The Global Agro-Ecological Zoning version 4 (GAEZ v4), launched on 17 June 2021 uses well-established land evaluation principles to assess natural resources for finding suitable agricultural land utilization options. It is based on agro-climatic assessments, crop modelling, natural and human resources, crop statistics and water use at global scale. With the increasing complexity and intensity of environmental and social challenges an improved understanding of the biophysical determinants for agricultural management decisions including physical drivers of climate change is necessary. The main strategic goal of GAEZ v5 is to make the outputs of the system available to national entities to support wise land use decision-making. To this end, supported by a GAEZ Partnership, GAEZ v5 will provide dynamically updated AEZ information, to meet local to global level AEZ users’ needs. To refine the overall GAEZ assessment, there was an initial consultation on the data used for GAEZ v5 in December 2021. Additional recommendations for updates, refinements and extensions of approaches and modules are listed in the Appendix 1-1 (“Recommendations for further GAEZ development”) of the GAEZ v4 Model Documentation.

Food Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Southern Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement evaluates traditional cultivation practices used by smallholder farmers, providing a synthesis of the latest information on increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations. The book catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector including: management practices that reduce net carbon emissions; technologies that improve soil structures and conserve the natural resources base; means of empowering female resources along value chains; and government commitment to adopt policies that enhance agriculture productivity by encouraging farmers to use environmentally sound cultivation technologies. Traditional farming techniques often produce negative impacts on the environment and ecosystem resulting in outbreaks of diseases and pests. In addition to the region’s recurrent droughts, these outbreaks of numerous diseases and pests, weeds and other invasive plants put thousands at risk of poverty and hunger, as well as malnutrition. This book presents enhanced agricultural production technologies for ensuring adequate food production, safety and nutritional quality for the population of Southern Africa and forms the basis for an increased SADC regional effort in food production through which financial and trade institutions can improve stakeholder capacities, encourage micro-enterprise development and enhance employment and regional trade. Provides a critical synthesis of data and information for increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations Evaluates traditional and scientific interventions that address food security issues of the poor farmers in the region Presents agro-ecologies of countries in the region and how they relate to various cultivation practices Catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector

The Global Agro-Ecological Zoning version 4 (GAEZ v4), launched on June 17th 2021, uses well-established land evaluation principles to assess natural resources for finding suitable agricultural land utilization options. It is based on agro-climatic assessments, models, natural and human resources, crop statistics and water use at global scale. With the increasing complexity and intensity of environmental and social challenges an improved understanding of the physical drivers of climate change is necessary. Consequently, a systematic and harmonized update of the global datasets is intended for the further development of GAEZ. The main strategic goal of new version of GAEZ (version 5) is to make the outputs of the system available to national entities to support wise land use decision-making. To this end, supported by the GAEZ Partnership, GAEZ v5 will provide dynamically updated AEZ information, to meet local to global level AEZ users’ need. To refine the overall GAEZ assessment, additional layers will be included in the land resources and climate database. Appendix 1 “Recommendations for further GAEZ development”) of the GAEZ v4 Model Documentation1 provides a list of potential database updates and improvements including for climate (both base-line and climate projections), land cover/land use, soil (with improved detail of processes such as land degradation) and ancillary datasets used for reporting and planning (e.g. areas reserved for environmental protection and maintenance of biodiversity, population density, livestock, administrative boundaries) GAEZ makes use of best available global spatial databases to estimate the biophysical crop production potential for over 100 crops and crop sub-types. The estimation procedures consecutively consider factors relevant for crop production over time and for different management conditions. An overview of the overall GAEZ v4 model structure and data integration is shown in Figure 1 and detailed information about the process and methodology are provided in the Model Documentation.

Agriculture is crucial for the national economy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Adoption of new strategies for agriculture monitoring, rural land use planning, and management are urgently required to reduce hunger and poverty and to assure sustainable food and feed production for future generations. The availability of reliable information on natural resources and agriculture for its monitoring and analysis is indispensable to the development and implementation of such strategies. For this purpose the project “Strengthening Afghanistan Institutions’ Capacity for the Assessment of Agriculture Production and Scenario Development” (GCP/AFG/087/EC), funded by the European Union (EU), is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Within the context of this project, FAO and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) are developing a National Agro-Ecological Zoning activity (NAEZ) in Afghanistan. This Atlas is the first of two books and provides the collected information and maps of the country based on the agro-climatic Indicators.

This unique book addresses Iran’s extremely rich soil diversity and resources, which have developed under various climatic conditions ranging from dry to humid conditions. Featuring contributions by a group of respected experts on Iranian soils and agriculture, it provides comprehensive information on the management approaches needed for sustainable soil utilization and conservation under such conditions, and the attendant challenges. As such, it offers a valuable resource for anyone interested in soils and agriculture in Iran, but also in other Middle East and North African countries with similar climatic conditions. The book contains 14 chapters which illustrate the long history of indigenous knowledge and soil research, climate, geology and geomorphology, vegetation cover, soil forming factors and processes, major soils, properties and their classification. Furthermore, it presents past climate change and paleosols, agroecological zones, soil fertility, soil biology and biotechnology, human induced land degradation and “soil management in space and time”. In the end, major challenges facing the soil resources of the country are defined and recommendations are made to face the future challenges.