Major agricultural systems (Global)

This map shows the extent of land area equipped for irrigation -expressed as percentage- around the turn of the 20th century according to the Global Map of Irrigation Areas (version 4.0.1), together with areas of rainfed agriculture. Data are available from AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. **Data publication:** 2010-10-28 **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** The spatial datasets used to produce this map are: - The global map of irrigation areas at 5 arc-min (Siebert et al., 2007) - The cropland categories of the global agricultural systems map (SOLAW report "Managing Systems at Risk", map 1.3). **Resource constraints:** copyright **Online resources:** SOLAW website Download- Percentage of area equipped for irrigation (ESRI GRID) GMIA page on AQUASTAT

This map, compiled to support the analysis of SOLAW report concerning trends and current use of water use in agriculture, shows the percentage of irrigated area supplied by groundwater. Irrigation mainly relies on renewable freshwater resources, either surface water or groundwater. However, while the extent of irrigation and related water uses are reported in statistical databases or by model simulations, information on the source of irrigation water is still very rare. A recent global inventory undertaken by FAO and the University of Bonn reports that 113 million ha, or 38 percent of the total area equipped for irrigation of 301 million ha, is irrigated by groundwater (Siebert et al, 2010). **Data creation:** 2025-12-11 **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** Input data for this map include: - Global map of irrigation areas at 5 arc-min (Siebert et al., 2007) - Data on sources of irrigation water available by country through the FAO AQUASTAT database - Additional data obtained through desk studies on distribution of sources of irrigation water. The legend indicates the share of irrigated land serviced by groundwater in each pixel. **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** Download - Percentage of irrigated area serviced by groundwater (ESRI GRID) SOLAW web page

This map represents the spatial distribution of land under irrigation which is affected by some degree of salinization. It was produced by combining FAO AQUASTAT country statistics regarding irrigated areas affected by salinization with spatial information on irrigated areas where precipitation is not sufficient to leach away salt residues that are built up in the soil due to irrigation. It was assumed that the risk of salinization of irrigated areas can occur only in areas with an Aridity Index lower than 0.65 (where the Aridity Index is defined as Yearly Precipitation divided by Yearly Reference Evapotranspiration). **Data publication:** 2010-11-08 **Contact points:** Resource Contact: [Jippe Hoogeveen](mailto:Jippe.Hoogeveen@fao.org) Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** By combining the Global Map of Irrigation Areas with the spatially distributed Aridity Index, irrigated areas could be identified as potentially at risk of salinization. The AQUASTAT country statistics on areas salinized by irrigation were distributed over the irrigated areas at risk of salinization to obtain the map with the "extent of irrigated areas affected by salinization". Source data: -Global Map of Aridity at 10 arc-min (FAO) -Global map of irrigation areas at 5 arc-min (Siebert et al., 2007) The legend indicates the share of land affected by salinization in each pixel. **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** SOLAW website FAO AQUASTAT website

This dataset was obtained by delineating drainage basin boundaries from hydrologically corrected elevation data (HydroSHEDS and Hydro1K). Input data resolution is 15 arc-seconds between 60 N and 60 S latitude (based on SRTM), and 30 arc-seconds for higher latitudes (based on GTOPO30). The dataset consists of the following information: numerical code (MAJ_BAS), name (MAJ_NAME) and area (MAJ_AREA) of the major basin in square km. **Data creation:** 2011-02-02 **Supplemental Information:** This dataset is developed as part of a GIS-based information system on water resources. It has been published in the framework of the AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The map is also available in the SOLAW Report 15: “Sustainable options for addressing land and water problems – A problem tree and case studies”. **Citation:** Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Land and Water Division. Major hydrological basins of the world. Latest update: 02/02/2011. Accessed (dd-mm/yy) from: https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog//iso/7707086d-af3c-41cc-8aa5-323d8609b2d1 **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) Resource Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** The majority of the linework of the map was obtained by delineating drainage basin boundaries from hydrologically corrected elevation data with a resolution of 15 arc-seconds. The elevation dataset was part of a mapping product, **HydroSHEDS**, developed by the Conservation Science Program of World Wildlife Fund. Original input data had been obtained during NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Areas north of the SRTM extent, 60 degrees N, were obtained by merging with the HYDRO1k basin layer. **Resource constraints:** This product "Major hydrological basins of the world" incorporates data from the **HydroSHEDS** database which is © World Wildlife Fund, Inc. (2006-2013) and has been used herein under license. WWF has not evaluated the data as altered and incorporated within the "Major hydrological basins of the world dataset", and therefore gives no warranty regarding its accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose. **Online resources:** Download - Major hydrological basins of the world (ESRI shapefile) Portions of the HydroSHEDS database incorporate data which are the intellectual property rights of © USGS (2006-2008), NASA (2000-2005), ESRI (1992-1998), CIAT (2004-2006), UNEP-WCMC (1993), WWF (2004), Commonwealth of Australia (2007), and Her Royal Majesty and the British Crown and are used under license. HydroSHEDS dataset download and technical information Major rivers of the world

Global Map of Irrigation Areas - Version 5 Grid with percentage of area equipped for irrigation with a spatial resolution of 5 arc minutes or 0.083333 decimal degrees. This dataset is developed in the framework of the AQUASTAT Programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhems University, Germany. The map shows the amount of area equipped for irrigation around the year 2005 in percentage of the total area on a raster with a resolution of 5 minutes. Additional map layers show the percentage of the area equipped for irrigation that was actually used for irrigation and the percentages of the area equipped for irrigation that was irrigated with groundwater, surface water or non-conventional sources of water. In details, the following products have been released and made available for download: - Area equipped for irrigation expressed as percentage of total area: total=aei, surface water=aeisw, groundwater=aeigw, non-conventional sources of water=aeinc (ASCII-grid); - Area actually irrigated expressed as percentage of area equipped for irrigation (ASCII-grid); - Area equipped for irrigation expressed in hectares per cell (ASCII-grid); - Irrigated areas v.5 (ESRI shapefile); - High and low resolution images (PDF); - Quality Assessment (Excel) Due to the map generation method, the quality of the map can never be uniform. The overall quality of the map depends heavily on the individual quality of the data for the different countries. **Data revision:** 2013-10-07 **Supplemental Information:** The maps are generated as a grid with a cellsize of 5 arc minutes. For the GIS-users the maps are distributed in two different formats: as a zipped ASCII-grid that can be easily imported in most GIS-software that support rasters or grids; and, to accommodate people who use GIS-software that doesn't support rasters or grids, as a zipped ESRI shape file. The non-GIS-users can download the map as PDF-file in two different resolutions. **Citation:** Users are requested to refer to the map as follows: "Stefan Siebert, Verena Henrich, Karen Frenken and Jacob Burke (2013). Global Map of Irrigation Areas version 5. Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, Bonn, Germany / Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy". **Contact points:** Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** Due to the map generation method, the quality of the map can never be uniform. The overall quality of the map depends heavily on the individual quality of the data for the different countries. **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** Global Map of Irrigation Areas (GMIA) on the AQUASTAT website Download - Global area equipped for irrigation expressed as percentage of total area - Raster (ASCII-grid, 2.3 MB) Download - Global area equipped for irrigation expressed in hectares per cell - Raster (ASCII-grid, 2.3 MB) Download - Global Map of Irrigation Areas v.5 - Vector (ESRI shapefile, 4 MB) Download - Global Map of Irrigation Areas v.5 - All files Download - Global Map of Irrigation Areas v.5 - High resolution image (PDF, 3.1 MB) Download - Global Map of Irrigation Areas v.5 - Low resolution image (PDF, 0.9 MB)

This dataset is the updated version of FAO's Major Hydrological Basins of the World dataset, published earlier in this catalog (https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog//iso/7707086d-af3c-41cc-8aa5-323d8609b2d1) The dataset is included as part of Geo-Spatial Information collected and published in the framework of the AQUASTAT - programme of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://www.fao.org/aquastat/ **Data publication:** 2025-05-02 **Data revision:** 2026-08-31 **Citation:** Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Land and Water Division. Major hydrological basins of the world, Major hydrological basins v2 (Global - 2026) - AQUASTAT, Latest update: 13/04/2026. Accessed (dd-mm/yy) from: https://data.apps.fao.org/catalog/dataset/d617520f-7ce4-4e54-ac2c-c550cd764a6b **Contact points:** Resource Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) Metadata Contact: [AQUASTAT](mailto:aquastat@fao.org) **Data lineage:** This product incorporates data from the HydroSHEDS database (https://www.hydrosheds.org/) which is © World Wildlife Fund, Inc. (2006-2013) and has been used herein under license. WWF has not evaluated the data as altered and incorporated within the "Major hydrological basins of the world dataset", and therefore gives no warranty regarding its accuracy, completeness, currency or suitability for any particular purpose. Recent data review has resulted in the correction of minor topology errors. **Resource constraints:** This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC-BY-4.0) **Online resources:** Download the data from Google Cloud Storage