This JNCC-commissioned report highlights biodiversity impacts of indirect land use change caused by biofuel production. Increased demand for biofuels to achieve renewable energy targets is putting pressure on biodiversity worldwide. The research highlights a new and so far little understood threat: the impact of indirect land use change on biodiversity.
Resource Type: Tools / ApplicationsHow do bioenergy policies relate to the REDD+ mechanism, is the subject of this new Bioenergy Issue Paper jointly authored by UNEP and UNEP-WCMC.
The potential contribution of bioenergy in reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases has been widely debated, both in terms of climate change mitigation potential and potential risk of increases in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from land use change. This has raised the question of how bioenergy policies relate to the REDD+ mechanism developed under the UNFCCC. This issue paper examines the complexity of this relationship and stresses the importance of ensuring policy coherence across the relevant sectors.
For a look at the UNEP Issue Paper Series, please visit:
http://www.unep.org/bioenergy/Issues/UNEPIssuePaperSeries/tabid/79387/Default.aspx
UNEP-WCMC, with support from the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), has launched a new website highlighting the potential for actions on reducing emissions from land use change to secure additional important benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services (co-benefits). The website demonstrates the utility of spatial analyses to assist decision makers in identifying areas where high carbon, high biodiversity priority, and ecosystem service values overlap, which represent opportunities for securing co-benefits. It showcases UNEP-WCMC’s recent work with in-country partners on developing such analyses and includes an interactive mapping tool that allows users to explore the spatial relationships between carbon and co-benefits.
Resource Type: Tools / ApplicationsThe Protected Areas Thematic Network brings together the main governmental and non-governmental organisations working on PA data management in the region in order to promote the more effective sharing of information on protected areas within and between the countries of the Americas Hemisphere, building on and contributing to existing global experience in this area through close collaboration with the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
Resource Type: Tools / ApplicationsThis tool provides interactive maps that allow users to explore the distribution of carbon density relative to areas high in biodiversity and areas which are nationally protected for different countries around the world. Users can view layers, show or hide layer content, as well as see how the distribution of carbon and biodiversity relates to other geographical features such as rivers, coastlines, and international boundaries.
Resource Type: Spatial Data / MapsDatasets Available from UNEP-WCMC: Excluding WDPA
Access to UNEP-WCMC datasets is provided on the understanding that you read and consent to be bound by the Terms and Conditions attached. For the purposes of this Agreement the “Data” comprise any of the spatial data and associated attribute data downloadable from the UNEP-WCMC website, excluding the World Database on Protected Areas.
The seagrass dataset has been compiled by UNEP-WCMC in collaboration with Dr Frederick T. Short, University of New Hampshire, USA to show the global distribution of seagrass species. This dataset has been created from multiple sources and was used in the creation of the "World Atlas of Seagrasses" (2003). This polygon feature dataset is an update of the data used in the Atlas and is a unique data holding about the state of the world's seagrasses. For a complete overview of global seagrass distribution this dataset should be displayed together with the associated point dataset.
This innovative tool provides users with initial estimates of embedded carbon within an identified spatial area such as a protected area or any user-defined polygon drawn on a global map.
Resource Type: Tools / ApplicationsThe Critical Site Network (CSN) Tool is a new online resource for the conservation of 294 species of waterbirds and the important sites upon which they depend in Africa and Western Eurasia. Leading global conservation organisations working for the protection of waterbirds and their habitats have joined forces to develop this tool, strengthening the implementation of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
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