3.3.2. Group of Activities 2

The recommendations were drafted to match the Action criteria A.5 and B.6 of the ICOMOS-IFLA guidelines. To meet them, we designed a specific action:

 Creation of an association/council for managing the No-Ras qanat. Following the example of "The Persian Qanat" UNESCO WHS [81], we proposed the creation of a Council of the No-Ras Qanat. This body is crucial for the daily management of the qanat (while the ICHHTO manages then at the national and regional level, see above), also acting as a bridge between the local, national and regional authorities and the community, including the farmers. Furthermore, the creation of a Council represents the first stage of ATN named Enrolment [66], which is essential to strengthening the network of actors. According to the national law (Articles 17 and 106) and other reports [81] and research [66], the council structure should be composed of 5–7 members and can be "*headed by the qanat council manager (mirab) and comprising the water clock operator (kayyal), the accountant (hesabdar), together with other qanat workers generally termed moqannis and another specialists such as the bucket operator and the windglass operator*". We suggest following this example, also including the representative of the local farmers and the municipality of Chavan and Tabriz to increase inclusiveness in decision-making.

In designing the role of the Council of the No-Ras Qanat, we also took into account the ICOMOS recommendation to "The Persian Qanat" UNESCO WHS. Therefore, the council will be responsible for: 1. developing a management plan, also including monitoring strategies; 2. implementing monitoring, conservation and reconstruction activities at the qanat in collaboration with ICHHTO, RWWTC and RAJO; 3. developing and implementing a risk preparedness plan with the support of external consultants, also meeting international standards, such as the UNESCO Disaster Risk Management [84] or the Sendai Framework [85]; 4. organizing training programs for qanat employees and new candidates; 5. managing water distribution for daily use and irrigation purposes in collaboration with the municipality and the local farmers.
