In early March 2025, the second phase of water accounting training was held in the framework of the FAO Water Scarcity Programme. The training focused on the collection and analysis of spatial data to build and simulate a water account. Participants from various government institutions worked with open source datasets to calculate seasonal water balances and assessed water availability and interventions in the Xe Champhone pilot basin.

A key component of the training was the use of Google Earth Engine (GEE), where participants learned how to extract and process remotely sensed rainfall, evapotranspiration and land use data. These datasets were used to calculate the components of water accounting, including inflows, outflows, demands and unmet demands. In the second part of the programme, participants were introduced to the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model, which simulates water balance and supply-demand dynamics in river basins and irrigation systems. Using a tutorial model for the Xe Champhone river basin in Savannakhet province, participants explored how to build and adjust scenarios to assess the potential impacts of future projections and policy or management interventions on water availability, demand and supply. These exercises help participants make informed, data-driven decisions.

Participants were highly motivated to apply water accounting in their daily work, and many expressed interest in institutional follow-up. Although the training exercises focused on the Xe Champhone basin, participants recognised the potential to apply water accounting approaches more broadly. This momentum can serve as a basis for scaling up water efforts across Lao PDR.