The interlinkages of water, energy, and food have been examined and expressed in the concept of the water-energy-food nexus since the 2007-08 global financial crisis propelled them into the spotlight. The nexus concept has allowed academics and other resources practitioners to express the interdependencies and constraints between these three systems, and to offer solutions that bridge across them. We are entering a new era of addressing nexus problems — applying remote monitoring, analytics, AI, and machine learning to water sustainability is unearthing new insights and solutions. The open data revolution has given access to organizations that would not be able to gather and process data themselves.

In this session we will discuss the role of advanced technology and multi-sectoral collaboration in addressing nexus issues, and deep dive into the Global Water Watch platform, with a chance for the audience to provide feedback on this tool.

Global Water Watch is a data platform of free, globally accessible near-real-time information on water.

This platform is supported by Google and the Water, Peace, and Security Partnership. It provides information on thousands of global reservoirs, helping decision-makers respond to extreme weather events and managing growing risks of climate change. The platform uses modern AI and EO algorithms to map dams, produce high-resolution spatiotemporal information on the amount of water stored in reservoirs in near-real-time.