Lahore, Punjab: The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with Irrigation and Agriculture departments of Punjab organized a one-day training workshop on “Water Accounting Methodology Sharing” to build capacity of relevant stakeholders on key concepts of water accounting and share information on water accounting results of previous study in Punjab.
The workshop was organized under project “Transforming the Indus Basin with Climate Resilient Agriculture and Water Management” funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and co-funded by the governments of Punjab and Sindh. More than 30 participants from relevant government departments, academia, researchers and development partners attended the workshop.
The overall objective of the training workshop was to engage and train relevant stakeholders on water accounting to be carried-out under the GCF project. It also aimed to disseminate the envisioned methodology for water accounting and then improving it by incorporating the inputs from the participants. It was the first event of the series of trainings that was conducted to increase the stakeholders’ capacity who will eventually execute the water accounting system under the project. To assess the capacity of participants in term of water accounting, Mentimeter was used.
The Chief of Strategic Planning and Reform Unit, Irrigation Department, Mr Aamir Khan,  while highlighting the importance of water accounting said that Irrigation Department of Punjab owns the project and we are keen to learn and collaborate with FAO and its partners by implementing the water accounting system in the province.
Representing the Agriculture Secretary of Punjab, Mr. Rana Mahmood Khan, Chief Planning and Evaluation Unit informed that government of Punjab is co-financing the project that will help in developing capacity of its line department in terms of efficient utilizing of available resources.
Technical Officer to the project, Ms. Emelda Berejena, while informing about the components of the project, said that project has four components, which contribute to increase resilience to climate change among the most vulnerable farmers in the Indus basin and strengthen the Government of Pakistan’s capacity to support communities in adapting to climate change.
The training workshop was done under the project’s component no. 1, which aims to develop capacity in Pakistan to use state-of-the-art technology to cope with climate change and its impact on agriculture and water management through better monitoring, analysis, and dissemination of information on climate, water and agriculture. Under this component, one major activity focuses on developing the water accounting system for the Indus Basin in collaboration with Agriculture and Irrigation Departments in Punjab, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, and Pakistan Meteorological Department.