vertically and horizontally, , and thereby to achieve greater
sustainability.
While the underlying aim of first phase of the project was to conduct a pilot and demonstration
conservation operation, which could be adopted by the Government and applied to the other
national wetlands, the scale-up phase will take CIWP successful pilot to a large scale and establish
wetland management plans and inter-sectoral coordination structures for 10 important Iranian
wetlands (7 new wetlands+3 CIWP demonstration sites). In addition, this phase will put in place a
strong wetlands ecosystem management legislative platform and inter-sectoral administrative
structures at national level supporting implementation of the “Ecosystem Approach” in important
Iranian wetlands and share CIWP and other wetlands management initiatives, knowledge and
lessons learnt with the entire region of South and central Asia.