TEHRAN – The International Center for Integrated Management of Watershed and Bio-Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions (ICIMWB), as one of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) category 2 centers in the field of water and natural sciences, has managed to gain an important position in implementing scientific and educational programs related to comprehensive watershed management, Hamid Nouri, the head of ICIMWB has said.

Since the official launch of the center in the Iranian year 1401 (2022 –2023), over 56 educational courses, workshops, and seminars, 45 scientific meetings, as well as different projects, including the development of a strategic document on comprehensive watershed management in 12 provinces, health-related climate adaptation programs, and provincial empowerment plans, have been conducted.

The Board of Governors, as the highest decision-making authority, is responsible for devising strategies and overseeing activities. The first meeting of the council was held last year, with representatives from 24 countries and international institutions in attendance. Since then, the center has strengthened the international cooperation, the official said.

“Our main objective is to generate knowledge in the field of eco-hydrology, enhance the country’s scientific capacities, build international networks, and promote cooperation with universities and research centers to advance science- and research-based management of biological resources in arid and semi-arid regions,” Nouri noted.

UNESCO General Conference approved the ICIMWB in 2015, and five years later, Iran and UNESCO signed a memorandum of understanding.

Watershed management budget increased by fifteenfold

The national budget bill for watershed management in the current Iranian calendar year (March 2025-March 2026) is fifteenfold the budget for its preceding year, the head of the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization said in June.

Implementing watershed and aquifer management projects can lead to rainfall penetration into the land or infiltration, strong vegetation cover, reduced soil erosion, and improved land dynamics, ISNA quoted Ali Teymouri as saying.

Referring to the drop in rainfall and the rise in global temperature, which can contribute to sand and dust storms, the official said that although the Ministry of Energy focuses on governance in water resources management, from the Natural Resources and Watershed Management Organization’s perspective, territorial sovereignty needs to be considered.

Natural resources, vegetation, biodiversity, fauna, soil, and even air must be seen as an interconnected whole. If the rate of water evaporation is ignored, decision-making based on the amount of water remaining cannot be efficient.

Out of some 400 billion cubic meters of annual rainfall, with 280 billion cubic meters evaporating, only 110 to 120 billion cubic meters of manageable water remains. According to the Ministry of Energy, this year the figure has dropped to 66 billion cubic meters, indicating a 20 to 30 percent decrease compared to its preceding year, Teymouri stressed.

If just 10 percent of the water that evaporates is managed through watershed and aquifer management methods, many positive changes will be brought about.

Currently, about 6,500 villages and 450 cities are at risk of flooding. Managing runoff upstream in these areas is one of the duties of the Natural Resources Organization. Totally, about 25 to 28 million hectares of critical lands have been identified in the country that have the capacity to implement watershed management projects. They are at the top of the agenda of the organization’s programs, Teymouri said.

According to the seventh national development plan (2023-2027), over the course of 5 years watershed management project is scheduled to cover 20 million hectares of the land in the country, that is, four million hectares each year.

MT/MG