Earth observation for water resources management : current use and future opportunities for the water sector

Water is a key driver of economic and social development as well as of poverty reduction. Growing economies and populations need more water resources to sustain economic activity and provide greater access to drinking water and improved sanitation, generate renewable energy, or increase sustainable food production. While the World Bank has maintained its mission of reducing global poverty through economic development, the nature of the work it undertakes to fulfill that mission has changed over the decades of its existence. The scope of the problems that the Bank has to grapple with has expanded significantly, particularly in the realm of sustainable development, and today includes challenges related to climate change, resource depletion, natural disasters, and urbanization. These challenges require the collection and processing of data of much larger orders of magnitude than the poverty challenge alone requires. Under these circumstances, the Bank has started tapping into remote sensing techniques as a means of acquiring the extensive data needed to advance its goals.