FAO produces a large number of Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets for monitoring, assessment and analysis of environmental and socio-economic factors causing poverty and food insecurity. Particular relevance is given to malnutrition, farming systems and crops, livestock production systems, fishery and forestry sectors, agro-ecological zoning, land and water resources management and climate related issues.
FAO's most relevant GIS information at global, continental and sub-continental levels is now made available through GeoNetwork.
The spatial data identified as FAO Core Datasets share the following characteristics:
The FAO Core Datasets are described through their own ISO standard metadata and are available for download.
The following categories have been used to group the datasets:
FAO hopes that the whole geospatial user community will find the Core Datasets a valuable contribution to the use of geospatial information for mapping of socio-economic data and environmental related features.
Borders between countries and administrative units within the countries.
Keywords: boundaries, administrative units, administrative areas, borders.
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Annual or season's yield of plants that grow in significant quantities to be harvested as food, as livestock fodder, or for any other economic purpose. This category includes agricultural production data and statistics, crop species as well as agricultural techniques related to cropping.
Keywords: agriculture, farming, crops, cereals, vegetables, fruits, fibers, plant production, tree farming, crop harvesting, crop calendar, cropping pattern, cropping intensity.
Domesticated animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce animal products as food or fibres. The term livestock as used in this context include also poultry and pig farming.
Keywords: agriculture, livestock, livestock production, cattle, animal husbandry, poultry farming, pig farming.
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Application of ecology principles to real-world issues.
Keywords: agro-ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation, habitat management, protected areas management, restoration ecology, carbon gap.
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Distribution of living organisms, population and their habitats, including landscape and change analysis.
Keywords: wildlife, vegetation, sea life, wetlands, ecology, landscape, wilderness, ecosystem, habitats.
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Frequency and trends of whether parameters over a long time.
Keywords: climate, temperature, humidity, rainfall, precipitations, evapotranspiration, whether forcasting, meteorology, Koeppen climate classification, climate risk management.
The study of climate as to its effect on crops; it includes the relation of growth rate and crop yields to the various climatic factors and hence the optimum and limiting climates for any given crop.
Keywords: agroclimatology, growth rate, growth period, evapotranspiration, agroecological zones.
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Harvesting aquatic animals, marine and freshwater fish and edible invertebrates; fisheries exclude fish farming, and other aquaculture activities.
Keywords: commercial fishing, wild fisheries, fishery, FAO fishing areas.
Fish farming in freshwater and saltwater, including molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Unlike fishing, aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, implies the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions. Mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments.
Keywords: fish farming, shrimp farming, commercial fish farming, subsistence fish farming, small scale fish farming.
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Forest management and related natural resources, including tree plantations.
Keywords: timber production, wildlife habitat, landscape protection, biodiversity management, watershed management, erosion control, fire assessment and monitoring.
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Distribution and quality of water resources and water bodies, including man made water infrastructures.
Keywords: inland water bodies, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, basins, glaciers, water balance, dams, water supply, irrigation, natural water management, landslides, management of irrigation, floods and droughts occurrence and distribution.
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Physical and biological coverage of land as combinations of vegetation types, soils, water bodies or human relaed activities such as agriculture and built environments. Human modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures and settlements.
Keywords: grass, trees, bare ground, soil, water bodies, fields, pastures, settlements, urban sprawl, land use change, land degradation, deforestation, landscape fragmentation, habitat loss.
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Human population density and distribution, indicators of social and economic welfare at the international and global levels like poverty indexes, human development indexes.
Keywords: population distribution, population statistics, urban areas, rural areas, socio-economic statistics, education, health statistics, illness, hunger, malnutrition, undernourishment, stanted growth.
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Soils considered as the upper layers of the earth's crost in which plants grow.
Keywords: soil texture, subsoil, top soil, soil degradation, soil erosion, soil moisture, desertification, soil classification.
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Description of the earth surface features in terms of terrain.
Keywords: terrain, relief, contour lines, elevation, slope, landform, bathymetry, geo-morphological units, photogrammetry, topography