WaPOR participation at the 10th World Water Forum

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) participated in the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, from 18 to 25 May 2024. FAO organized and co-convened several sessions that discussed crucial topics surrounding water management and sustainability, offering insights and solutions to address pressing global water challenges. 

The WaPOR project and database was presented in four different sessions:

• S33 Improving water management decisions in Africa through Earth Observation data  (Friday 24 May 13:00-14:30): WaPOR was presented as a FAO project to improve agricultural water management in Africa. Open source algorithms and capacity development were the two characteristics emphasized of the project to overcome the challenges of turning data into actions
• Senegal Pavilion Event "Follow up to the Dakar 2022 Initiative" (Thursday 23 May 13:00-14:30): The event featured KnoWat (Knowing water better) and WaPOR, two FAO projects that had received the Dakar label for innovative projects at the last World Water Forum. The session focused on the project development since the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar: the global coverage of the WaPOR platform, and the Global Dialogue on Water Tenure, launched based on the experience of the KnoWat project.
• Senegal Pavilion Event "Mobilization and development of the resource"  (Thursday 23 May 14:50-16:20): The event was the last of a series focusing on mobilization and development of water resources organized by the Water Resources Management and Planning Department of Senegal (DGPRE), among other Senegalese partners. FAO was invited to present initiatives to improve water use efficiency in agriculture. The Integrated Monitoring Initiative for IMI-SDG6 (IMI-SDG6) and WaPOR projects were mentioned, as well as the Global Dialogue on Water Tenure for its impacts on water security through identification of informal and customary water users and food security
• T6D3 Transforming and upscaling data into information for science and digital based decision (Tuesday 21 May, 14:50-16:20): The WaPOR open-source portal providing data at 3 levels of geographical resolutions (20, 100 and 300m) provides actionable data for national level decision makers (for example with the agricultural component of SDG 6.4.1), for irrigation schemes managers on irrigation performance, for river basins (with water accounting) and for farmers level (in particular with irrigation scheduling apps).

The World Water Forum brought together stakeholders from around the globe, including heads of state, high level government officials, representatives of international organizations, academia, civil society and the private sector, with the common objective to share knowledge, experience, and best practices on integrated water resources management.

Read more about FAO's participation to the World Water Forum >>>