Geospatial dataFDRE - Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)

IPCC default soil classes derived from the Harmonized World Soil Data Base, version 1.2

Published 12 Mar 2021
Updated 5 Feb 2025
2 resources
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About this dataset

This global data set shows the spatial distribution of generalized soil classes as defined for IPCC Tier-I level national greenhouse gas inventory assessments. The database was derived from the Harmonized World Soil Data Base (HWSD ver. 1.1, at scale 1:1-1:5 M) and a series of taxotransfer procedures to convert FAO soil classifications (1974, 1985 and 1990 Legend) to the seven default IPCC soil classes: high activity clay (HAC), low activity clay (LAC), Sandy (SAN), Spodic (POD), Volcanic (VOL), wetlands (WET) and Organic (ORG). The resulting GIS database may be used for exploratory assessments at national and broader scale, for regions that lack more detailed soil information; inherent limitations of the data are discussed in the documentation. This dataset has been compiled in the framework of the GEF co-funded 'Carbon Benefits Project: Measuring, modelling and monitoring', Component A ( http://carbonbenefitsproject-compa.colostate.edu/index.htm). March 2021 (version 1.2): Minor updates were applied for the 'SAN' class; for details see below and download file.

Data and resources

2 in total

Go to the data

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Download v1.2
Minor changes vis a vis version 1.1. About 184 map units were recoded to SAN class (based on >70% sand and <8% clay criterium in top 30 cm). These map units are flagged in columns (SANDYclass and FLAGsan).
files.isric.org
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IPCC default soil classes derived from the Harmonized World Soil Data Base
Technical report
isric.org
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Geographic coverage

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West: 180.00° W
South: 85.00° S
East: 180.00° E
North: 85.00° N

The extent is the one declared by the publisher in the dataset's metadata.

Keywords

3

Details

Author: ISRIC - World Soil Information
Contact: data@isric.org
Publisher: FDRE - Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)
Source catalogue: ISRIC Soil Data
Language: English
Status: Completed
Lineage: - 2021 March (v1.2): Minor changes were applied for SAN class, i.e. ''>70% and <8% clay' in top 0-30 cm)'; rules were applied to 184 map units (flagged as 'DIFF" in column [FLAGsan], see also column [SANDYclass] in the MS Acess file. This change applied to 184 out of a total of 16108 map units; further details are provided in Report 2009/02. - Batjes NH 2009. IPCC default soil classes derived from the Harmonized World Soil Data Base (Ver. 1.0). Report 2009/02, Carbon Benefits Project (CBP) and ISRIC – World Soil Information, Wageningen (with dataset). (https://www.isric.org/sites/default/files/isric_report_2009_02.pdf)
Coordinate reference system: EPSG:4326
Period covered: 1 Nov 2000 to 1 Nov 2010
Published: 12 Mar 2021
Last changed at the source: 5 Feb 2025
Added to this catalogue: 6 Oct 2026
Last updated here: 6 Oct 2026