FAO Country Profiles
Encyclopedia
The FAO
Country
Profiles is a multilingual web portal
which repackages the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO) vast archive of information on its global activities in agriculture
and food security
in a single area and catalogues it exclusively by country
and thematic areas.
The portal's purpose is to offer decision-makers, researchers and project formulators around the world a fast and reliable way to access country-specific information on national food security
situations without the need to search individual databases and systems. It gives added-value to FAO
's wealth of information by providing an easy-to-use interface
containing interactive maps
and charts.
has always highlighted information
and Knowledge sharing
as priority areas in fighting hunger
and achieving food security
. In this context, FAO
identified that countries could improve their national programmes on agriculture
and food security
if they could access FAO
's information through a cross-sectoral (or interdisciplinary) country-based approach. However, despite the existence of a large number of country-based information systems
in FAO, the information managed by the various systems lacked integration
. Information tended to be generated and used in a circumscribed manner and tailored to a specific system, department or sector
.
The FAO Country Profiles portal, initially called FAO Country Profiles and Mapping Information System, was launched in 2002 responding to the Organization’s need to provide FAO
web site’s users an easy to use mechanism to find FAO country-specific information
without the need to search
individual FAO
web sites, databases or systems. The system was designed to integrate analytical
and multilingual information with thematic databases and digital
map
repositories and to facilitate access to information on multiple factors contributing to national food insecurity.
Since its launch, the system has grown by incorporating more and more data sources. This was achieved thanks to a corporate effort to reduce information silo
s and the adoption of international standards for country-based information management
throughout the Organization.
Country Profiles is rather simple; it links, reuses and repackages data and information from most relevant existing FAO
databases and systems.
The FAO
Country Profiles covers current FAO Members and Associated Nations. Once a country is selected, the portal presents to the user documents, news feeds, statistical data, project details and maps
from relevant FAO databases and systems for the selected country
and categorized according to thematic areas.
The thematic areas are grouped in two categories:
commonly use the M-49 classification (also known as UN code) or the FAOSTAT area classification; mapping systems could use geographic coordinates or GAUL
codes; textual systems (document repositories or web sites) could use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
or AGROVOC
keywords; etc.
The FAO Country Profiles provide access to systems managing statistics
, documents, maps
, news feeds, etc., therefore one of its key aspects to succeed was the mapping of all these country codes.
For this purpose a geopolitical ontology
was developed. This ontology, among other features, maps ISO2
, ISO3
, AGROVOC
, FAOSTAT, FAOTERM, GAUL
, UN, and UNDP codes for all countries.
, Belarus
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Cape Verde
and Tonga
. All five graduated from the list having completed the "transitional phase", exceeding the World Bank
income threshold for three consecutive years.
is traditionally determined by three criteria:
In order to avoid countries changing their LIFDC status too frequently - typically due to short-term, exogenous
shocks - an additional factor was introduced in 2001. This factor, called "persistence of position", would postpone the "exit" of a LIFDC from the list, despite the country not meeting the LIFDC income
criterion or the food-deficit criterion, until the change in its status is verified for three consecutive years.
's Member Nations and Associated Nations official flags. The update of any country flag is coordinated with the other United Nations
agencies. All flags are made available in an standardized manner which also aims to help web site owners to ensure that they always display the official country flag.
The standard URL for any given country flag would be composed by: the generic URL: "http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/flags/" to which the ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2
code for the country is added, plus the image format suffix ".gif". For instance, the URL for the Argentina flag would be: http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/flags/AR.gif, with AR being the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
code of Argentina
.
Country Profiles was that, in its inception phase, it only contained very few resources. Since 2002, the number of available resources has increased to cover country-based information and data, directly linked from FAO
's web pages or FAO
's digital repositories. Over the last years, another identified area for improvement was the simplicity of the system methodology, being the resources only linked from country pages and thus, lacking real integration. This need was addressed by starting to integrate additional data, such as, the fisheries charts or the news and events items taken from AgriFeeds. In addition, in order to provide more complete country profiles, the system started to link or integrate non-FAO
resources.
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
Country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
Profiles is a multilingual web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
which repackages the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
of the United Nations (FAO) vast archive of information on its global activities in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
in a single area and catalogues it exclusively by country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
and thematic areas.
The portal's purpose is to offer decision-makers, researchers and project formulators around the world a fast and reliable way to access country-specific information on national food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
situations without the need to search individual databases and systems. It gives added-value to FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's wealth of information by providing an easy-to-use interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
containing interactive maps
MAPS
Maps is the plural of map, a visual representation of an area.As an acronym, MAPS may refer to:* Mail Abuse Prevention System, an organisation that provides anti-spam support...
and charts.
Background
FAOFão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
has always highlighted information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
and Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing
Knowledge sharing is an activity through which knowledge is exchanged among people, friends, or members of a family, a community or an organization....
as priority areas in fighting hunger
Hunger
Hunger is the most commonly used term to describe the social condition of people who frequently experience the physical sensation of desiring food.-Malnutrition, famine, starvation:...
and achieving food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
. In this context, FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
identified that countries could improve their national programmes on agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
if they could access FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's information through a cross-sectoral (or interdisciplinary) country-based approach. However, despite the existence of a large number of country-based information systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
in FAO, the information managed by the various systems lacked integration
System integration
In engineering, system integration is the bringing together of the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system...
. Information tended to be generated and used in a circumscribed manner and tailored to a specific system, department or sector
Sector
- Places :* Sector, Devon, a location in the county of Devon in south-western England* Sector, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Hampshire County, West Virginia, United States of America- In computing :...
.
The FAO Country Profiles portal, initially called FAO Country Profiles and Mapping Information System, was launched in 2002 responding to the Organization’s need to provide FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
web site’s users an easy to use mechanism to find FAO country-specific information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
without the need to search
Search engine technology
Modern web search engines are complex software systems using the technology that has evolved over the years. There are several categories of search engine software: Web search engines , database or structured data search engines , and mixed search engines or enterprise search...
individual FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
web sites, databases or systems. The system was designed to integrate analytical
Scientific modelling
Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...
and multilingual information with thematic databases and digital
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
repositories and to facilitate access to information on multiple factors contributing to national food insecurity.
Since its launch, the system has grown by incorporating more and more data sources. This was achieved thanks to a corporate effort to reduce information silo
Information silo
An information silo is a management system incapable of reciprocal operation with other, related management systems. A bank's management system, for example, is considered a silo if it cannot exchange information with other related systems within its own organization, or with the management systems...
s and the adoption of international standards for country-based information management
Information management
Information management is the collection and management of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that information to one or more audiences. This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to that information...
throughout the Organization.
Country Profiles
The methodology behind the FAOFão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
Country Profiles is rather simple; it links, reuses and repackages data and information from most relevant existing FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
databases and systems.
The FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
Country Profiles covers current FAO Members and Associated Nations. Once a country is selected, the portal presents to the user documents, news feeds, statistical data, project details and maps
MAPS
Maps is the plural of map, a visual representation of an area.As an acronym, MAPS may refer to:* Mail Abuse Prevention System, an organisation that provides anti-spam support...
from relevant FAO databases and systems for the selected country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
and categorized according to thematic areas.
The thematic areas are grouped in two categories:
- FAO Core Activities: these correspond to FAOFãoFão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's main areas of expertise, such as, natural resourcesNatural ResourcesNatural Resources is a soul album released by Motown girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in 1970 on the Gordy label. The album is significant for the Vietnam War ballad "I Should Be Proud" and the slow jam, "Love Guess Who"...
, economicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, agricultureAgricultureAgriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, forestryForestryForestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
, fisheries and technical cooperation. This grouping is based on the work of the corresponding FAOFãoFão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
departments.
- Global issues: these are themes that FAOFãoFão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
identified as priority areas for action, and include biodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
, biotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
, climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, diseases and pests, emergencyEmergencyAn emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation, although in some situations, mitigation may not be possible and agencies may only be able to offer palliative...
and aid, food securityFood securityFood security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
and safetyFood safetyFood safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards....
, tradeTradeTrade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
and prices, water managementWater managementWater management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world. water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands...
. These priority areas correspond to FAOFãoFão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's strategic response to a fast-changing world where issues ranging from biotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
to climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
and tradeTradeTrade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
present new challenges and choices to governments and the general public.
Data sources
Country pages provide access to or integrate the following thematic profiles and systems.FAO data sources
- Aquastat Country Profiles: The AQUASTAT country profiles describe the state of water resourcesWater resourcesWater resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water....
and agricultural water useWater useWater use can mean the amount of water used for a given task or for the production of a given quantity of some product or crop. The term "water footprint" is often used to refer to the amount of water used by a consumer....
in the respective country. Special attention is given to water resource, irrigationIrrigationIrrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and drainageDrainageDrainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
sub-sectors. - Biotechnology Country Profiles: The objective of the profiles is to provide a platform on which developing countryDeveloping countryA developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
biotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
-related policies, regulations and activities can be readily accessed, directing the user to key, updated sources of information. - BIODEC Biotechnologies in Developing Countries: FAO-BioDeC is a database meant to gather, store, organize and disseminate, updated baseline information on the state-of-the-art of cropCropCrop may refer to:* Crop, a plant grown and harvested for agricultural use* Crop , part of the alimentary tract of some animals* Crop , a modified whip used in horseback riding or disciplining humans...
biotechnologyBiotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
productsProduct (business)In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
and techniquesScientific techniqueA scientific technique is any systematic way of obtaining information about a scientific nature or to obtain a desired material or product.Scientific techniques can be divided in many different groups, e.g.:# Preparative techniques...
, which are in use, or in the pipeline in developing countries. The database includes about 2000 entries from 70 developing countries, including countries with economies in transition. - Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles: The Country PasturePasturePasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
/ForageForageForage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
Resource Profile provides a broad overview of relevant general, topographical, climatic and agro-ecological information with focus on livestockLivestockLivestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
production systems and the pasturePasturePasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
/forageForageForage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
resources. - FAO Corporate Document Repository: The FAO Corporate Document Repository houses FAO documents and publications, as well as selected non-FAO publications, in electronic format.
- FAO Projects in the country: From the Field Programme Management Information System.
- FAO Terminology - Names of Countries: In order to standardize and harmonize the vast quantity of terms used in FAO documents and publications, the Organization developed the terminologyTerminologyTerminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
database FAOTERM. The Corporate NAMES OF COUNTRIES database also aims at facilitating the consultation and harmonization of country names throughout the Organization.
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Country Profiles: FAO's Fisheries and AquacultureAquacultureAquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
Department prepares and publishes Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles. Each profile summarizes the Department's assessment of activities and trends in fisheries and aquaculture for the country concerned. Economic and demographic data are based on UN or World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
sources; data on fisheries are generally those published by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. - Forestry Country Profiles: The forestryForestryForestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
country profiles provide detailed information on forests and the forest sector: forest cover (types, extent and change), forest managementForest management200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
, policies, products and trade, and more - in all some 30 pages for each country in the world. - FAO-GeoNetwork: FAO-GeoNetwork is a web based Geographic Data and Information Management System. It enables easy access to local and distributed geospatial information catalogues and makes available data, graphics, documents for immediate download. FAO-GeoNetwork holds approximately 5000 standardized metadataMetadataThe term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
records for digital and paper maps, most of them at the global, continent and national level. - Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS): The System aims to provide policy-makers and policy-analysts with the most up-to-date information available on all aspects of food supply and demand, warningWarningWarning may refer to:- Signal :* Precautionary statement* Warning sign* Warning system* Warning , issued by a police officer in lieu of a citation following a traffic stop- Music :* Warning...
of imminent food crises, so that timely interventions can be planned.
- Livestock Sector Briefs: The purpose of the LivestockLivestockLivestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
Sector Briefs is to provide a concise overview of livestock production in the selected countries through tables, maps and graphs. - Nutrition Country Profiles: The NutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
Country Profiles (NCP) provide concise analytical summaries describing the food and nutrition situation in individual countries.
Partnerships data sources
- AgriFeeds: AgriFeeds is a service that allows users to search and filter news and events from several agricultural information sources. It harvests, stores and re-aggregates news and events from feeds published by agricultural organizations and information services.
- International Portal on Food Safety, Animal & Plant Health (IPFSAPH): IPFSAPH facilitates trade in food and agriculture by providing a single access point to authorized official international and national information across the sectors of food safety, animal and plant health. It has been developed by FAO in association with the organizations responsible for international standard setting in sanitary and phytosanitary matters.
Non-FAO data sources
- Earthtrends, World Resources InstituteWorld Resources InstituteThe World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
: EarthTrends is a comprehensive online database, maintained by the World Resources Institute, that focuses on the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape the world. The Earthtrends country profiles present environmental information about key variables for different topic areas.
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD): Rural poverty country profiles are produced by IFAD.
Standards
There are various international standards and coding systems to manage country information. Historically, systems dealing with different types of data used different coding systems that were tailored to specific data type requirements. For example, statistical systems in the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
commonly use the M-49 classification (also known as UN code) or the FAOSTAT area classification; mapping systems could use geographic coordinates or GAUL
Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL)
The Global Administrative Unit Layers is a spatial database of the administrative units for all the countries in the world. It is a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.-Mission:...
codes; textual systems (document repositories or web sites) could use ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
, ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
or AGROVOC
AGROVOC
AGROVOC was first developed in the 1980s as a multilingual structured thesaurus for all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and related domains . Its main purpose was to standardize the indexing process for the AGRIS database in order to make searching simpler and more...
keywords; etc.
The FAO Country Profiles provide access to systems managing statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
, documents, maps
MAPS
Maps is the plural of map, a visual representation of an area.As an acronym, MAPS may refer to:* Mail Abuse Prevention System, an organisation that provides anti-spam support...
, news feeds, etc., therefore one of its key aspects to succeed was the mapping of all these country codes.
For this purpose a geopolitical ontology
Geopolitical ontology
A geopolitical ontology is a mechanism to describe, manage and exchange data related to geopolitical entities such as countries, territories, regions and other similar areas.-Definitions and examples:...
was developed. This ontology, among other features, maps ISO2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
, ISO3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
, AGROVOC
AGROVOC
AGROVOC was first developed in the 1980s as a multilingual structured thesaurus for all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and related domains . Its main purpose was to standardize the indexing process for the AGRIS database in order to make searching simpler and more...
, FAOSTAT, FAOTERM, GAUL
Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL)
The Global Administrative Unit Layers is a spatial database of the administrative units for all the countries in the world. It is a project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.-Mission:...
, UN, and UNDP codes for all countries.
Global Resources
Besides the profiles for each country the portal also provides access to other important global resources, such as:Low-Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDC)
The FAO Country Profiles keeps updated for the public the list of LIFDC countries. This list is revised every year according to the methodology explained below. The list of the LIFDC, as of May 2009, stands at 77 countries, five less than those in the 2008 LIFDC list. These five are: AlbaniaAlbania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
and Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
. All five graduated from the list having completed the "transitional phase", exceeding the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
income threshold for three consecutive years.
LIFDC methodology
The classification of a country as low-income food-deficit used for analytical purposes by FAOFão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
is traditionally determined by three criteria:
- A country should have a per capita incomePer capita incomePer capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
below the "historical" ceiling used by the World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
to determine eligibility for IDAInternational Development AssociationThe International Development Association , is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. It complements the World Bank's other lending arm — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — which serves middle-income countries with capital investment and...
assistance and for 20-year IBRD terms, applied to countries included in the World Bank categories I and II. For instance, the historical ceiling of per capita gross national incomeGross National IncomeThe GNI consists of: the personal consumption expenditures, the gross private investment, the government consumption expenditures, the net income from assets abroad , and the gross exports of goods and services, after deducting two components: the gross imports of goods and services, and the...
(GNIGNIGNI may stand for:* Gesher New Instructions, a computer processor instruction set* Global Network Initiative, an Internet freedom and privacy organization* Greater Nagoya Initiative, a Japanese business model project...
) for 2006, based on the World Bank Atlas method, was USD 1,735, i.e. higher than the level established for 2005 (USD 1,675). - The net food tradeTradeTrade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
position of a country averaged over the preceding three years for which statistics are available, in this case from 2003 to 2005. Trade volumes for a broad basket of basic foodstuffs (cereals, rootRootIn vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...
s and tubers, pulses, oilseeds and oils other than tree crop oils, meatMeatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and dairy products) are converted and aggregated by the calorieCalorieThe calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule...
content of individual commodities. - A self-exclusion criterion is applied when countries that meet the above two criteria specifically request FAO to be excluded from the LIFDC category.
In order to avoid countries changing their LIFDC status too frequently - typically due to short-term, exogenous
Exogenous
Exogenous refers to an action or object coming from outside a system. It is the opposite of endogenous, something generated from within the system....
shocks - an additional factor was introduced in 2001. This factor, called "persistence of position", would postpone the "exit" of a LIFDC from the list, despite the country not meeting the LIFDC income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...
criterion or the food-deficit criterion, until the change in its status is verified for three consecutive years.
FAO Member Countries and Flags
The FAO Country Profiles is FAO's source for dissemination of FAOFão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's Member Nations and Associated Nations official flags. The update of any country flag is coordinated with the other United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
agencies. All flags are made available in an standardized manner which also aims to help web site owners to ensure that they always display the official country flag.
The standard URL for any given country flag would be composed by: the generic URL: "http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/flags/" to which the ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
code for the country is added, plus the image format suffix ".gif". For instance, the URL for the Argentina flag would be: http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/flags/AR.gif, with AR being the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest...
code of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
Criticism
Early criticism of the FAOFão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
Country Profiles was that, in its inception phase, it only contained very few resources. Since 2002, the number of available resources has increased to cover country-based information and data, directly linked from FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's web pages or FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
's digital repositories. Over the last years, another identified area for improvement was the simplicity of the system methodology, being the resources only linked from country pages and thus, lacking real integration. This need was addressed by starting to integrate additional data, such as, the fisheries charts or the news and events items taken from AgriFeeds. In addition, in order to provide more complete country profiles, the system started to link or integrate non-FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
resources.
See also
- Agricultural Information Management StandardsAgricultural Information Management StandardsThe Agricultural Information Management Standards, abbreviated to AIMS, is a web portal managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations . It disseminates standards and good practices in information management for the support of the right to food, sustainable agriculture and...
- AGROVOCAGROVOCAGROVOC was first developed in the 1980s as a multilingual structured thesaurus for all subject fields in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and related domains . Its main purpose was to standardize the indexing process for the AGRIS database in order to make searching simpler and more...
- Country codes
- Food and Agriculture OrganizationFood and Agriculture OrganizationThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
- Forestry Information CentreForestry Information CentreThe Forestry Information Centre of the FAO Forestry Department, located at FAO headquarters in Rome, is a specialized library that holds approximately 6.000 books and over 600 current periodical titles yearbooks and other serial titles on forestry and related areas...
- Geopolitical ontologyGeopolitical ontologyA geopolitical ontology is a mechanism to describe, manage and exchange data related to geopolitical entities such as countries, territories, regions and other similar areas.-Definitions and examples:...