Target Activities for the Sector Occupied by the Railway and Pipeline

Most of the changes proposed for the railway and gas pipeline area (Figure 8G) fall within the transversal activities (see above). Targeted activities for this sector include the creation of two large open areas with meadows and local plants (Figure 8H) to the north and south of the qanat buffer zone. In addition to revitalizing a large area now abandoned or occupied by the railway and pipeline construction debris, the new green area will contribute to improving biodiversity and will act as a "natural" buffer zone for protecting the qanat.

For Action C.5 "*Finding a balance between long-term conservation and short-term needs*", we propose one action:

 Development of a water management plan for the No-Ras qanat. This type of analysis must be conducted by the RWWTC, RAJO and the local Municipality in collaboration with local farmers, representing also the final beneficiaries. A good reference for drafting an efficient plan are the State of Conservation Reports [69,80], issued by ICHHTO and UNESCO for the current qanat included in the World Heritage List [81]. This could be integrated with the documentation from the qanat systems of Kashan and Gonabad (both in Iran), which are part of the GIAHS network [82,83].
