| Global Bioenergy Perspectives: Greenhouse Gases Database now available on FAOSTAT
At the 17th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP 17) in Durban last year, countries agreed to report their greenhouse gas emissions at least biennially, starting end of 2014, but while developed countries publish detailed emissions accounts every year, many developing countries and especially least-developed countries lack the capacity to assess and report their emission levels, especially for their agricultural sectors. As a result, only a few developing countries have been able to submit GHG emission reports since 1990.
In this context, on 10 December 2012 FAO released a new domain on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on both FAOSTAT and its new pilot version FAOSTAT3. This is intended as the first in a range of services aimed at agri-environmental indicators, to help member countries enhance their capacity to identify, assess and report environmental statistics.
“We are expanding our data services to a wide range of agri-environmental and socio-economic indicators, providing at the same time access to improved analysis tools, including the possibility to compare FAO data to those from other institutions, for instance data from the United States Department of Agriculture,” said Pietro Gennari, Director of the Statistics Division.
The newly added GHG database offers a complete time-series of emission statistics for all countries over the period 1990-2010. It provides countries with vital, regularly updated information to help them consistently identify, assess and report GHG emissions from their agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors, as part of the activity data they already report to FAO.
“It is in this context, and in relation to emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land uses, that the database can support the needs of FAO member countries,” said Francesco Tubiello, Natural Resources Officer, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division.
The emissions estimates are computed from FAOSTAT activity data following the internationally approved methodology for GHG reporting developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Progress made thus far includes a robust technical peer review of the GHG database from dozens of experts at FAO and around the world. The GHG data are now open to the public, facilitating feedback from countries.
FAOSTAT3 offers free, easy access to data and introduces enhanced features tailored to the information needs of a wide variety of users. These include browsing and analysis of data, advanced interactive data download, cross-domain data search using free-text, and data exchange through web services.
The system is still evolving and users around the world are encouraged to provide comments and suggestions on the functionalities and performance of the new platform through the feedback system.
To learn more about the GHG database visit the FAO website
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