Geospatial information for sustainable food systems

Study tour for the National Center for Vegetation Cover (NCVC) from Saudi Arabia to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations headquarters

The National Centre for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC) of Saudi Arabia recently visited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to discuss technical collaboration in achieving NCVC's objectives. The study tour mostly focused on technical tools and approaches in the field of geospatial. During the meetings, key tools and initiatives were introduced, such as on vegetation and land cover mapping, assessing land degradation and sand encroachment, monitoring ecosystem restoration and indicators for national parks, rangelands, forestry and combating desertification. Tools and platforms such as Land Characterisation Software (LCHS), the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring (FERM), Agro-Ecological Zoning (AEZ) and SEPAL, a cloud platform for geospatial data access, were presented. Additionally, the Office of Climate Change and Biodiversity presented tools like ABC-Map, NEXT, and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) for supporting emissions reduction strategies. The HiH Geospatial platform, HiH Data Catalog Portal, and GISMGR 2 were discussed for agroinformatic purposes. The Office of Strategy, Programme and Budget provided guidance on SDG monitoring, and discussions emphasized the importance of land cover harmonization using Saudi Arabia's Land Cover Mapping as a reference. Tools such as the Agriculture Stress Index System (ASIS) and the Water Productivity Open-access portal (WaPOR) for monitoring agricultural and water-related aspects were showcased. The meetings offered valuable resources to support NCVC, with all materials shared online.