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Remote sensing for water productivity - the WaPOR portal from FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed a publicly accessible, near real time database using satellite data that allows the monitoring of agricultural water productivity at different scales.

Female farmer in a the field, Madagascar

Achieving food security in the future while using water resources in a sustainable manner is a major challenge. 72% of all water withdrawals are used by agriculture, which means that monitoring and improving water productivity in this sector is essential.

FAO’s database is the backbone of the WaPOR project (the FAO portal to monitor Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data) that, now in its second phase, works with ten partner countries to build their capacity in the use of WaPOR data for different applications, and to generate solutions to local challenges linked to water and land productivity as well as water management.

WaPOR is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and implemented by the FAO. The main implementing partners are the IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

  • Explore the WaPOR portal here.

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