Minutes from the 8th Meeting of MENARID Project Steering Committee Fall 2016, Behabad,

Prepared by

Parnian Tadbir VA Tosee Co.

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Agenda items: 1. Project Progress Report for the First Half of 2016 2. Challenges facing project implementation and recommendations 3. Discussion and Viewpoints by Members on the Steering Committee 4. Summation and adoption of decisions

Meeting Time & Place: 09:00 to 12:00; Nov. 9th, 2016 Meeting Hall, Behabad Local Government Office, Yazd

Attendees: - Mr. Khodakaram Jalali (Deputy Minister & Head of FRWO) - Ms. Anne Marie Sloth Carlsen (Deputy UN Resident Representative in ) - Mr. Parviz Garshasbi (Deputy Director for Watershed Management, FRWO, and Acting NPD of MENARID and Hableroud Projects) - Mr. Eghbal (Behabad Township Governor) - Mr. Eliasi (Director, Province plan and budget Organization) - Mr. Sajjadipour (Director, Yazd Province Agriculture Jahad Organization) - Mr. Aghighi (Director General, Watershed Management and Soil Conservation Bureau, FRWO) - Mr. Akhoundi (Director General, Yazd Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate) - Mr. Sheikh-Veisi (Director General, Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate) - Mr. Vahid (Director General, North Lhorasan Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate) - Mr. Riyahi (Advisor to Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province PMO) - Mr. Fallah-Kohan (Deputy Director, Public Relations and International Affairs, FRWO) - Mr. Jazi (National Project Manager of MENARID and Hablehroud Projects) - Mr. Anoushfar (Head, Division of Planning and Budgeting for Natural Resources and Watershed Management Projects, Ministry of Agriculture Jahad) - Mr. Abbaspour (International Affairs Officer, Ministry of Agriculture Jahad) - Mr. Samadi-Yar (Senior Officer, Water & Sewage Macroplanning Bureau, Ministry of Energy) - Mr. Mohammadi-Moghaddam (Director General, Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate) - Mr. Baharvand (Representative of Interior Ministry) - Mr. Aazami-Rad (Deputy for Watershed Management, Khorasan Razavi Province FRWO) - Mr. Hejazi (Representative of Yazd Province Management & Planning Organization)

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- Mr. Namjooyan (Member on the High Council on Forest Management, FRWO) - Mr. Tavakoli (Director of Kamkuyeh Rural Development MicroFund) - Mr. Kamyar (Head, Division of Watershed Management, State Dams Bureau) - Mr. Eliasi Boroujeni, Mr. Bagheri (Deputy for Watershed Management and Local Manager of MENARID Projects, Yazd Province FRWO) - Mr. Olfat-Miri (MENARID Local Project Manager, Kermanshah Province FRWO) - Mr. Sorourinejhad (Local Manager of MENARID Projects, Sistan & Baluchestan Province FRWO) - Mr. Bahrami (Deputy for Watershed Management, Chahrmahal & Bakhtiyari Province General Directorate for Natural Resources and Watershed Management) - Mr. Faramarz (Deputy for Watershed Management and Local Coordinator of MENARID Projects, North FRWO) - Mr. Bameri (Deputy for Watershed Management, Sistan & Baluchestan Province General Directorate for Natural Resources and Watershed Management) - Mr. Mahmoudnejhad (Local Project Manager of MERID Projects in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province) - Mr. Heydari (Local Project Manager of MERID Projects in ) - Mr. Hooshmand Behabadi (Deputy Governor of Behabad Township) - Mr. Nazari Behabadi (Officer, Behebad Governor’s Office) - Khoshabadi (Behabad District Manager) - Mr. Teymouri (Asfij District Manager) - Mr. Fazeli (Representative of Local Police) - Mr. Rahmatiyan (Manager, Behabad Agriculture Organization) - Mr. Shatranji (Protocol Manager, Yazd Province Agriculture Jahad Organization) - Ms Bakhshaliyan (UNDP) - Ms Rezaei (MENARID Project Officer) - Ms. Jamshidi (Hablehroud Project Officer)

Opening and discussion:

Mr. Eghbal (Behabad Township Governor) opened the 8th meeting of the Steering Committee on MENARID International Projects in Behabad, Yazd Province, by welcoming the attendees. He maintained that the project has recorded a feat of success in raising awareness across the pilot villages and even at the town level, a record that has encouraged requests for the replication of the project in other towns and provinces. Mr. Jalali (Deputy Minister & Head of FRWO) maintained that MENARID International Project endeavors to achieve institutional strengthening and coherence. He hoped that its implementation and replication will serve our people and our natural resources. [The Lack of] an integrated approach to watershed management, he asserted, is one of the major and strategic challenges facing our land management practices such that problems and complications arise whenever we distance ourselves from this important strategy [of integrated management]. He extended his gratitude to UNDP and

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GEF for their contributions. He also appreciated Mr. Garshasbi and Mr. Jazi for their devotion to the project and extended his special thanks to all the mangers, organizations, and agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad, Interior Ministry, Ministry of Energy, and all the individuals involved in the project. The Deputy then reminded the Committee of the fact that watershed management at the town level is the responsibility of and is indeed left to the hands of town governments, and that they are expected to exploit their resources toward the implementation of the projects under MENARID. He also reiterated the significance of a forward-looking approach and time management as the major components of the integrated approach that have been duly incorporated and considered in defining MENARID projects. He maintained that MENARID and carbon sequestration projects are human-centered and designed to meet human needs while they also strive to strike a balance among all the life elements. These projects need not only stake-holders’ active participation but their farsightedness as well to provide favorable conditions for human life. What we need in our modern world and what has been gaining an ever increasing importance over the centuries of human life is sagacity, the wisdom of crowds, and co-intelligence which help our integrated approach and prevent incongruity and deviation from our goals. We have time and time again seen the merits and benefits of the wisdom of crowds where it was relied on in our watersheds. In its land and natural resources management efforts and in watershed management with community participation, he declared, FRWO has always laid emphasis on a comprehensive and integrated approach as its strategic policy. A decision was made last year which mandated all the provinces to have their own pilot villages where all the measures and activities taken by different agencies are in unison directed toward land use planning and management. The Head of FRWO then asserted that prioritizing such activities will be of prime importance that must be accomplished in harmony with land management goals. He then hoped that this unified and integrated approach to activities leads to serving human needs, one of the most important of which is ecological security. He referred to the dust and sand storms blowing into Iran from a western neighboring country that has affected all our activities such that most farms, villages, and roads are endangered in regions that suffer from the shifting sands and the devastating dust storms. He maintained that this life-endangering issue has now been given first priority by the public at large. Mr. Jalali then identified public participation as the need in our present day situation and as the foundation for the proper management of our watersheds. The Deputy announced that the ownership of 5 million ha of land had been awarded to local people last year. He then observed that land protection had improved in such areas under private ownership and that damages to natural resources had declined as evidenced by the minimized fire incidents reported. Institutional coherence and public participation he observed to be the spirit of the management of water resources, and the integrated approach and foresightedness to be the prerequisites to any effective and efficient management system. He reiterated the

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creed and call by the Supreme Leader for a Resistance Economy that both the government and the nation must follow in their endeavors. He stated that the government observes this creed in all aspects of its activities. He expressed his hope that the model emerging from MENARID projects will develop into a practicable model that is capable of accomplishing great jobs at minimum costs. He also observed that MENARID International and carbon sequestration projects are integrated into our national culture and will be considered as successful projects in our executive plans for this year of Resistance Economy. He declared Iran as one of the nations quite successful with implementing MENARID International Project as an effective and efficient model. The model is so important to our economy, he believed, that the Iranian Government will continue the implementation of the projects even if UNDP suspends or withdraws their support for the project. He requested national planning bodies to consider the models developed and to provide support for these projects as they open up new avenues to sustainable development.

Mr. Jazi (NPD for MENARID and Hablehroud projects) delivered his progress report on the decisions made in previous meetings of the Steering Committee; a summary report was presented as in the following Tables: Decisions made at the 5th Meeting (August 26, 2014) Description Progress (Deliverables) Contract renewal and project Follow-up measures taken but definitive decisions yet in 1 extension to 2017 suspension Revisions to be made in document milestones and 2 Done indices based on interim assessments Setting up a national technical 3 Done committee Service descriptions for 3 international consultants 4 Hiring CTA finalized; contract to be awarded in 2016 Organizing a national Three conferences were held in three provinces during conference to share and 2015. The one in Yazd was held as a national event 5 exchange MENARID attended by experts and stakeholders from across the experiences and lessons state. A regional one is being arranged for 2016. learned Scaling up of lessons learned 6 Done to the national level Exchange and cooperation Failing to communicate with these states due to the 7 among the seven MENARID termination of cooperation between these projects and member states ICARDA and political instability arising in some states Special study of Hamoon 8 Wetland and organizing a one- Done day workshop on the topic 9 Developing a strategic plan for Hamoon Wetland project developed the plan in

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Hamoon Site cooperation with MENARID International Project Scaling up MENARID project No approval of financial support yet received from 10 to the Karoun watershed UNDP Replication of MENARID 11 project to North Khorasan Done Province Communications already established with the Recognition and authorization representative of the Interior Ministry during the by UNDP of the Interior meetings of steering committees of other projects; these 12 Ministry representative as communications have been used to invite him to serve as member on the Steering a member on the steering committee of MENARID and Committee Hablehroud projects Visit by the Deputy Minister, 13 Mr. Jalali, to the project site in Done Sistan

Decisions made at the 6th Meeting (February 22, 2015) Description Progress (Deliverables) Allocating a credit line as the 1 Follow-up going on government’s cash funding Lifting limitations on visits to Sistan & Follow-up measures revealed that the UNDSS Baluchestan by international consultants regulations facilitate such visits under special 2 and other servicemen under a UNDP arrangements; a number of consultants have so contract. far paid visits on mission. A first round of measures already taken. Chinese Follow-up on south-south cooperation experts paid visits to the relevant sites. For the 3 to achieve the desired outcomes present needs, UNDP shall draft a contract with one Chinese expert. Organizing a regional conference to Arrangements already made for the event in 4 share MENARID achievements in Iran 2016. Inviting ambassadors to I.R.Iran to visit Requires coordination and arrangements by 5 one MENARID pilot site UNDP Strengthening communication and relations among national and state-level 6 Done institutions to achieve institutional coherence Organizing a regional meeting on the reclamation of Hamoon Wetland to 7 Done design and formulate transboundary measures Request for an international fund 8 allocated to the Karoun Watershed and Done technical support by UNDP Request for an international funding 9 allocated to Done and technical support by UNDP

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Scaling up the MENARID project to all 10 institutions, agencies, and communities Done in the three pilot provinces

Decisions made at the 7th Meeting (February 7, 2016) Progress Description (Deliverables) Renewal and extension of MENARID project to the end of 2017 was 1 Done reiterated. Resolving the problems hindering the renewal and extension of 2 In process MENARID project in North Khorasan to 2021 A joint meeting by delegates from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan on 3 Not accomplished Hamoon Wetland mediated by UNDP 4 MENARID Conference attended by foreign ambassadors and experts In process Providing technical support to provinces where MENARID has been 5 Done extended to and/or replicated

In continuation, Mr. Jazi provided a description of MENARID activities in pilot provinces.

Kermanshah Province:  Visit paid by a delegation of 40 males and females from Razin Village to GerehBan Farming and Industrial Complex in Harsin Town to acquaint themselves with their successful experience.  Holding the monitoring and planning committee on Jan. 12, 2016 when the decision to scale up the project to 84 districts was adopted  Development of a Damask rose garden in Razin Village  Organizing a workshop on the role of capacity building in integrated watershed management  Organizing a consultation-training workshop to present and share MEANRID experiences with the governors from towns seeking MENARID projects replicated in their administrative districts  Organizing a workshop on the quantification and economic analysis of activities in participatory projects  Holding 27 meetings of men and local councils  Holding 20 meetings of women groups in Razin Village  Holding 18 meetings of the Rural Planning & Development Group in Boulan Village  Attending and active participation of women to put their achievements on display in the 1st National Handicrafts Exhibition held in where one stand from the two allocated to businesses in Kermanshah Province was exclusively used to exhibit MENARID achievements by the women who had succeeded to receive Industrialists’ Id Cards.

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 Holding two meetings of the watershed management committee of Kermanshah City  Holding 24 meetings of men from Zamaleh Village  Holding 4 meetings of the province level technical committee  Implementation of the participatory rangeland management project in Zamaleh Village  Propagation of pot-grown seedlings by the two Nasim and Hamdel women groups and the Khabir men group  Water resources management with contribution by and in cooperation with local communities and relevant public agencies

Sistan & Baluchestan Province:  Submission of written communiqués by five town governors in Sistan Region asking for the extension and replication of MENARID Projects to their respective towns of Hirmand, Nimrouz, Zahak, Ghasr-Ghand, and Zabol  Holding a joint meeting of Hamoon Wetland and MENARID projects  Updating the feasibility studies of Hamoon Site  Holding a workshop on strategic management for the new members on the technical-expert and watershed management committees at the University of Zabol  Visit by the project experts and officers to successful soil and water projects accomplished in and to those by rural cooperatives in  Web publication and dissemination of MENARID International Project experiences and success stories of Hamoon Site in Sistan (FRWO website)  Construction by the University of Zabol of an exemplary greenhouse powered by non-fossil fuels  Visit by the pilot village communities to successful rural projects in Razavi Khorasan Province  Visit by local communities to Damask rose gardens and practical training on rose distillate extraction  Organizing a training workshop in Sanchooli Village on distillate extraction from pharmaceutical and medicinal plants in cooperation with Province General Directorate for Technical and Vocational Education  Visit by Hamoon Site local communities to successful agricultural projects across the whole Sistan region  Organizing a workshop for 50 members of the rural development groups from pilot villages on optimized cropping patterns  Joint efforts by members of rural planning and development groups and MENARID project officers to establish and commission Rural Planning and Development Offices in Keikha, Sanchooli, and Boland villages as well as Ali- Akbar Town

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 Acquisition of self-employment microloans from the Province General Directorate for Technical and Vocational Education for 15 members of the Sanchooli Women’s Group under contractual agreements  Organizing and holding around 14 on-site meetings with community groups on a variety of topics including livelihood enhancement, patchwork, and carpet weaving as well as surveying problems and challenges of the rural funds and community groups  Visit by the Director General of Women’s Affairs from the Province Government to a fair on experiences and achievements of women in Sanchooli village and Ali-Akbar town  Introducing MENARID project methodology to the Meeting on the Week of Natural Resources at the University of Zabol  Holding a meeting to share and exchange knowledge with the Director General and senior staff members of Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate when a report was delivered to visitors on the activities completed and on MENARID integrated approach  Delivering a report on MENARID project achievements and success stories at a province festival on food products held in Chabahar; community groups from the pilot villages actively participated in the fair  Visit by the chiefs of Province Basij (militia) to acquaint them with MENARID Project achievements  Dissemination and publication in Khorasan Daily to publicize and raise public awareness on MENARID Project achievements and success stories in livelihood enhancement at Hamoon Site with emphasis laid on micro-job creation  Holding the third patchwork training workshop for training trainers from the local community  Organizing special ceremonies for the Tree Planting Day at Hamoon Site with the Slogan “Each Rural Household, One Green Seedling”; Rural Planning and Development Groups actively participated in the event  Determination of optimal cropping patterns in the two Boland and Keikha villages as a joint action by Agricultural and Natural Resource Education and Research Center, Province Agriculture Jahad Organization, and MENARID International Project  Visit by Acting NDP to Hamoon Site to study achievement by local communities

Yazd Province:

 Implementation of the items on Behabad Project Strategic Document  Establishment of the town level watershed management office (at the Town Government Headquarters)  Visit by JAICA team to MENARID pilot sites  Visit by members on Behabad technical and watershed management committee to MENARID (Chinese greenhouses and livelihood enhancement) projects

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 Visit by staff members of Kamkuyeh and Banestan rural planning and development offices to State Salinity Research Center to gain enlightenment on cropping patterns  Improvements upon cropping patterns proposed by Yazd Province Agriculture Jahad Organization to Behabad town drawing upon various crop patterns already implemented in different villages  Introducing 5 medicinal and farm-horticultural plant species (chicory, woad, safflower, caper bush, and jujube) to Behabad Town  Training on cultivation of drought resistant species (saffron)  Implementation of light livestock grazing project to alleviate pressure on rangelands and to enhance livestock productivity via interbreeding Alpine and indigenous goat breeds  Completion of the study project entitled “Impacts of climate change on household livelihoods and farming in Behabad and proposing practices adapted to climate change”  Replication and scaling up of results of the crop pattern study project to other pilot villages  Founding rural development offices in Deh-Jamal and Deh-Asgar villages  Holding 91 coordination meetings for rural planning and development offices and their leaders in Deh-Jamal, De-Asgar, Asfij, Banestan, Makkuyeh, and Karim-Abad villages  Visit by representatives from Kamkuyeh and Banestan Rural Planning and Development Offices to a quail breeding farm in Yazd Province  Implementing two home-based quail breeding units each with a capacity of 2,000 quails in Kamkuyeh  Implementation of livelihood enhancement projects with training on Patteh weaving [a women’s cloth making handicraft originating in ]  Participation in the national handicrafts and textile exhibition  Signing an agreement with Yazd Province Islamic Revolution Housing Foundation  Signing an agreement with Yazd Province Imam Khomeini Charity Fund  Allocating 500 Million IRRials by the Chairperson of Behanbad Watershed Management Committee to a non-fossil fueled greenhouse project; the allocation shall only be made on the condition that a joint bank account with UNDP is opened  Holding two meetings of the watershed management committee at Behabad town government office  Holding two meetings of the province technical committee  Holding one meeting of the province M&E Committee

North Khorasan Province:

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 Holding two meetings of the watershed management committee  Holding one meeting of the province technical committee on MENARID projects  Meeting of the NPD and the Deputy Resident Representative of UN in Iran with North Khorasan Province Governor  Six technical visits paid by experts from the public agencies, 26 hours of training for local communities with a total number of 73 participants (315 person/hours)  Developing the watershed strategic plan  Organizing workshops and meetings for local communities  Seventy meetings, 174 hours of training for 4,000 trainees (9200 person/hours)  Visit by the Ex-deputy and Deputy UN Resident Representative in Iran to MENARID sites in North Khorasan  Five press releases on MENARID broadcast on North Khorasan local TV  Thirty news items uploaded on the website of North Khorasan General Directorate for Natural Resources and Watershed Management  Thirty-eight reports uploaded on the administrative automation system of North Khorasan General Directorate for Natural Resources and Watershed Management  Twenty-five telegram news items  Publication of brochures (765 titles)  Fifty briefing publications on major MENARID activities in North Khorasan  Operation of North Khorasan MENARID weblog

Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province:  Organizing PRA workshops in 4 pilot sites  Organizing a class on sustainable livelihood and handicrafts  Visits to rangelands growing the medicinal plants of celery, shallot, etc.  Visit to a Damask rose garden  Visit by Dr. Murali to on-going projects  Visit by the members of the province technical committee to the top entrepreneurial village (Zardrouei)  Visit by experts from FRWO’s Flood Control Bureau to the MENARID top farm project  Visit by horticultural experts from the Agriculture Jahad Organization to the province MENARID top farm  Organizing the Rural Women’s Produce at the UN Office,  Participatory support for propagating and growing endangered plant species: production and cultivation of celery seedlings on 2.5 ha of land and shallot bulbs on 10 ha of land  Cultivation of Damask rose, 26 ha in 2015  Cultivation of Damask rose, 13 ha in 2016  Bedding and soil preparation for Damask rose cultivation on 100 ha for subsequent cultivation in Oct. 2016

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 Founding and registering 3 watershed management cooperatives in the pilot region of Dorahan-Sulegan plus supplementary training and briefing of the cooperatives  Founding a cooperative and preparing relevant requests for submission to the Bureau of Councils and Villages (Province Government) to seek financial support  Filing a suit of law on Item 3 of participatory projects for 117 ha of land in the Dorahan-Sulegan pilot region  Signing an agreement with the Agriculture Jahad Organization in Borujen town for completing joint projects in Dorahan-Sulegan pilot region

Outstanding achievements and success stories  Preparing the documentary named ‘Once the Hamoon’ and its international broadcast  Selection of Kamkuyeh district management as the top one among 130 projects across Iran  Receiving numerous requests across the nation for sharing experiences and lessons learned from MEANRID projects  Meeting the milestones and/or preparing the deliverables mentioned in project document  Sharing project experiences at the national level

Sharing knowledge/experience and cooperation at the national level  The Judiciary (Deputy for Social Affairs and Crime Prevention)  FRWO, Ministry of Agriculture Jahad (National Work Group on Integrated watershed Management)  Interior Ministry (High Council on Provinces)

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 President’s Office (Vice-President Office for the Development of Rural and Underprivileged Areas)  Urban Development and Renovation Co. (National Directorate for Urban Reclamation)  Research Center of Iran’s Islamic Parliament  Iran National Standards Organization (Institute of Standards & Industrial Research of Iran)  National Directorate of Mobilization for Reconstruction (with participation by Colonel Gholami and Engineering Basij of the University of Tehran)  Selection of MENARID project as one of the three top projects of the FRW Organization at the 10th Conference on Jahad Management

Scaling up MENARID projects In other provinces:  North Khorasan Province  Karoun Watershed (Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province)

Request from other provinces:  Khorasan Razavi Province   …

MENARID experiences shared and disseminated within the pilot provinces:  Sistan & Baluchestan Province:  Preparing the grounds for the implementation of MENARID programs in all the towns across the province at the request of the Province Governor’s Office  Receipt of requests by town governors in Sistan & Baluchestan Province for executing MEANRID projects  Kermanshah Province:  Approval by province planning council  Holding workshops to train town governors

 Yazd Province:  Receipt of requests by town governors  Follow up by Province Governor’s Office for drafting an agreement with Planning & Management Organization  Pilot villages:  Receipt of requests from villages neighboring MENARID pilot regions

MENARID Project Impacts

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 Provisions to share and disseminate the experiences and success stories of MENARID Project  Ministry of Agriculture Jahad (Supreme Leader’s Representation Office, the 10th National Conference and the 1st Festival on Jahad Culture and Management)  Sharif University of Technology (Fifth and seventh meetings of the Series of Meetings of Rural Development Facilitators with Special Focus on Rural Development Microfunds: Opportunities and Challenges)  Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran (Technical Meeting on MENARID International Project Achievements)  Panel discussion on the Documentary ‘Once the Hamoon” at an international conference at University of Technology  Technical panel discussion on MENARID International Project achievements at the 11th National Conference on Watershed Management Science and Engineering of Iran  Technical-scientific meeting on Integrated watershed management,  Renaming a national credit line to Solar Bath Refurbishment under the budget of National Fuel Optimization Co. based on MENARID experiences gained and its implementation at Behabad site  Offering training services to raise community knowledge on integrated watershed management

- Dissemination of MENARID experiences and achievements in a workshop on “Integrated Watershed Management” in state divisions 1, 2, and 3 - Uploading a Telegram page with 370 members (average number of visits to the news page was 500 hits a day while some were seen over 2,000 times a day)

Survey of MENARID Project Indices and Milestones

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No. Index in the project No. Progress Project index Progress document Alleviating land degradation rate Cross-sector institutional 1 97% 11 175% and its trend restructuring Creating and public and cross- 2 Enhanced carbon sequestration 81% 12 sector consultation 100% mechanisms Creating community groups Activities to enhance resilience 3 120% 13 for integrated watershed 235% against climate change management Women’s participation in 4 Community participation 140% 14 100% consultation processes Province level policies Improved water resources 5 150% 15 adopted for integrated 75% management watershed management Investigation of the factors involved in land use change and Enhancement of global 6 100% 16 95% its impacts on environmental environmental benefits degradation Raising public awareness at the Implementation of innovative 7 national level on integrated 100% 17 100% plans in land management watershed management Introducing integrated water Land degradation and land use 8 50% 18 resources management into 80% change alarming system national and regional planning Replication of existing Execution of billing schemes 9 130% 19 100% successful projects for exploiting natural services Facilitated opportunities for women’s investment in 10 Land degradation assessment 100% 20 625% integrated watershed management

Indices exceeding milestone commitments

Index in the project document Progress (%) Facilitated opportunities for women’s investment in integrated watershed management 62 Creating community groups for integrated watershed management 235 Cross-sector institutional restructuring 185 Improved water resources management 150 Community participation 140 Replication of existing successful projects 130 Activities to enhance resilience against climate change 120

No. Index in the project document Progress

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(%) 1 Execution of billing schemes for exploiting natural services 100 2 Implementation of innovative plans in land management 100 3 Women’s participation in consultation processes 100 4 Creating and public and cross-sector consultation mechanisms 100 5 Land degradation assessment 100 6 Investigation of the factors involved in land use change and its impacts on 100 environmental degradation 7 Raising public awareness at the national level on integrated watershed 100 management 8 Province level policies adopted for integrated watershed management 100

Expected activities  Holding M&E Committee meetings in all provinces within the next two months  Continuation of resource mobilization and procurement  Active participation in province-level workshops instructed by international and national consultants and collection of the information required by consultants  Follow up to finalize strategic documents  Continued follow-up on the results of capacities created at the national level via province project offices and relevant public agencies  Publicizing capacities identified at province level that can be replicated at national level  Determining whether UNDP’s support for project replication is secured in accordance with previous agreements  Determining the status of funding allocation by Trac  Securing public funding allocations at both state and province levels  Planning for the future institutionalization phase of MENARID successful experiences  Facing the potential challenge of losing the qualified workforce trained during project implementation due to uncertainty in project fate (the executive e teams working with the project at national and province offices need to be retained for future technical support, planning, institutionalization, and activity implementation)

Mr. Sajjadipour (Director, Yazd Province Agriculture Jahad Organization): MENARID is characterized by a bottom-up planning process. This is inspired by the fact that community aspirations will be better realized through own participatory input and cooperation. In Behabad Township, Yazd Province, where MENARID project is under implementation, serious droughts have been faced over the past few years with only an annual precipitation of 69 mm across the whole province. The two provinces of South Khorasan and Sistan have suffered the most from devastating droughts. This warrants proper planning for household livelihoods under these dire conditions. In the absence of such planning, the villages in these provinces will be deserted soon. Agriculture Jahad Organization has so far taken a number of measures to help local communities combat the drought effects and manage their water resources as means to resolving their problems.

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These include: introducing modern participatory-based irrigation methods, laying distribution pipelines, building water regulating ponds, and founding rural women’s micro- funds. Measures have also been taken to change cropping patterns such as concentration of farms on saffron and marjoram as well as combined cropping systems. Our future plans include light and heavy livestock grazing programs and we hope farmers will be able to earn higher incomes by introducing the newly bred livestock into their cattle.

Mr. Eliasi (Director, Kermanshah Province MPO): Maintaining that sustainable development cannot be realized with due consideration to the environment, he reported that a great emphasis has been laid in the state’s planning system and mechanisms on environmental issues. MPO as the body in charge of sustainable development at the national scale is mandated to pursue the achievement of environmental goals and, in this process, his respective organization draws upon the international experiences gained elsewhere. He observed that MPO has the responsibility to make provisions for community livelihoods and a decent life for all individuals while the environmental requirements are simultaneously observed and considered. He then declared the readiness of his respective organization to help implement MENARID program and that this has been explicitly included in the 6th Development Plan for the province such that MENARID’s successful projects are hoped and planned to be implemented in Kermanshah Province.

Mr. Sheikh-Veisi (Director General, Kermanshah Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate): He declared that MENARID program is nearing its end in Kermanshah Province and that they have witnessed the great achievements of the project in their province. Based on the evaluations and surveys carried out at the province level, results have revealed the positive effects of MENARID implementation and that the authorities have made firm decisions to replicate the activities and subprojects in 84 districts across the province. He also declared that the subprojects had been replicated in 14 townships, all of which have recorded feats of success revealing the practicable and successful models and methods used in these projects. Mr. Sheikh-Veisi then went on to note a number of positive aspects of the MENARID Project as follows. The bottom-up decision-making process in which communities find the opportunity to contribute to and participate in project execution is of prime importance; women in Kermanshah have had the highest participation. Women in Razin have made decisions on their own and provisioned good and dependable new sources of income. As for institutional coherence and interactions, he reported that institutional coherence in Kermanshah has reached its excellence [as a result of this project]. For instance, in meetings with town governors decisions were made to the effect that all the public agencies involved should plan their projects in such a manner that the outcomes and results will be positively beneficial to the whole watershed and many meetings have been, as a consequence, held and workshops organized in which the lessons learned and experiences gained were shared in technical committees among peers. Decisions have also been made at the watershed level to change land uses or cropping patterns in degraded areas. At this juncture, he extended his gratitude to Mr. Eliasi from Kermanshah MPO who had lent full support and undivided attention for all the activities exercised in pilot areas, especially with his efforts to provide adequate and timely allocations needed at the province level.

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Mr. Mohammadi-Moghaddam (Director General, Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate): He opened his address with a quote from Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani as saying “managing a state is no more than managing a watershed”. He noted that no one at the time probably noticed the significance of this observation but most officials and authorities are now gaining increasing awareness and knowledge of the importance of watershed management in resolving problems at the state level as a result of the recent consecutive droughts and the declining water tables in groundwater resources. He maintained that integrated watershed management requires the comprehensive and all-embracing management of the whole watershed. Mr. Jalali, Deputy Minister, and his colleagues have put great efforts into this and MENARID project has led to a proper management model to include all the relevant concerns. It was last year, he declared, that MENARID Project was extended to Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province and the results so far have fostered a positive impression at the province top management level. With the financial support and cooperation at the province level, the project was initiated last year in four townships; this has been fortunately extended to 9 this year. The issues around the Karoun Watershed are currently under study and review, he announced, and the outcome will involve 6 or 7 provinces into cooperation for implementation. A point of great significance, according to him, was the appraisal of the project by the local communities and public agencies. He announced that Agriculture Jahad Organization, Mines & Industry General Directorate, and Tourism, Handicrafts, and Cultural Heritage Organization at the province level have taken very fruitful initiatives toward job creation. To this must be added the successful activities by the General Directorate for Natural Resources. He also noted that Mr. Garshasbi’s support and sustained follow-up led to the approval of the MENARID Project National Budget for the Karoun Watershed via the Grand Karoun Agreement. As for job creation activities at province levels, two categories of activities have been going on: One biologically-based, involving those by the Natural Resources Organization and Agriculture Jahad Organization; and the non-biologically-based ones that involve handicrafts, cooperation with the Technical and Vocational Education Organization and Cultural Heritage Organization or micro funding and soft loans within the framework of an agreement signed between Mehr Fund and Resalat Bank. According to this agreement, loans are awarded to entrepreneurs in need of financial support. He then asserted that while they would not need contributions by investors in their biologically-based activities, they sought operators, livestock farmers, and direct contributions by local communities including individuals with low income levels who even failed to purchase seeds for their farms. Speaking on pharmaceutical species, he identified the province as one with a wide variety of medicinal plant species but one that is in serious and urgent need of provisions for the rural communities to farm them as crops with good revenues expected to be generated.

Mr. Tavakkoli (Kamkuyeh Rural Development Micro-fund): Initially, he referred to MENARID activities in the area of water resources and maintained that rural economy is made up of the two major components of farming and livestock growing both of which rely on rangelands in one way or another. He then evaluated rangeland management and livestock breeding activities in Behabad Township as very successful. This, he observed, is

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far from full fruition and thus needs the renewal of MENARID Project to achieve its goals. He simply likened MENARD so far to a newborn baby that is feeble in its infancy and needs to be nourished to full maturity.

Mr. Riyahi (Advisor to Chaharmahal & Bakhtiyari Province PMO): Given the rather long history of national planning in Iran and in the light of the Resistance Economy announced by the Supreme Leader as the national policy and guideline based on public participation, Mr. Riyahi recognized this policy in urgent need of public mobilization. He then evaluated the budgeting mechanisms for natural resources currently in practice as inefficient ones that are facing serious challenges; they need to be revised, he admitted, with due heed to the principles of institutional coherence. Based on the experiences gained through the implementation of MENARID Project, he recommended for an intellectual movement [in budgeting mechanisms] to be initiated at the national level before implementation at province level. This, he said, is needed as the present budgeting system is highly inefficient given the limited resources available while only 40% ultimately allocated.

Mr. Vahid (Director General, North Khorasan Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate): MENARID International Project was initiated in the province in 2015, he declared. He also reported that the M&E Committee has been already founded, 11400 hours of training has been delivered to staff members of town governments, while 5 rural development micro-funds and 5 rural development offices have been founded in MENARID pilot villages. The businesses set up through public participation include: food processing and handicrafts for which investors have been called in. Regarding training, good supervision and marketing [outsourcing] have been accomplished and the Science & Technology Park has been involved in some research work in areas of interest. Plans have been drafted for livestock is fattening as well as saffron and Damask rose growing. He then added that women have had a greater contribution to MENARID projects than men have. He also notified the audience of the approval of a budget of 15 Billion IRRials for MENARID projects at the province level by the end of the 6th National Development Plan. The satisfactory results obtained from the project have encouraged the authorities to make an allocation of 5,500 Million IRRials to the project, which is way above the annual budget formerly approved.

Mr. Pakzad (Director General, Sistan & Baluchestan Province Natural Resources and Watershed Management General Directorate): He started his address by referring to the projects undertaken in Hamoon site as led by the Resistance Economy Guidelines. He also observed that despite the negative population growth in Hamoon Site due to the influx of people into more lucrative areas, no such report has been received on MENARID pilot villages. Finally, he mentioned the national and transboundary aspects of the Hamoon Site for which he said measures have been taken and follow-up activities are underway but he evaluated the activities regarding the shifting sands conducted at the local level as more productive.

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Mr. Aazami-Rad (Deputy for Watershed Management, Khorasan Razavi Province FRWO): Mr. Rad only declared the approval of funding for MENARID International Project in near future and that it will be possible to found a joint fund for the implementation of MENARID projects. He announced that they only needed to be notified of whether the request submitted for pilot sites in Khorasan Razavi Province has been approved yet.

Mr. Hejazi (Representative of Yazd Province MPO): The speaker identified Yazd Province as the first to have developed, in cooperation with Yazd General Directorate for Natural resources and Watershed Management, the strategic document for pilot villages under MENARID International Project as early as 2013. He then announced the readiness of his respective organization to take the necessary follow-up measures for the decisions related to the project planning council. He also proposed an agenda item concerning soft loans (at an interest rate of 4%) for discussions at the council. He found it necessary for the experiences gained at province level from all MENARID pilot sites to be published and disseminated across the nation so that the models and practices emerging from these projects are replicated and scaled up in other provinces. He finally reiterated the need for institutional coherence across all executive and public agencies.

Ms. Carlsen (Deputy UN Resident Representative in Iran): She addressed the audience by saying that MENARUID Project in its first year of implementation pursued to achieve sustainable development goals and that Iran was one of the 30 countries that should report on their activities and achievements. She observed that there are 17 such goals, with enhanced public participation being one, none of which can be achieved independently from the other. Iran, she recognized as one of the countries that has been successful in sharing experiences and transferring the knowledge gained. Further, she noted that UNDP is an agency lacking any governmental or public funding but rather it is financed on a voluntary basis. Unfortunately, the huge budget it always had at its disposal has now been reduced to half. There are a number of reasons underlying this, she observed, one being that Iran is a developing country with a good success record that has identified it as a successfully developed nation and that, hence, less of the UN funds can be allocated to countries such as Iran. The funds provisioned and allocated by GEF have never been accepted by UNDP on political grounds and, thus, none of the projects proposed in GEF6 were ratified by UNDP. It is in the light of these considerations that UNDP is bringing a change in its activity model to one that operates in parallel and as equals with governments, rather than their supporters. This is not a new model but it has been in practice elsewhere as in the Philippines or India. According to the 5-year UNDP program, 59% of any project shall be funded by the host state government. She then called on the members on the committee to manage the remaining funds in a proper manner by the end of next year. She finally expressed her satisfaction with MENARID Project since the training provided by the project has instigated a positive energy among the communities and that it has led to public awareness and their improved relations with natural resources and their management.

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Mr. Samadi-Yar (Representative of Ministry of Energy): He informed the members that the request for a more active participation in and contribution to MENARID project by the Ministry of Energy has already been raised and discussed at the Ministry level and that positive promises have been given.

Mr. Baharvand (Representative of Interior Ministry): He only requested for a report by governors of MENARID pilot townships to be submitted to the Ministry for review; decisions for better cooperation will be made accordingly.

Mr. Garshasbi (Deputy Director for Watershed Management, FRWO, and Acting NPD of MENARID and Hableroud Projects): The population, water, and planning crises in Asian countries are closely intertwined, he observed. All models and practices have been exploited and invoked to develop new models of action and it is essential now to collect and disseminate across the nation the end results of all these international projects conducted by FRWO over the past 15 years. It is equally important to share our experiences with other nations and to benefit mutually from theirs. MENARID Project has consulted and solicited cooperation from other public agencies including the Bureau of Meteorology on setting up a land degradation monitoring system to facilitate achieving better records of the relevant indices. Based on what Ms. Carlsen declared today and according to the new model adopted by UNDP, he observed, Iran is considered as a well-off nation, indicating that financial limitations will be imposed on our plans and projects. This is, however, he maintained, being compensated by the considerable interest and support shown recently by province governments. Desertification control needs to be accomplished as part of the integrated watershed management model and activities must be shifted from a contractor-based system to a participatory model. In our new plans, we need to integrate and incorporate our potentials and capacities in a unified system so that facilitators are enabled to perform activities with public participation. Given the limited funding provided by UNDP over the next 5 years, a meeting is being arranged for the coming week to be held with UNDP officials in order to review the reducing budgets available. The varied activities and the wide project scope have deterred us from proper dissemination of experiences across provinces. It is, therefore, essential for a two-day conference hosting national, regional, and international delegates to be held to exchange views and experiences. In our workshop on integrated watershed management held in , mention was made of the need for provisions to draft laws and regulations concerning the integrated watershed management with a body or organization mandated at the province level to assume responsibility for its enforcement. It was noted that no such organization presently exists at the province level. It is thus necessary that integrated watershed management finds a legal status in our 6th Development Plan. He finally found it necessary to organize a regional workshop with delegates from Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan specifically focusing on Hamoon.

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Decisions made and adoptions by the Committee:  Drawing upon the integrated watershed management model emerging from and as practiced by MENARID International Project, plans need to be drafted to combat land degradation and desertification.  MENARID Project is mandated to continue consultation with public agencies including Bureau of Meteorology for establishing a land degradation monitoring system aimed at improving the relevant indices.  Relevant decisions need to be made within the next month on using public funds to hire the work force trained and qualified during the implementation of MENARID projects. The decisions must be promulgated for execution to all provinces.  A meeting shall be held with UNDP officials on continuing their support for the project and the funding to be made available to the project over the coming years.  In the scale-up phase of the project, provinces will be prioritized based on their capability to acquire adequate public funding and mechanisms for cost sharing.  A conference shall be organized for 2017 to share experiences at province, national, and regional levels.  FRWO is requested to exercise more efforts, in collaboration with MPO, toward improving the budgeting mechanisms and system and toward replication of the experiences gained across the provinces  Replication and scaling up of MENARID International Project to Khrasan Razavi Province (Atrak Watershed) was adopted for implementation as of 2017.  The work plan for 2017 shall include provisions for training, capacity-building, hiring consultants, and execution of activities. A cost-sharing joint fund needs to be considered in each province, specifically in Khorasan Razavi, where the project is to be replicated as part of the 2017v work plan.  Town governors in pilot regions shall submit reports on their activities to the Deputy Interior Minister for Urban and Rural Development.  The Bureau for Water Macroplanning and The Water & Sewage Co., both affiliated to the Ministry of Energy, are requested to study and declare their proposed cooperation scheme and mechanisms with MENARID Project in the area of dams and their management.  The UNDP in Tehran is requested to continue their efforts toward coordination with UNDP offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan for organizing a joint event on Hirmand watershed and Hamoon.

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