<s>
The	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
are	O
a	O
multilingual	O
web	O
portal	O
which	O
repackages	O
the	O
Food	O
and	O
Agriculture	O
Organization	O
of	O
the	O
United	O
Nations	O
(	O
FAO	O
)	O
information	O
archive	O
on	O
its	O
global	O
activities	O
in	O
agriculture	O
and	O
food	O
security	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
area	O
and	O
catalogues	O
it	O
exclusively	O
by	O
country	O
and	O
thematic	O
areas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
organization	O
aims	O
to	O
offer	O
decision-makers	O
,	O
researchers	O
and	O
project	O
formulators	O
around	O
the	O
world	O
a	O
fast	O
and	O
reliable	O
way	O
to	O
access	O
country-specific	O
information	O
on	O
national	O
food	O
security	O
situations	O
without	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
search	B-Application
individual	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
aids	O
FAO	O
's	O
database	O
by	O
providing	O
a	O
simple	O
interface	B-Application
containing	O
interactive	B-General_Concept
maps	O
and	O
charts	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
FAO	O
has	O
always	O
highlighted	O
information	O
and	O
Knowledge	O
sharing	O
as	O
priority	O
areas	O
in	O
fighting	O
hunger	B-Application
and	O
achieving	O
food	O
security	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
portal	O
,	O
initially	O
called	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
and	O
Mapping	O
Information	O
System	O
,	O
was	O
launched	O
in	O
2002	O
responding	O
to	O
the	O
Organization	O
's	O
need	O
to	O
provide	O
FAO	O
web	O
site	O
's	O
users	O
an	O
easy	O
to	O
use	O
mechanism	O
to	O
find	O
FAO	O
country-specific	O
information	O
without	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
search	B-Application
individual	O
FAO	O
web	O
sites	O
,	O
databases	B-Application
or	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
was	O
designed	O
to	O
integrate	O
analytical	O
and	O
multilingual	O
information	O
with	O
thematic	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
digital	B-General_Concept
map	O
repositories	O
and	O
to	O
facilitate	O
access	O
to	O
information	O
on	O
multiple	O
factors	O
contributing	O
to	O
national	O
food	O
insecurity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
achieved	O
thanks	O
to	O
a	O
corporate	O
effort	O
to	O
reduce	O
information	B-Application
silos	I-Application
and	O
the	O
adoption	O
of	O
international	O
standards	O
for	O
country-based	O
information	B-Application
management	I-Application
throughout	O
the	O
Organization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
methodology	O
behind	O
the	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
is	O
rather	O
simple	O
;	O
it	O
links	O
,	O
reuses	O
and	O
repackages	O
data	O
and	O
information	O
from	O
most	O
relevant	O
existing	O
FAO	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
covers	O
current	O
FAO	O
Members	O
and	O
Associated	O
Nations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
a	O
country	O
is	O
selected	O
,	O
the	O
portal	O
presents	O
to	O
the	O
user	O
documents	O
,	O
news	B-Application
feeds	I-Application
,	O
statistical	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
,	O
project	O
details	O
and	O
maps	O
from	O
relevant	O
FAO	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
systems	O
for	O
the	O
selected	O
country	O
and	O
categorized	O
according	O
to	O
thematic	O
areas	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
:	O
In	O
order	O
to	O
standardize	O
and	O
harmonize	O
the	O
vast	O
quantity	O
of	O
terms	O
used	O
in	O
FAO	O
documents	O
and	O
publications	O
,	O
the	O
Organization	O
developed	O
the	O
terminology	B-Language
database	O
FAOTERM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
:	O
FAO-GeoNetwork	O
is	O
a	O
web-based	O
Geographic	B-General_Concept
Data	I-General_Concept
and	I-General_Concept
Information	I-General_Concept
Management	O
System	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
enables	O
easy	O
access	O
to	O
local	O
and	O
distributed	O
geospatial	B-General_Concept
information	I-General_Concept
catalogues	O
and	O
makes	O
available	O
data	O
,	O
graphics	O
,	O
documents	O
for	O
immediate	O
download	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FAO-GeoNetwork	O
holds	O
approximately	O
5000	O
standardized	O
metadata	O
records	O
for	O
digital	B-General_Concept
and	O
paper	O
maps	O
,	O
most	O
of	O
them	O
at	O
the	O
global	O
,	O
continent	O
and	O
national	O
level	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
:	O
AgriFeeds	O
is	O
a	O
service	O
that	O
allows	O
users	O
to	O
search	B-Application
and	O
filter	O
news	O
and	O
events	O
from	O
several	O
agricultural	O
information	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
statistical	O
systems	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
Nations	O
commonly	O
use	O
the	O
M-49	O
classification	O
and	O
pigmentation	O
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
UN	O
code	O
)	O
or	O
the	O
FAOSTAT	O
area	O
classification	O
;	O
mapping	O
systems	O
could	O
use	O
geographic	O
coordinates	O
or	O
GAUL	B-Application
codes	O
;	O
textual	O
systems	O
(	O
document	O
repositories	O
or	O
web	O
sites	O
)	O
could	O
use	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
alpha-2	I-Language
,	O
ISO	B-General_Concept
3166-1	I-General_Concept
alpha-3	I-General_Concept
or	O
AGROVOC	O
keywords	O
;	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
provide	O
access	O
to	O
systems	O
managing	O
statistics	O
,	O
documents	O
,	O
maps	O
,	O
news	B-Application
feeds	I-Application
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
therefore	O
one	O
of	O
its	O
key	O
aspects	O
to	O
succeed	O
was	O
the	O
mapping	O
of	O
all	O
these	O
country	B-General_Concept
codes	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
this	O
purpose	O
a	O
geopolitical	B-General_Concept
ontology	I-General_Concept
was	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
ontology	B-Language
,	O
among	O
other	O
features	O
,	O
maps	O
ISO2	B-Language
,	O
ISO3	B-General_Concept
,	O
AGROVOC	O
,	O
FAOSTAT	O
,	O
,	O
GAUL	B-Application
,	O
UN	O
,	O
and	O
UNDP	O
codes	O
for	O
all	O
countries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
keeps	O
updated	O
for	O
the	O
public	O
the	O
list	O
of	O
LIFDC	O
countries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Trade	O
volumes	O
for	O
a	O
broad	O
basket	O
of	O
basic	O
foodstuffs	O
(	O
cereals	O
,	O
roots	O
and	O
tubers	B-Application
,	O
pulses	O
,	O
oilseeds	O
and	O
oils	O
other	O
than	O
tree	O
crop	O
oils	O
,	O
meat	O
and	O
dairy	O
products	O
)	O
are	O
converted	O
and	O
aggregated	O
by	O
the	O
calorie	O
content	O
of	O
individual	O
commodities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
is	O
FAO	O
's	O
source	O
for	O
dissemination	O
of	O
FAO	O
's	O
Member	O
Nations	O
and	O
Associated	O
Nations	O
official	O
flags	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
standard	O
URL	O
for	O
any	O
given	O
country	O
flag	O
would	O
be	O
composed	O
by	O
:	O
the	O
generic	O
URL	O
:	O
""	O
to	O
which	O
the	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
Alpha-2	I-Language
code	O
for	O
the	O
country	O
is	O
added	O
,	O
plus	O
the	O
image	O
format	O
suffix	O
"	O
.gif	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
the	O
URL	O
for	O
the	O
Argentina	O
flag	O
would	O
be	O
:	O
,	O
with	O
AR	O
being	O
the	O
ISO	B-Language
3166-1	I-Language
alpha-2	I-Language
code	O
of	O
Argentina	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
criticism	O
of	O
the	O
FAO	B-General_Concept
Country	I-General_Concept
Profiles	I-General_Concept
was	O
that	O
,	O
in	O
its	O
inception	O
phase	O
,	O
it	O
only	O
contained	O
very	O
few	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2002	O
,	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
available	O
resources	O
has	O
increased	O
to	O
cover	O
country-based	O
information	O
and	O
data	O
,	O
directly	O
linked	O
from	O
FAO	O
's	O
web	O
pages	O
or	O
FAO	O
's	O
digital	B-General_Concept
repositories	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
need	O
was	O
addressed	O
by	O
starting	O
to	O
integrate	O
additional	O
data	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
,	O
the	O
fisheries	O
charts	B-Application
or	O
the	O
news	O
and	O
events	O
items	O
taken	O
from	O
AgriFeeds	O
.	O
</s>
