Since 1996, FAO and the Government of Italy have been collaborating on an ambitious project along the basin of the world’s longest river. The “Information products for the Nile Basin Water Resource Management” was the sum total of three consecutive projects carried out with ten countries in the Nile Basin. In October 2011, the project officially concluded and was handed over to the Nile Basin Initiative, an intergovernmental organization created in 1999 and headquartered in Entebbe, Uganda. A video about the successes and lessons learned during the Nile basin project is also available on-line.

A video about the successes and lessons learned during the Nile basin project is available on-line. The twelve-minute video includes interviews about this important transboundary water project with Minister Plenipotentiary Pier Francesco Zazo, Chief UTC, Directorate General for Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Wael Khairy, Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat, Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of FAO’s Natural Resources Management and Environment Department and Pasquale Steduto, Deputy Director of FAO’s Land and Water Division.

An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to ensure that food, energy and climate are jointly addressed, trade-offs considered, and appropriate safeguards are put in place. These issues will not be addressed through a single initiative. Because of its importance, scope and complexity, this challenge must be met through participation of a broad constituency of interested parties. This demands a multi partner international effort to implement energy-smart solutions in a non fragmented and cost effective way. Within this context, FAO proposes setting up an “Energy Smart Food for People and Climate”Multi-Partner Programme to be launched in 2012. The aim of the Programme is to address the energy dimension in relation to food security and energy poverty and should be seen as an essential component to climate-smart agriculture.