The year-long project was implemented between Oct 2019 to Dec 2020. This project is part of the Next Generation Irrigation and Water Management for the Asia-Pacific Program (NextGen. Program), an AWP-FAO program aimed at modernizing Asia’s irrigation systems and water management practices.

The project identified four areas that limit progress towards a sustainable rural sector: i) low irrigation water efficiency; ii) limited technical assistance services for family farmers; iii) scarce statistical information on the problem of small-scale livestock farming, and iv) the absence of an updated policy framework for the sustainable development of fishing and aquaculture activities.

In one of the world’s great rivers, the Mekong River, the GEF Trust Fund is investing in the invisible: its groundwater. A new 15 million USD project, led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), bringing the transboundary Cambodia - Mekong River Delta Aquifer in lower Mekong into the spotlight, was developed and is soon to be approved.

Capacity development is a key element to enhance knowledge on the concept of water productivity and skills on the use of the WaPOR portal, to provide governments and farmers with the appropriate tools to support decisions and targeted interventions on more efficient water use.

Webinar: Saline Agriculture - Scaling up Opportunities and Challenges The Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) hosted by the FAO Land and Water Division held its second webinar on Saline Agriculture titled "Saline Agriculture: Scaling up Opportunities and Challenges".

In response to the growing needs of member countries and to help them cope with this enormous challenge, FAO and partners launched in 2013 the Regional Water Scarcity Initiative in the Near East and North Africa. The first output of the Initiative was a Regional Collaborative Strategy (RCS) on Sustainable Agricultural Water Management.

Solar Powered Irrigation System (SPIS) technology provides farmers with a climate smart, cost-effective, clean energy technology for groundwater pumping, and has received an increased uptake by countries in the Asia-Pacific as an alternative for CO2 emitting diesel pumps or electric pumps feeding off the grid.

Climate Services support farmers to prepare for and adapt to climate change. Technology and innovation provide new opportunities for the dissemination of alerts and advisories to anticipate and prevent adverse weather impacts.

WaPOR, FAO’s portal to monitor Water Productivity through Open-access of Remotely sensed derived data, gives users access to a wide variety of near real-time satellite data on water productivity. This information can be used to design strategies to increase water productivity and farmers’ resilience to drought, while respecting the environment and making equitable use of water resources.

Growing water scarcity is now one of the leading challenges for sustainable development. This challenge will become more pressing as the world's population continues to grow, their living standards increase, diets change and the effects of climate change intensify.