25 Mar 2014
00:00
—
27 Mar 2014
00:00
Workshop // "Earth Observations and the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus", Rome/Italy
The workshop will identify specific examples of where Earth Observations (EO) can add to WEF Nexus assessments, review the information needs of resource managers and policy makers dealing with WEF issues, inform users on the use of EO to address issues related to water, energy and food security; To assess gaps in monitoring information and services that could be addressed by satellite data products, and develop a report synthesizing the state of EO applications to WEF issues, based on the workshop results.
The results will be directed at the sponsoring agencies and the May 2014 UNEP-GWSP conference, and will include recommendations for expanding the support from the Earth Observations community for the WEF nexus.
In recent years, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus has become a 'hot topic' at international conferences, workshops and debates. The 2011 World Economic Forum identified the issue as a critical area for the global economy over the next few decades. This view has been reiterated at the 2011 Bonn Conference on the Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus as well as in subsequent regional and national policy consultations. Water, energy and food systems are essential to ensuring WEF security, but have come under increasing pressure due to population growth, growing demand for food and diversified diets, resource degradation and scarcity, climate change and governance issues.
Satellite Earth observations, in conjunction with in situ data, can be used to more efficiently plan policies and programmes related to water, energy and food security. Earth observations deliver information at global, regional and local scales; provide access to regions where data are otherwise inaccessible or unavailable and deliver consistent data needed for monitoring. They support advice on water resource management, monitor trade- offs between land use and measuring local water consumption by crops, and contribute across the WEF Nexus by putting WEF issues in a geospatial context that's coherent, reliable and unbiased.