Irrigation monitoring, reservoir levels and more: water managers from Southern Africa share their impressions of the Digital Twin developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) along with the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM) and partners.
They also reflect on the Limpopo Water Copilot, an AI assistant that translates science-based insights into simple text summaries and graphics, and discuss the importance of including data from citizen scientists.
The workshop “AI-driven Digital Twin for Water Management for Limpopo River Basin and Inclusive Integration with Citizen Science” took place June 9-11, 2025, in Botswana, organized by IWMI alongside LIMCOM and the Digital Innovations for Water Secure Africa (DIWASA) project.
The CGIAR Digital Transformation Accelerator, Enable and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Digital Earth Africa, the Global Water Partnership and Microsoft supported the workshop. LIMCOM is advancing the Digital Twin initiative under the project “Integrated Transboundary River Basin Management for the Sustainable Development of the Limpopo River Basin,” which aims to uplift the living standards of the basin’s population and conserve the basin’s resources and ecosystem services.
LIMCOM is implementing the project in partnership with the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA), with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).