GAEZ - Global Agro-Ecological Zones

The GAEZ data portal (version 3.0), released on May 25, 2012, is an interactive web application designed to query, search, display, analyze and report on the current state and trends agricultural production and crop suitability under past, current and future climate.

The GAEZ data portal was developed by the Land and Water Division of the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department of FAO with the objective to ensure that member countries have sufficient, reliable information and knowledge on sustainable management of natural resources for food and agriculture in support of policy decisions at all scales. The GAEZ data portal provides free and easy access to data and information. It includes thousands of spatial datasets and tabular information and is designed as a dynamic system that continues to be updated. It contains many features and capabilities including:

• Browsing, querying and visualizing spatial datasets
• Search by free text, theme, crop, input level, water supply, time period, country and region
• Navigation, pan, zoom, identify by location spatial datasets
• Analysis and charting tools for tabular data
• Preparation of maps and reports for different maps and variables
• Download spatial, tabular, and metadata option for fast extraction of data and user friendly interface.

The database of the GAEZ data portal includes many terabytes of data covering five thematic areas:

• Land and Water resources, including soil resources, terrain resources, land cover, protected areas and selected socio economic and demographic data
• Agro-climatic resources, including a variety of climatic indicators
• Suitability and potential yields for up to 280 crops/land utilization types under alternative input and management levels for historical, current and future climate conditions
• Downscaled actual yields and production of the main crop commodities
• Yield and production gaps, in terms of ratios and differences between actual yield and production and potentials for main crops.

The GAEZ database provides the agronomic backbone for various applications including the quantification of land productivity. Results are commonly aggregated for current major land use/cover patterns and by administrative units, land protection status, or broad classes reflecting infrastructure availability and market access conditions.

The GAEZ Data Portal not only provides free access to data and information and allows visualization of data, but also provides the user with various analysis outputs and download options.

Tools Documents

User guide: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/gaez/docs/UserGuide_EN.pdf

GAEZ Definitions and Variables: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/gaez/docs/Definitions_EN.pdf

GAEZ Data Model: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/gaez/docs/GAEZ_Model_Documentation.pdf

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