During the past two decades different factors including continuous drought, increasing

number of dams, over-abstraction of underground waters, etc. have impacted many wetlands

in Iran, particularly the Lake Urmia, the largest hyper-saline wetland of Iran supporting more

than 5 million inhabitants and important biodiversity. To overcome this challenge, the

Government of Islamic Republic of Iran, together with national and international

organizations such as UNDP, started several initiatives to stop the degradation trend and

restore this important Lake. UNDP’s special efforts on LU the restoration started since 2014,

with financial support of the government of Japan, and implemented through its’ longstanding “Conservation of Iranian Wetlands Project.