MOOC Water Productivity and Water Accounting using WaPOR

IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (IHE Delft) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are excited to offer a new MOOC titled “Water Productivity and Water Accounting using WaPOR”, which is available in three languages English, French and Arabic.

WaPOR is the portal to monitor Water Productivity through Open-access of Remotely sensed derived data (wapor.apps.fao.org) and has been developed by FAO. The WaPOR programme assists countries in monitoring water productivity, identifying water productivity gaps, proposing solutions to reduce these gaps, and contributing to a sustainable increase in agricultural production. At the same time, it takes into account ecosystems and the equitable use of water resources, with the goal of achieving an overall reduction in water stress.

IHE Delft and FAO have developed an open online course to teach end-users how to actively use the WaPOR portal for their own needs. The main focus of the course will be on how to search, download, and apply WaPOR data for water productivity and water accounting studies. The course is separated into 3 modules:

• Module 1: Introduction and Usage (5 units) - More Information 
• Module 2: Water Productivity (3 units) - More Information 
• Module 3: Water Accounting (5 units) - More Information 

The course is free to attend and is open to all who are interested. A reliable internet connection is required. The course is self-paced with units being released on a weekly basis. A certificate of completion can be obtained after completing Module 1 and either Module 2 or 3. Materials for Module 1 are available starting on Monday, September 7, 2020 and for Modules 2 and 3 starting on Monday, October 12, 2020.

Learning objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Define the concept of water productivity and/or water accounting
• Describe the steps of using WaPOR data and other remote sensing derived data in water productivity and/or water accounting analyses
• Discuss the benefits and limitations of WaPOR and remote sensing derived data
• Summarise water productivity and/or water accounting study
• Apply the WaPOR data in combination with other data in water productivity and/or water accounting studies

For whom?

Water Productivity and Water  Accounting using WaPOR is an online course targeting practitioners and academicians who are working in water resources management and related fields and have an interest in using open access remote sensing data and other open-access data to assess the water resources situation in their region. They are also interested in conducting water productivity and/or water accounting analyses, including to study how water productivity improvements can have an effect on different water users in a river basin context.

To properly follow this course, we expect that the participants have a basic understanding of hydrology, irrigation agronomy, remote sensing, and working knowledge of GIS data.

Dates and fees

• Available since September 2020 (English version) and March 2021 (French and Arabic versions)
• Course fee: Free

This course is self-paced, so participants can enroll at any time and complete the course on their own schedule.

How to enroll

Go to the IHE Delft OpenCourseWare (OCW) website, where you can create a free OCW account and then enroll in the course.