Agriculture provides direct livelihoods for 2.5 billion people globally and feeds the entire planet. By 2050, as populations grow and diets change, the sector must produce 49 percent more food than in 2012. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, water scarcity, pollution and many other challenges are hampering efforts to feed the planet.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls upon everyone to address these issues. Sound and timely data is key to inform and guide decision makers as we take meaningful and effective action. Geospatial data (simply defined as information with a geographical component), methods and tools are essential in providing this key data for agriculture.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has more than 50 years of experience in the development and use of geospatial data, methods and tools, which are applied to local, national, regional, and global sustainable development planning and implementation. FAO helps countries implement appropriate geospatial solutions, assisting their efforts to create sustainable agrifood systems, organizing and delivering this work to Member Nations through projects and programmes carried out at FAO headquarters and regional, subregional and national offices. In this way, FAO ensures the adoption and implementation of best practices and standards.