Definition: Equivalence factor

Category: Environment

The equivalence factor (in gha/ha) translates a specific land type (such as crop-land or forestland) into a global hectare. This equivalence factor represents the world’s average potential productivity of a given bioproductive area relative to the world average potential productivity of all bioproductive areas. For example, because the average productivity of cropland is higher than the average productivity of all other land types, it needs to be converted using its corresponding equivalence factor in order to be expressed in global hectares. Equivalence factors are the same for all countries, but vary from year to year due to changes in the relative productivity of ecosystem or land-use types because of environmental factors (such as weather patterns). The equivalence factors are derived from the suitability index of Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) 2000, which is a spatial model of potential agricultural yields. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/product?code=KS-AU-06-001&mode=view