The first governing board meeting of the International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHS) was held with the presence of UNESCO's representative and the representatives of some member countries on 10th July 2008.

ICQHS is the only international center in Iran, which has been established under the auspices of UNESCO. This center is aimed at conducting research projects on Qanat and historic hydraulic structures and transferring the knowledge of Qanat construction and rehabilitation and management to the other parts of the world. Another objective of the center is to hold some training courses for the experts coming from different countries in order to get them familiar with Qanat and its role in sustainable development.

The governing board meeting was attended by the UNESCO's representative, the representative of Iranian National Commission for UNESCO and representatives of the countries Iraq, Afghanistan, China and Oman. This meeting was chaired by the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the meeting the report of the biennial activities of the center (2007-2008) was presented and its biennial work plan of 2009 was approved. It was agreed that ICQHS should proceed to hold some training courses at an international level, and conduct some research projects on technical, historical and social aspects of Qanats.

Preparation of the methodology of Atlas of qanats was another decision of this meeting.