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Policies
UNEP-WCMC does not assert any intellectual property rights in the data made available to it by data providers.
Access to UNEP-WCMC datasets is provided on the understanding that you read and consent to be bound by the Terms and Conditions set out in the policies below.
Datasets, Tools & Reports
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Assessing Biodiversity Status and Sustainability »
If human use of biological resources and human impacts on biodiversity generally are to be made sustainable, it is necessary to confront a number of challenging issues. Among these are the meaning of sustainability, what kinds of data must be collected, and which scale of analysis is needed for different purposes. With the needs of developing country governments most in mind, this document - prepared for the UK Department for International Development - outlines some approaches to assessment of the status of national biodiversity and the sustainability of its use.
Resource Type: Reports -
Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation in the Tropics: WCMC Biodiversity Bulletin 1 (1996) »
This study provides an assessment of the extent to which habitats in the tropics are protected and guidance on prioritising conservation action from global and national perspectives. At global level, investments should be strategically targeted towards biologically richer countries and habitats inadequately represented within protected areas. With habitats that are well represented within protected areas, investments should be targeted towards effectively managing such sites. At national levels, countries should aim to ensure that all habitats are well represented within their protected areas system.
Resource Type: Reports -
Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World - 12th Edition »
The Atlas begins with contributions from experts in many geographical fields, providing detailed information on the key issues facing the world today - climate change, environmental threats, global communications, biodiversity and energy resources - with supporting maps, images, photographs and graphics to illustrate the physical world today and man's interaction with it.
Resource Type: Reports
For this new edition, all the maps and detailed thematic information are updated with the latest geographical and geo-political changes - these include an estimated 20,000 updates with 3,500 changes to place names and are illustrated with the latest satellite imagery.
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Global variation in terrestrial conservation costs, conservation benefits, and unmet conservation needs »
The benefit-to-cost ratio of conservation is thus far greater in less developed regions, yet these are where the shortfall in current conservation spending is most marked. Substantially increased investment in tropical conservation is therefore urgently required if opportunities for cost-effective action are not to be missed.
Resource Type: Reports -
Safeguarding and enhancing the ecosystem-derived benefits of REDD+ »
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Protected areas: an effective tool to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries? »
Successful implementation of REDD is likely to require the reduction of deforestation rates on a national scale. Designation of new protected areas and strengthening of the current protected area network could form one strategy for achieving this. This review aims to inform the debate through an assessment of the effects of forest designation and management on deforestation rates, and through consideration of the design and management-related factors that influence protected area effectiveness in reducing deforestation. The evidence suggests that protected areas are an effective tool for reducing deforestation within their boundaries. The extent to which this deforestation is displaced to surrounding areas is unclear. Protected areas designated under the more restrictive IUCN categories (I-II) seem to be more effective than those that may include a focus on sustainable use (V-VI). However, there are only a small number of studies on deforestation within category V-VI protected areas.
Resource Type: Reports -
Framing the Flow: Innovative Approaches to Understand, Protect and Value Ecosystem Services Across Linked Habitats (2010) »
This report provides a synthesis of the current state of knowledge regarding the natural capital of water related ecosystems and habitats, and offers an overview of the innovative approaches that can support the analysis of the links between interconnected ecosystems. It analyses the linkages across coastal ecosystems (seagrasses, mangroves, and coral reefs) and the ‘value added’ in terms of ecosystem services (benefits) provided by these linkages as opposed to the services provided by just one system studied in isolation. The linkages between ecosystems are examined under consideration of environmental, economic, management and social aspects and recommendations are provided for integrating this new paradigm into cross-sectoral environmental practices.
Resource Type: Reports -
Decision Time Cloud Forests »
'Decision Time for Cloud Forests' is an illustrated introduction to the different types of cloud forests, their hydrology, biodiversity and the threats to them.
Resource Type: Reports -
Mountain Watch: environmental change & sustainable development in mountains »
This report provides the first map-based overview of environmental change in mountain regions and its implications for sustainable development. New global maps illustrate selected values of mountain ecosystems and many of the pressures that are causing environmental change. A range of case studies illustrate how environmental assessments can inform the sustainable development of mountain regions. Mountain environments cover 27 per cent of the earth's land surface and directly support 22 percent of the people who live within them. Lowland people also depend on mountain environments for a wide range of goods and services, for example, water, energy, timber, biodiversity maintenance and opportunities for recreation and spiritual renewal. Mountain people face an environment where everyday physical demands are great, natural hazards are significant, and agricultural production is constrained.
Resource Type: Reports -
The Natural Fix »
The report, the fifth in UNEP's 'rapid response assessment' series, looks beyond forests and the REDD debates to the potential of natural and agricultural ecosystems to capture and store carbon. It examines the potential for gaining multiple benefits for livelihoods and ecosystem services through managing ecosystem carbon and considers the implications for policy.
Resource Type: Reports
