Through its work programme 2019-2021, LEAP aims to consolidate the current guidance by disseminating the guidelines and developing practical tools to support its application and uptake. Among these activities, the data collection form package was recently released. Developed for environmental assessments at the varying levels, data collection sheets cover soil carbon stock changes, nutrient flows and associated environmental impacts, water footprinting, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emissions.

The data collection forms are produced by the LEAP Secretariat and intended to help users collect data for the FAO LEAP guidelines application starting from populating eco-balances, also called life cycle inventories (LCI), with the necessary data to assess the environmental impacts of production systems.

Building LCIs involves collecting and quantifying inputs and outputs throughout the life cycle stages covered by the system boundary of the study. The FAO LEAP data collection forms guide the user in collecting activity data from cradle to primary processing gate of the animal feed and livestock production supply chain. They provide tables and give suggestions to facilitate the use of the FAO LEAP guidelines and include a glossary and detailed instructions on how to enter data and navigate through the document properly.

Besides supporting the adoption and application of the guidelines globally, LEAP is working to collect feedback to improve the technical guidance documents and generate impact by sharing knowledge. In 2021, it is planned the launch of the FAO LEAP catalogue of applications, a very useful source of reference with case studies at different scales and systems.

All data collection forms are available on the LEAP website. You can also download the files from here (zip file).