During the first days of December 2019 the EO4SD-water organized a workshop jointly with The World Bank’s Water Global Practice. After the opening remarks by Richard Damania (Global Lead Economist in the World Bank's Water Practice) and Christoph Aubrecht (ESA representative to World Bank) the EO4SD team presented how Earth Observation has supported World Bank projects worldwide with satellite technology applications meeting user needs for various priority areas including:
• River basin characterization and change monitoring (i.e. provision of transboundary harmonized information)
• Monitoring surface water dynamics (i.e. mapping the quality, extent and level of lakes and rivers)
• Agricultural mapping and monitoring (i.e. mapping and monitoring of crop areas and agricultural water use)
• Natural risk management (i.e. support for monitoring floods and droughts)
• Environmental impact assessment (i.e. accessing the impact on water resources from infrastructure developments)
Further, inputs from World Bank and AGRHYMET was used to illustrate how the newly launched Sahel Irrigation Initiative Support Project (SIIP) envision to use Earth Observation for the development of a regional M&E system to strengthening IWRM and improve irrigation management.
The presentations served as the starting point for discussions on how best to take advantage of Earth Observation in future development projects/programs. The key take-away message is the recognition of the continued need to work together to advance the uptake and consequently the impact on the ground that satellite Earth Observation can have in development operations and activities.
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