27 March 2014: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted the Workshop on Earth Observations (EO) and the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus. Participants discussed: examples of EO contributions to WEF nexus assessments; information needs of WEF policy-makers; gaps in monitoring information and services that could be addressed by EO; and development of a synthesis report on the state of EO applications to WEF issues.

The meeting took place from 25-27 March 2014, at FAO Headquarters, in Rome, Italy. The meeting was sponsored by the Global Water System Project (GWSP), European Space Agency (ESA) and the FAO. The meeting included thematic breakout sessions on: sustainable agriculture and land use; water and aquatic systems; and climate and energy. Cross-cutting breakout sessions took place on data access, services, analysis and mapping, and on modeling, scenario analysis and other decision-making tools.

The workshop included presentations, inter alia, on: WEF at the FAO; the nexus approach as an opportunity for cross-sectoral collaboration; the economics of the nexus; EO for the nexus; the need for an integrated EO strategy for WEF; EO and agricultural drought; the role of data and information in nexus studies in the upper Niger Basin; monitoring fires to assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and the GWSP assessment of water management and the nexus. [GWSP Workshop Presentations]