Workshop on Operationalizing the Regional Collaborative Platform to Address ‘Water Consumption, Water Productivity and Drought Management’ in Agriculture, 27 - 29 October 2015, Cairo, Egypt

1. NENA REGIONAL STAKEHOLDERS WORKSHOP
on
Operationalizing the Regional Collaborative Platform to address ‘water consumption’, ‘water productivity’
and ‘drought management’ in Agriculture
Cairo, 27-29 October, 2015
Drought Management in IRAN
Pilot project
Local community participation in Sustainable Agriculture
for Saving Lake Urmia Basin’s Ecosystem
Dr. Masoud Bagherzadeh Karimi
Deputy Director General on Wetlands
Department of Environment - I.R.IRAN

2. Location and geography of Lake Urmia Basin
• 6 Hydrological Basins in IRAN.
• Lake Urmia basin located in North-West
of the country,
• LU basin area: 52000 km2
• LU area: 5,000 km2
• Shallow water body (average depth 5.4 meter)
• Average water level 1275. 5 masl
• More than 5 Million People in the basin
• Vast hyper-saline (185 t0 250 gr/lit) lake
– now (>400 gr/lit)

3. Ecological Importance of Lake Urmia
 The Lake is a National Park
 One of the largest wetlands in Iran with globally importance
 (designated as a Ramsar Site in Ramsar Convention)
 5 Ramsar Sites in the basin, include Urmia lake
and some of surrounding wetlands.
 UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
 9 globally important bird areas in Lake Urmia’s Islands
and surrounding wetlands.

4. Current situation of LU
Current water level 1270.1(Oct. 2015) - (Av. 1275.5, Max. 1278.4) masl
Current area 900 km2 - 5,000 km2 in normal conditions
Current water volume 1.4 bcm - 32 bcm in normal conditions

5. Main Challenges in LU Basin
• Drought and climate change in the region
(decreasing of precipitation (20%) and increasing of temperature (2 c) )
• More water abstraction from rivers and ground water resources;
• Increasing trends for water and land development projects;
• Expansion of agricultural lands (from 200,000 ha in 1980 to
490,000 ha in 2013);
• Use of traditional irrigation systems;
• Existing of unauthorized irrigation wells;
• Planting crops that consume a lot of water

6. Sustainable Agriculture around LU by Government and Local
Communities/Alternative Livelihood

7. Project title:
Contribution to water saving in the ecosystem by
modelling local community engagement in
sustainable agriculture practices
Started in 2015
Main Goals:
- Local Community Participation in Lake Urmia restoration;
- Saving 35% water at farm level in 41 villages and 30,000 ha. farm lands;
- Raising public awareness about stakeholders role in ecosystem restoration;

8. Synergy in a pilot project

9. Project Sites

10. Step 1:
Inter-sectoral and coordination committees

11. Step2:
Training for local cooperatives,
private companies and local
governmental offices

12. Step3:
Engaging the local community and trust building
 Main message
Sustainable agriculture and income for
saving water and saving eco

13. Step 4 and 5:
Participatory Data Gathering and Planning at farm level

14. Step 6:
Modification at farm level and applying new techniques

15. Demonstration Farm

16. Participatory monitoring of results

17. Water Volume
Monitoring Tools
17

18. Evaluating the impact of water saving
techniques
 Installing of measuring tools on pilot farms
 Monitoring a whole season
 Analysis of results
18

19. NGOs participation in raising the local community awareness

20. • Publication and distribution of 6 booklets (1000 editions)
• 4 brochures (2000 editions)
• A pedagogical film for children

21. Main Results
•A new approach was introduced to local people and authorities;
• A clear message was sent to decision makers about the importance
of local community participation in water saving in farm level;
• More than 13000 farmers are involved in the project;
• 31% water saving in 30000 ha. of farm lands;
• Local farmers are sure that their income would not decrease;
• Local communities are involved in ecosystem restoration process;

22. Water Consumption in demonstration and control farms
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
M^3/Hec
Tasuj Salmas Nazluchay Barandazuchay Mahabad Miyandoab Naghadeh Gol
Water consumption using traditional methods Water consumption using sustainable agriculture techniques22

23. Water consumption in demonstration and control farms- Volume of water saved
6283
4300
1983
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
‫ب‬‫ا‬‫مصرف‬‫ان‬‫ز‬‫می‬‫متوسط‬/‫شاهد‬‫ارع‬‫ز‬‫م‬‫در‬‫تار‬‫هک‬ ‫ب‬‫ا‬‫مصرف‬‫ان‬‫ز‬‫می‬‫متوسط‬/‫ی‬‫الگوی‬‫ارع‬‫ز‬‫م‬‫در‬‫تار‬‫هک‬ ‫تار‬‫هک‬‫هر‬‫در‬‫شده‬‫ی‬‫جوی‬‫صرفه‬‫اب‬‫متوسط‬
31%
m³/ha
m³/ha
m³/ha
Control farms
average water consumption
Demonstration farms
average water consumption
Water saved23

24. Project Phase II (2016)
Continuation of project implementation in 41 villages of Phase I;
upscaling 12 new villages (8,400 ha);
Starting the project in 22 new villages (15,400 ha);
The project sites increased to 75 villages and 53800 ha;

25. ‫ردیف‬
‫استان‬‫شهرستان‬‫روستا‬‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مرکز‬
1
‫شرقی‬‫آذربایجان‬
‫آذرشهر‬‫تیمورلو‬‫گوگان‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
2‫آذرشهر‬‫دستجرد‬‫گوگان‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
3‫آذرشهر‬‫قشالق‬‫گوگان‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
4‫اسکو‬‫سرای‬‫ایلخچی‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
5‫اسکو‬‫مهدینلو‬‫ایلخچی‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
6‫اسکو‬‫دیزج‬ ‫سرین‬‫ایلخچی‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
7‫بناب‬‫چپق‬ ‫قره‬‫بناب‬ ‫شهرستان‬ ‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مدیریت‬
8‫بناب‬‫قشالق‬ ‫آخوند‬‫بناب‬ ‫شهرستان‬ ‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مدیریت‬
9‫بناب‬‫چپقلو‬‫بناب‬ ‫شهرستان‬ ‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مدیریت‬
10‫شیر‬ ‫عجب‬‫خضرلو‬‫عجب‬ ‫شهرستان‬ ‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مدیریت‬
‫شیر‬
11‫شیر‬ ‫عجب‬‫شیشوان‬‫عجب‬ ‫شهرستان‬ ‫جهادکشاورزی‬ ‫مدیریت‬
‫شیر‬
12‫ملکان‬‫گدکلو‬‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬‫کشاورزی‬‫لیالن‬
13‫ملکان‬‫شریفلو‬‫لیالن‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
14‫ملکان‬‫آباد‬ ‫حسن‬‫لیالن‬ ‫کشاورزی‬ ‫خدمات‬ ‫مرکز‬
15
‫غربی‬‫آذربایجان‬
‫نقده‬‫المهدی‬ ‫شهرک‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫محمدیار‬
16‫میاندوآب‬‫آباد‬ ‫ملک‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫مرحمت‬‫آباد‬
17‫میاندوآب‬‫بهزاد‬ ‫حاجی‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫زرینه‬‫رود‬‫شمالی‬
18‫مهاباد‬‫گرو‬ ‫گرده‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫مکریان‬‫غربی‬
19‫ارومیه‬‫بزرگ‬ ‫آده‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫نازلوچای‬
20‫ارومیه‬‫سفلی‬ ‫قهرمانلوی‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫نازلوچای‬
21‫ارومیه‬‫قرابغلو‬‫مرکز‬‫خدمات‬‫کشاورزی‬‫نازلوچای‬
22‫ارومیه‬‫منصور‬ ‫لوی‬ ‫چیچک‬‫نازلوچای‬ ‫استان‬‫شهرستان‬‫روستا‬
1
‫آذربایجان‬
‫غربی‬
‫نقده‬‫میمند‬،‫قیط‬ ‫گرده‬
2‫میاندوآب‬‫حسن‬ ‫حاج‬‫سفلی‬،‫شکورکندی‬،‫آباد‬ ‫حسن‬
3‫مهاباد‬‫گاپیس‬،‫گردیعقوب‬
4‫ارومیه‬‫خداوردی‬‫خان‬،‫آباد‬ ‫یورقون‬،‫علیا‬ ‫قهرمانلوی‬،‫قلعه‬ ‫بخش‬ ‫چیچکلوی‬،‫زیرمانلو‬
o Osqou
25

26. Risks and Challenges
•Fragile inter-sectoral cooperation and the need for strengthening;
• Taking care of local community participation on all stages;
• Sustainability of the new approach, the need for at least 3-5 years of
follow up;
• Wrong and right driving forces at agricultural sector;
• These new approaches need more time comparing to current system
and ongoing approaches;

27. Thank you