The map summarizes the status of the land use and land cover at global scale. It was compiled according to the current GAEZ (Global Agro-Ecological Zones) -2009 approach, developed by FAO in collaboration with IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis).The current Global AEZ (GAEZ-2009) offers a standardized framework for the characterization of climate, soil and terrain conditions relevant to agricultural production, which can be applied at global to sub-national levels. The map is based on six geographic datasets: - GLC2000 land cover database at 30 arc-sec ( http://www-gvm.jrc.it/glc2000 ), using regional and global legends (JRC, 2006); - an IFPRI global land cover categorization providing 17 land cover classes at 30 arc-sec. (IFPRI, 2002), based on a reinterpretation of the Global Land Cover Characteristics Database (GLCC ver. 2.0), EROS Data Centre (EDC, 2000); - FAO’s Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 and 2005 (FAO, 2001; FAO, 2006) at 30 arc-sec. resolution; - digital Global Map of Irrigated Areas (GMIA) version 4.0 of (FAO/University of Frankfurt) at 5’ by 5’ latitude/longitude resolution, providing by grid-cell the percentage land area equipped with irrigation infrastructure (Siebert et al., 2007); - a spatial population density inventory (30-arc seconds) for year 2000 developed by FAO-SDRN, based on spatial data of LANDSCAN 2003, with calibration to UN 2000 population figures.

An iterative calculation procedure has been implemented to estimate land cover class weights, consistent with aggregate FAO land statistics and spatial land cover patterns obtained from remotely sensed data, allowing the quantification of major land use/land cover shares in individual 5’ by 5’ latitude/longitude grid cells.