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.

The Harmonized World Soil Database version 2.0 (HWSD v2.0) is a unique global soil inventory providing information on the morphological, chemical and physical properties of soils at approximately 1 km resolution. Its main objective is to be useful for modelers and to serve as a basis for prospective studies on agroecological zoning, food security and the impacts of climate change. HWSD v2.0 also serves an educational function, illustrating the geographical distribution of soils as well as their properties globally. HWSD v2.0 is easily accessible and user-friendly.

This publication provides the GAEZ v4 model documentation for (1) Agro-climatic analysis, (2) Crop biomass and yield calculations, (3) Land Utilization Types, (4) Observed phenology and crop calendars, (5) Temperature sum and temperature profile constraint-factors, (6) Crop-specific water requirements, (7) Soil-water balance, (8) Agro-climatic constraints, (9) Agro-edaphic constraints more crops, (10) Agro-ecological crop potentials, (11) Actual crop production and yields, (12) Yield and production gaps. This GAEZ v4 model documentation summarizes information on the structure of GAEZ methodology and provides information on updates of input data and model procedures from GAEZ v3.

Greenhouse gas emissions by the livestock sector could be cut by as much as 30 percent through the wider use of existing best practices and technologies. FAO conducted a detailed analysis of GHG emissions at multiple stages of various livestock supply chains, including the production and transport of animal feed, on-farm energy use, emissions from animal digestion and manure decay, as well as the post-slaughter transport, refrigeration and packaging of animal products. This report represents the most comprehensive estimate made to-date of livestocks contribution to global warming as well as the sectors potential to help tackle the problem. This publication is aimed at professionals in food and agriculture as well as policy makers.

This document contains the proceedings of the Regional Workshop on Ladn Resources Information Systems (LRIS) in Asia, held in Quezon City in January 2000. LRIS experiences in the countries are [presented, along with recommendations for future reporting and exhange of information, data expertise in land resources information. This includes the preparation of national and subregional reports on the state of land, water and plant nutrient resources in Asian countries.