eLEAF and partner 52impact are overcoming the challenge of obtaining accurate and relevant water-risk related data with ‘BasinMeter’. The project combines scalable Earth observation technology with local datasets to expose the vulnerability of local watersheds and the impact on local related agricultural production and the community WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). The project will enhance both strategic decision making and direct local intervention to mitigate water-stress.

The direct cooperation with European Space Agency (ESA) and CEO Water Mandate shows that a next step in global water resilience is taken by demanding more in-depth local risk monitoring of water stressed basins around the world which both companies as well as local communities are heavily relying on water. To do this, it is no longer valid to depend (only) on historical data but requires a closer monitoring through scalable Earth Observation methodology as delivered by eLEAF and partner 52impact for the Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI) indicators that contribute towards reducing water stress in its three dimensions: availability (quantity), quality, and WASH.

ESA is working with eLEAF through the ESA Business Applications and Space Solutions programme, under the ‘Digitising Water Resilience Monitoring in Basins’ initiative, in partnership with the CEO Water Mandate’s Water Resilience Coalition (WRC). BasinMeter has been announced in the first batch of Feasibility Studies selected under the initiative which will support companies who are developing water resilience monitoring capabilities.

Providing unbiased data and methods:

• Scalable data and methods for quantity to measure NPWI water indicators in basins globally
• Quantity, Quality, WASH
• Long-term and near real-time water risks using satellite data and advanced data technologies.
• Ranging from basin, sub basin, irrigation scheme to crop field and related commodities
• Deep-dive into 1 or 2 basins for global feasibility
• Climate projections for the next 30 years

Providing dashboards:

• Multiple ways how to effectively communicate relevant water information.
• Deliver and visualize data for the Water Action Hub from the CEO Water Mandate
• Identify how corporate users would like to interact with the BasinMeter dashboard and customize accordingly

<p>The post BasinMeter – Unbiased methodology for measuring NPWI water indicators first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a fundamental process that facilitates water exchange between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, playing a pivotal role in the hydrological cycle. Monitoring it helps towards mitigating the effects of climate change, developing sustainable ecosystems and supporting agricultural productivity.

The publication offers a novel method that integrates satellite data and crop coefficients to calculate daily crop and actual ET to overcome the limited temporal coverage of satellite data. The results are compared with the FAO WaPOR data (produced by an eLEAF-led consortium). The aggregated monthly ETa agreed well with the WaPOR datasets (RMSE = 1.93 mm/month).

For those interested in exploring the contents of the publication, you can find it here: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2023.2237662  

Please feel free to share this exciting news with your network and colleagues who might find the content valuable.

<p>The post A new approach to estimate daily evapotranspiration, based on Landsat data and FAO56 principles first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

During our time in Uganda, we had productive meetings with our esteemed partners AIC, ARC, and OKO. It was a pleasure to have representatives from ISF join us to observe the project’s progress and outcomes. This provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on our work, discussing its strengths, challenges, and lessons learned. Our aim is to continuously seek better interventions and results, always looking toward the future and enhancing our partnership.

One of the highlights of our visit was the chance to interact with the Kabonera coffee farmers’ cooperative, a part of NUCAFE, in Masaka city, as well as a group of farmers in Kayunga. Observing firsthand how these farmers utilize our products and hearing about their experiences with insurance was truly inspiring. We are proud to know that our insurance coverage against drought and excess rainfall is assisting farmers in developing their resilience against climate change. By providing them with the means to recover their investments in case of crop loss due to extended dry or heavy rainy seasons, they can continue their farming activities while meeting other essential needs, such as housing and education. Additionally, it was heartening to witness the cooperative efforts of these farmers in pursuing better benefits and achieving fairer prices for their products.

Farming is undoubtedly a risky business, yet it remains crucial for society, especially small-scale farming, which contributes significantly to local food supplies. Offering a solution to mitigate losses from such unpredictable weather conditions is a game-changer for small farmers, empowering them to enhance their resilience. We are honored to be a part of this journey and make a positive difference in their lives.

<p>The post Empowering Ugandan Farmers: Innovating Insurance for Resilience first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

RESING is allowed to supply Moroccan clients with high-quality satellite data-based information services for a climate-resilient world, enabling governmental and commercial customers to use water sustainably, increase food production and protect environmental systems.

<p>The post eLEAF and RESING sign partner agreement first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

The key building blocks of the Water Action Agenda are:
1. Commit to action
2. Sustain and scale up implementation
3. Follow-up and review processes

The priorities for the Netherlands as a co-host of the UN Water Conference is to make everyone understand, value and manage water better. Accurate and objective data across countries and basins are crucial for informed decision-making and planning at scale. The conference highlighted significant take-home messages, including the importance of big earth data, the higher green water use than blue water use in agriculture, and the availability of FAO’s statistical and remote sensing data for monitoring SDG target 6.4.

<p>The post Our colleagues Annemarie and Boudewijn attended the UN Water Conference in New York first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

eLEAF has contributed with great enthusiasm to NLdoet by getting the arboretum – Arboretum Oostereng – ready for its visitors this spring and summer. The arboretum lies in a forest near our office in Wageningen. A place where the colleagues of eLEAF love to take a walk during the day!

<p>The post NLdoet – eLEAFdoet!  first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

International Women’s Day celebrates the progress made towards gender equality and recognizes the work that still needs to be done. This year’s theme of “Unlimited Livable” asks whether women can participate in society and the workplace without limitation and whether women can help each other live without limitation. As a data company, eLEAF believes aims to create a workplace where women can thrive and contribute their expertise to the fullest. 42% of our staff is women, where the average of the sector is only 18%.

To know if the reality matches the intention of gender equality within the company, we asked our female colleagues about working at eLEAF and in the IT sector as women. A few typical assumptions are that men are naturally more interested in and capable of working in IT, and that men are more likely to receive promotions than women.

Here are some statements our colleagues made:

• Jessica says “As a woman, you experience being a minority, but being an expert in a specific field has earned me interest and respect from my colleagues. The IT sector should accept that women can do the same job as men, and there should be no prejudices when it comes to working with a female expert.”
• Annemarie says “As the first woman to join eLEAF, I am happy to see a well-balanced team in terms of gender that includes people from different nationalities, religions, and age groups. Diversity brings out more diverse knowledge and stimulates creativity and ideas.”
• Antonia says “The technology sector allows you to be as innovative and creative as you want. I love that I can look back at the projects I worked on and say, ‘I did this, this is my work!’ It is a great feeling. It can be challenging sometimes, but I believe this is what makes us better and makes us feel proud of our accomplishments after all.”
• Mechteld says “Before I joined eLEAF 10 years ago, and during the first year here, I would almost always be the only woman at the table in meetings representing eLEAF. I have seen that change over the years and the younger generation has a much healthier gender balance, which is really good to see.“

So, when working as a woman in the IT/tech industry, you may feel the inequality in representation, but it can also be extra special when you accomplish things as a woman in this sector. The IT sector is innovative and a great place to be creative, which makes it a great place to work! Let’s keep moving towards a more inclusive sector.

<p>The post <strong>Women in the IT Sector: Insights from eLEAF on International Women’s Day 2023</strong> first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

At eLEAF, we believe that satellite imagery can provide the objective and actionable data that is needed to make informed decisions in the domains of agriculture, water resources, and risk management. Our vision is to make reliable, objective, and accessible data globally available to farmers, companies, and governments, to support a climate-resilient planet.

Our mission is to create real-time, globally available datasets at the highest quality to power solutions that are easy to use, affordable and relevant to make sustainable crop production, a fair allocation of water and a climate-resilient agricultural sector possible.
To achieve our mission, we’re committed to collaborating with local partners, clients, and end-users in the field. By combining their needs and practical insights with our transparent, scientifically sound methods, we’re able to develop open-source algorithms and services that are relevant to the communities we serve. Our strategy is to create global solutions through local collaboration.

Here’s to a great year ahead, let’s work together to make a sustainable future a reality.

<p>The post eLEAF moving forwards in 2023 first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

eLEAF continues the close collaboration with the FAO to delivery Water Productivity data to the WapOR data portal (https://wapor.apps.fao.org) for the coming 3 years. We got awarded the new WaPOR Data Production contract that includes some exciting changes:

– Global coverage at 300m!

– New partner countries in Asia and Latin America!

– Field-scale data at 20m!

Boudewijn van Silfhout, CEO of eLEAF: “The new WaPOR contract fits well in eLEAF’s mission of delivering reliable, high-quality data at scale for a climate-resilient world. Our collaboration with FAO pushes us to accelerate faster and further scale its technology. The open-access WaPOR database ensures deployment across the globe to support farmers, companies and institutions.”

WaPOR is a publicly accessible near real-time database based on satellite data that allows the monitoring of agricultural water productivity at different scales and is managed by the FAO. WaPOR is applicable in a variety of contexts, such as in the assessment of the irrigation performance of a sugarcane estate in Mozambique; the assessment of water resources in the Nile River basin (in a water accounting process); the monitoring of conflict impact on agricultural areas in Syria. Currently, WaPOR data is being used in Mali and Burkina Faso, in combination with local data, to assist transhumant herders in assessing animal feed production.

“This portal is proving of great use in ensuring that agricultural water resources are managed sustainably. Already in high demand, scaling it up to a global level is a challenge we are eager to lead,” said Lifeng Li, Director of FAO’s Land and Water Division.

“Water is the key enabler of the transition towards sustainable food systems and improved water governance is needed,” said Kitty van der Heijden, Director-General International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. That’s the reason we are keen to invest in knowledge and open data. We notice that the WaPOR has impact; it is increasingly used by both public and private sectors”

“Making WaPOR globally accessible is a very welcome opportunity and will bring enhanced information, including on trends in vegetation growth and water stress, to more farmers in developing countries,” said Jippe Hoogeveen , team leader for FAO’s WaPOR project.

Article FAO: Sustainable water management: Groundbreaking digital tool gets a global boost

<p>The post <strong>A New Year, Expanding WaPOR</strong> first appeared on eLEAF.</p>

We presented our Water Consumption Dashboard, which provides continuous information on water consumption from the catchment to the field level.

In 2022, Morocco was one of the most drought-affected countries in the Mediterranean region. With an average dam fill level of only 24 % at the end of November, Morocco faces severe constraints in irrigation and even in the allocation of drinking water. As a result, the groundwater reserves, which are already severely strained, are being overused even more.

Recently, His Majesty King Mohammed VI announced during the opening session of the Parliament “the need to launch more ambitious initiatives and projects, through the use of innovations and new technologies in the field of water saving”.

Together with the River Basin Agency and the Marrakech Irrigation Office, eLEAF and Resing have developed the Water Consumption Dashboard, which enables better planning, monitoring and assessment of water resources and irrigation water management at different levels.

The dashboard can be extended to other regions of Morocco and abroad. The costs are beneficial and much lower than field campaigns.

For more information and a demo, have look at the Water Consumption Dashboard.

Partially funded by Green Growth Department (IGG) Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken and NSO – Netherlands Space Office.

What is your case? Please get in contact: Corné van der Sande

* The text on the back of the bus: do not waste water. Yes for responsible use!

<p>The post Water Consumption Dashboard now available! first appeared on eLEAF.</p>