About Moctar
Moctar is an early career scientist (ECS) in hydrology working at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Ghana. He is a native of Burkina Faso where he grew up and completed an MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering at 2iE in Ouagadougou. He holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His fields of expertise include hydrological modelling, water accounting and productivity, climate change impact assessment, flood and drought prediction, irrigation, remote sensing, digital innovations, GIS and machine learning application to land and water resources assessment. He has worked for a variety of organizations including public and private companies, NGOs, international development organizations and academia across several countries in Africa and Europe.
He is passionate about sustainable community building and supported many entrepreneurial initiatives. Moctar is member of several youth networks including YALI, UNESCO, UNLEASH, One Young World, and CGIU ambassadors. Creativity is his passion and solving new challenges his favorite hobby, especially when this promotes an equitable and sustainable society.
Moctar’s Involvement in IAHS: How It Happened
Moctar’s involvement in IAHS started from an online exploration of the IAHS web site. Then he decided to register to become a member of the association in 2017. Since then he has been regularly following the activities of the association and did not hesitate to apply to join the early career committee of IAHS when there was a call for application in 2022.
He then became the early career committee representative of the Surface Water Commission since June 2022, and the Chair of the Early Career Committee since July 2023. Thereafter, he also became the Secretary of the Africa Regional Committee at IAHS since January 2023. In these roles at IAHS, Moctar is committed to increasing and extending the IAHS membership to ECS and to the African community, to promote hydrological sciences among young researchers and across continents.
Moctar’s Research
Moctar’s current research focuses on leveraging open access remote sensing data and technologies to better understand and predict water resources considering environmental changes. At IWMI, Moctar works on a variety of projects to generate timely and quality information on water availability and water risks to enhance sustainable water management. His duties include developing machine learning and geospatial approaches for agricultural suitability mapping for vegetable production, agricultural drought monitoring, irrigation performance assessment, hydrological modelling, water accounting and groundwater monitoring. He is also the co-lead of the FAO’s WaPOR project at IWMI, where he is responsible of project management and technical assistance to ensure the delivery of demand-driven digital solutions with public and private sector to enhance agricultural water productivity to support food security in several countries in Africa and the Middle East, using near real time satellite data. Moctar’s work supports governments and local communities in better managing their water resources with evidence-based information and decision support tools.
Step Into Engagement:
Moctar’s Advice for Getting Involved!
IAHS is a vibrant community of people who are dedicated to providing a better understanding of the water cycle through science to address water-related challenges faced by society. If you share and like the idea of making a “better water world”, we invite you to join the IAHS.
IAHS provides many opportunities for everyone’s voice to be heard through various commissions, working groups, committees, and initiatives. The younger you get involved in IAHS, the better the society will benefit from your engagement! Register today for free to become a member of IAHS and contribute to the science for solution association for a water secure world.
Moctar’s contact
You can contact Moctar (in English, French): mocdembele@gmail.com