Land Cover Accounts

Annual estimates of land cover and Climate Altering Land Cover Index are presented at country and regional levels for the years, 1992-2020. Estimates of land cover are presented in thousand hectares and the Climate Altering Land Cover Index is unitless. Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2020. FAOSTAT Land, Inputs and sustainability, Land, Land Cover. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Extracted from: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/LC; IMF staff calculations. Category: Climate and Weather Data series: Climate Altering Land Cover Index (Source: IMF staff calculations) Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas) (Source: FAO) Grassland (Source: FAO) Herbaceous crops (Source: FAO) Inland water bodies (Source: FAO) Mangroves (Source: FAO) Permanent snow and glaciers (Source: FAO) Shrub-covered areas (Source: FAO) Shrubs and/or herbaceous vegetation, aquatic or regularly flooded (Source: FAO) Sparsely natural vegetated areas (Source: FAO) Terrestrial barren land (Source: FAO) Tree-covered areas (Source: FAO) Woody crops (Source: FAO) Metadata: The FAOSTAT Land Cover domain contains statistics of land cover area, aggregated at national level and by land cover category following the international land cover classification of the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework (UN SEEA 2012). The FAOSTAT land cover data are compiled by national aggregation of geospatial information which is distributed via publicly available Global Land Cover mapping products. Methodology: The Land Cover accounts are derived from publicly available Global Land Cover maps (GLC). The methodology adopted by FAO for the compilation of land cover datasets can be seen at https://fenixservices.fao.org/faostat/static/documents/LC/LC_e_2021.pdf Land cover has important linkages to climate regulation and climate change and therefore can be used to construct climate change indicators. One simple way to present the influence land cover can have on the climate is by assigning each land cover class as either climate regulating, climate altering, or climate neutral. Classification of land cover according to the effect that they are likely to have on the climate is shown below: 1. Climate altering land cover: Artificial surfaces (including urban and associated areas); Herbaceous crops 2. Climate regulating land cover: Woody crops; Multiple or layered crops; Grasslands; Tree-covered areas; Mangroves; Shrub-covered areas; Shrubs and/or herbaceous vegetation, aquatic or regularly flooded; Permanent snow and glaciers; Inland water bodies; Coastal water bodies and intertidal areas 3. Climate neutral: Sparsely natural vegetated areas; Terrestrial barren land. Using the above information, a climate altering land cover index (CALCI) was compiled. The Climate Altering Land Cover Index (CALCI) reflects the changes in the share of climate altering land cover as compared to the base year, 2015. The year 2015 was selected as the base for the index since all countries reported land cover data for that year. CALCI aggregates are calculated by region and sub-region according to the M49 and the World Economic Outlook Classifications. Disclaimer: Users are encouraged to examine the documentation, metadata, and sources associated with the data. User feedback on the fit-for-use of this product and whether the various dimensions of the product are appropriate is welcome.