AgHive, at the Department of Agriculture chaired by Dr. Hadi Jaafar, organized the First National Stakeholder Workshop under the TALANOA-WATER project on the 13th of July, in collaboration with the University of Salamanca (USAL), Spain. The workshop presented the economic water productivity and water accounting results in the Litani River Basin based on remote sensing and mathematical modeling.
The workshop was very interactive and involved 11 impactful stakeholders and policymakers holding senior positions in the public and private sectors, as well as in international organizations. Participating stakeholders included representatives of the Litani River Authority (LRA), Ministry of Agriculture, Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI), Bekaa Water Establishment, South Lebanon Water Establishment, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), FAO, WFP, UNESCWA, and AUB.
The workshop included a series of presentations by the organizers briefing the attendees about the Department of Agriculture, AgHive, the project, the role of stakeholders in shaping water and agricultural policies, and preliminary results of Water Accounting Plus (WA+), and remote sensing and socio-economic simulations. The workshop also included a welcoming note and presentation by the project's rapporteur Mr. Nassim Abou Hamad, representative of the Litani River Authority. The presentation delivered by Dr. Francesco Sapino from USAL on mathematical programming models for robust decision-making in the agricultural sector contributed to the enrichment of the workshop.
The workshop incorporated formal and informal discussions, with direct feedback from the stakeholders by sharing local knowledge, identifying gaps, and informing water policies. Opportunities for collaboration between stakeholders were also identified during the workshop.
The workshop was followed by lunch over which informal stakeholder dialogues continued.
