In 1997, eight developing Islamic countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey established the 8-D Organization for Economic Cooperation. This organization, which is also called 8-D for short, was established with the aim of improving the status of member countries in the global economy, improving trade relations between countries, enhancing their role in international decision-making and improving living standards. In line with the goals of this organization, strengthening cooperation in the field of science and technology by 8-D member countries was considered with the aim of institutionalizing scientific cooperation between member countries.
One of the actions of this organization is to hold regular scientific and practical lectures on important issues of the world, especially Asia. In this regard, on August 9, 2022, this organization addressed the issue of "ecological challenges" in the field of water and invited Dr. Hossein Mostafavi, a faculty member of the Environmental Sciences Research Institute of SBU, to give a speech as an ecologist.
Dr. Mostafavi gave a speech in English titled "Analyzing multiple human pressures; a basis for river restoration and integrated river basin management". At the beginning, he talked about various services of water ecosystems, what benefits they have for humanity, and what irreparable damage their loss due to interference and unsustainable development has for humans. Then, Dr. Mostafavi presented explanations on human causes and origins of the water crisis in Asia. In the following, he presented the types of human hazards to aquatic ecosystems that cause water shortage and unfavorable ecological condition of these ecosystems with examples from Iran and Europe and discussed their analysis methods. In the end, Dr. Mostafavi emphasized that there is a need for an integrated management and recovery of all kinds of human risks in different scales.