Indicator Code: AGINT
Objective: Ecosystem Vitality
Policy Category: Productive Natural Resources
Subcategory: Agriculture
Indicator Short Name: Intensive Cropland
Indicator Full Name: Percentage of Cropland Area that is in Agriculture-dominated Landscapes
Indicator Description: As a rough rule of thumb, ecologists agree that if more than 30% of the area of a given landscape is under intensive use for agricultural production, then major ecosystem functions will likely be compromised, and if this level reaches 60%, then special attention is needed to conserve ecosystem functions (Wood et al., 2000). The 2008 EPI sets a target of 40% uncultivated land in areas of crop production, although this figure includes grazing land and settlements, so is quite conservative.
The indicator considers whether each 10km x 10km grid cell where cropping occurs has at least 40% land uncultivated, thereby “making space” for other ecosystem functions. If agriculture makes up more than 60% of the grid cell, the agricultural land in that grid cell is considered ot be intensive. The indicator seeks to address the problem of over-clearing, excessive “in-filling” of agricultural landscapes.
Units: Percentage Area
Country Coverage: 158
Reference Year: 2000
Target: 0%
Target Source: Expert Judgment
Short Source: CIESIN calculation based on global cropland grid by Ramankutty et al. (forthcoming).
Source: CIESIN calculation based on global cropland grid from Ramankutty et al. (forthcoming).
Source URL: not available
Methodology: Global cropland grids by Ramankutty et al. (forthcoming) representing the proportion of land that is in cropland per 5 arc-minute grid cell were processed to calculate two figures, the total cropland area per country, and the total cropland area per country in grid cells in which cropland represents more than 60% of land use types in that grid cell. The latter was divided by the former and multiplied by 100 to calculate the percentage of cropland area that is in agriculture dominated landscapes.
Countries with less than 3,000 sq. km of cropland were considered not to have sufficient cropland for this indicator, and were considered therefore to have no data.
Additional Citations: Ramankutty, N., A.T. Evan, C. Monfreda, J.A. Foley. (forthcoming). Farming the Planet. Part 1: The Geographical Distribution of Global Agricultural Lands in the Year 2000. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, in press.
Wood, S., K. Sebastian, and S. Scherr. 2000. Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Agroecosystems. IFPRI and WRI, Washington, DC.