A joint Iranian-Japanese rural tourism project began on Thursday in Rasht County, Gilan Province.
The project, fully funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, aims to set up a holiday resort in Jirsar- Baqerkhaleh Village, along the road connecting Anzali and Rasht, both of which are top destinations in the province, IRIB News Agency reported.
The resort will include a conference hall, marina for recreational boats, traditional cooking workshops and a handicraft school, as well as a birdwatching site.
The project is expected to take a year to complete and has a budget of $100,000; a paltry sum given the scale of the project. Although it was not immediately clear, the village may already have basic infrastructure for the project, which could explain the meager funding.
Profit from the site is planned to be spent on developing infrastructure of the village located close to Anzali Wetland, a Ramsar site.
The Ramsar Convention, also referred to as the Convention on Wetlands, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and judicious use of wetlands and their resources.
Anzali Wetland is internationally known as a habitat of migratory birds and is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It was registered as a Ramsar Convention site in June 1975.
However, the wetland has suffered greatly due to unrestrained human activity. It has been degraded, and in 1993 the Anzali Wetland was listed in the Montreux Record, a register of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological development, pollution or other human interference.
JICA has been actively cooperating with Iran on a project that aims to restore the embattled wetland.
