Afternoon — Official Opening & Introduction to WaPOR¶
Day 2 · 13:30–16:30 · Modules 2 & 3
Official Opening of GEIDA Staff Certification Training (13:30–14:30)¶
Slide deck: Day 2 Deck 2 — GEIDA Introduction & Pathway
The official opening was conducted by the Director of ESID/AWRD and the Director of CCD/STI, with remarks from both in-person and online participants.
Key messages from the opening¶
The opening remarks emphasised that GEIDA is a bank-wide platform — intended not only for technical staff, but also for field-facing colleagues, operational teams at headquarters, and independent evaluation functions.
Without clearly knowing where a project is located, what conditions surround it, and what risks affect it, designing, monitoring, and evaluating results consistently is difficult. EO data supports the ability to define project perimeters, establish baselines, link locations to satellite-derived indicators, and build evidence-based connections across member countries.
GEIDA aims to make project mapping more standardised — progressing towards greater consistency in how spatial aspects are presented in project documents.
Three batches of Foundation training are planned, followed by Advanced level. The platform continues to be developed as the certification programme grows.
Session 5 — Introduction to WaPOR & Field-level Analysis (14:30–16:30)¶
Slide deck: WaPOR Data History
What is FAO WaPOR?¶
FAO WaPOR (Water Productivity Open-access Portal) provides high-resolution EO-derived data on water use, vegetation, and water productivity, specifically for agriculture and water resources management.
Access: data.apps.fao.org/wapor
WaPOR vs eToolkit
The eToolkit provides a broad multi-sector overview at district to national scale. WaPOR goes into greater depth on agriculture and water at field level — down to 20 m spatial resolution — making it more appropriate for irrigation scheme monitoring and water-productivity assessments within WaPOR's coverage area.
WaPOR data layers¶
| Layer | What it measures | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| ETa (Actual Evapotranspiration) | Water consumed by vegetation and bare soil | 20–100 m |
| AETI (Annual ET & Interception) | Total annual water use including interception | 20–100 m |
| NBWP (Net Biomass Water Productivity) | Dry above-ground biomass produced per unit water consumed | 20–100 m |
| PHE / SOE (Phenology) | Crop growing season start and end dates | 20–100 m |
| RZSM (Relative Root Zone Soil Moisture) | Soil moisture in the root zone, as a fraction of saturation | 100 m |
| PCP (Precipitation) | Rainfall derived from satellite and gauge data | ~5 km |
WaPOR coverage and time periods¶
WaPOR covers Africa and the Near East. Coverage varies by spatial level:
- L1 — Continental (250 m resolution) — full Africa and Near East coverage
- L2 — Country level (100 m resolution) — selected countries within the coverage area
- L3 — Irrigation scheme level (20 m resolution) — specific command areas only
Data is available at dekadal (10-day), monthly, and annual intervals, allowing seasonal variation and year-on-year trends to be tracked.
Coverage check
Confirm that your project country and the relevant spatial level (L1/L2/L3) are available in WaPOR before specifying it in a project document. Country-level (L2) and scheme-level (L3) data are not available for all countries in the coverage area.
What WaPOR enables for IsDB projects¶
- Irrigation efficiency monitoring (PIASR) — compare actual evapotranspiration (ETa) to reference ET; identify over- or under-irrigated zones within a command area
- Biomass and yield proxy (PCR) — track crop productivity change before and after project intervention using net biomass water productivity
- Drought monitoring — anomaly detection in ETa or RZSM time series
- Water productivity benchmarking — compare productivity across seasons or against similar schemes
WaPOR data provides one line of satellite-derived evidence. Results should be contextualised against field measurement campaigns and programme knowledge of the specific irrigation system.
Exercise 2 continued — field-level WaPOR analysis¶
Participants navigated the WaPOR portal and:
- Selected their country and an agriculture project area
- Explored the ETa and RZSM time series for the area
- Compared water use across dry and wet seasons
- Identified which WaPOR layer would be most useful for a specific project document (PAD, PIASR, or PCR)
Using WaPOR for agriculture and irrigation projects
If preparing a PAD for an irrigation scheme in a country covered by WaPOR, the ETa and AETI time series for the command area can provide a satellite-derived baseline of water use before the intervention. Verify coverage for your specific country and administrative area before including this data in a formal document.
Continue to Day 3 — Spatial Analysis & GeoLibre