Anzali Wetland Ecological Management Project
Iran
February 10,2007
November 1, 2007- August 31, 2012
Department of Environment
The Anzali Wetland (about 193 km2) is internationally known as a habitat of migratory birds and is located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. It was registered as a Ramsar site (150 km2) in June 1975. However due to range of influence related to human activity, the Wetland has been degraded, and in 1993 the Anzali Wetland was listed in the Montreux Record as it was necessary to be preferentially retrieved. Environmental conditions in the Anzali Wetland have been degraded due to direct impact by development activities and indirect impact through inflow of sewerage, wastewater and solid waste, and soil inflow from the upper stream mountainous area.
Under such situation, the Government of Iran requested the Government of Japan to consider a technical co-operation for a comprehensive study to establisha plan for conservation of the Anzali Wetland. In response to the request, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) implemented "the Study on Integrated Management for Ecosystem Conservation of the Anzali Wetland" between February 2003 and March 2005. The study accomplished the following activities: 1) Development of an integrated Master Plan (M/P) for the conservation of the Anzali Wetland, 2) Implementation of pilot activities, some of the prevention measures identified in the M/P, and 3) Assistance for capacity development of the concerned organizations and their staff to build up co-ordination mechanisms for overall wetland management.
As a next step, the Government of Iran asked the Government of Japan to consider a technical cooperation for formulation of the wetland conservation mechanism detail framework of zoning that need technical assistance.
In response to the request, JICA dispatched preliminary mission in October 2006, and carried out collection of information, discussion and co-ordination with the Government of Iran. Record of Discussion (R/D) was made in February 2007, and "the Anzali Wetland Ecological Management Project" was commenced from November 2007.
Though the Project was interrupted by the Government of Iran in October 2008, Department of the Environment (DOE) that is the project implementation body in Iran requested to recommence the project in April 2010. JICA dispatched a project consultation mission in September 2010, and agreed with the Government of Iran to recommence the project. The project was recommenced in March 2011, and it is scheduled to end in September 2012.
Project Purpose :A basic system including institutional and technical aspects for the management of the Anzali wetland, for which DOE is the core constituent, is established.
Overall goal: The Anzali wetland management system, for which DOE is a core constituent, practices adaptive management.
1-1 | Collect and summarize information on the wetland management activities of relevant organizations. |
1-2 | Draft a plan for a system for the wetland management that shows institutional structure, committee members, roles, responsibilities and others. |
1-3 | Make an agreement between relevant government offices on formulation of a wetland management committee as part of the management system. |
1-4 | Establish the wetland management committee with DOE as the secretariat that plays key roles in the management system. |
1-5 | Provide on_the_job training to DOE for the management of the committee. |
1-6 | Provide trainings to the staff of the relevant government offices for further understanding of the wetland management. |
2-1 | Collect information on on_going monitoring activities conducted by each organization, capacity of the staff and the equipment. |
2-2 | Identify indicators for the wetland conservation, such as water level, water quality and wildlife. |
2-3 | Determine monitoring procedures for collection, analysis of data and data handling (database) for the Anzali wetland and develop them into a manual. |
2-4 | The monitoring manual be presented and have an agreement in the committee. |
2-5 | Provide trainings to relevant organizations on monitoring procedures. |
3-1 | Conduct a socio_economic survey in the Anzali wetland and the surrounding area. |
3-2 | Based on the results of the socio_economic survey, review the zoning plan presented in the Master Plan and draft regulations for each zone. |
3-3 | Hold stakeholder meetings to explain zoning, the survey results and the draft regulations to receive feedback. |
3-4 | Finalize zoning plan with boundaries and regulations, which need to be presented at the committee for discussions. |
4-1 | Collect information on on_going activities and existing materials for environmental education in Guilan Province. |
4-2 | Referring to the results of the pilot project in the Master Plan study, formulate an action plan for environmental education including the training schedule at the Environmental Education Center. |
4-3 | Make an agreement on the environmental education action plan in the committee. |
4-4 | Produce materials for environmental education in the above action plan, including audio_visual materials. |
5-1 | Collect information on on_going ecotourism activities conducted in Guilan Province including activities of private sector. |
5-2 | Referring to the results of the pilot project in the Master Plan study, formulate an action plan for ecotourism including training and development of small_scale facilities. |
5-3 | Make an agreement on the ecotourism action plan in the wetland management committee. |
5-4 | Construct small_scale facilities for ecotourism, which may include wooden trails, observation huts and sign board. |
Vehicle(2), Equipment for data collection, Equipment for environment education, Construction material for small-scale infrastucture on ecotourism
training Iranian counterparts in Japan or the third countries(1-2 persons per year)