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- About UNEP-WCMC
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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Synergies among MEAs - Key Papers »
Many Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) will implement projects which also help the work programmes of other MEAs. For example, work by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce greenhouse gas emisions from land use change may also benefit the Convention on Biological Diversity (by protecting areas of high biodiversity). This section provides links to papers written by the Centre which look at the potential to increase this co-operation and joint implementation.
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 -
Great Apes - The Road Ahead »
The Great Apes, including the chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan, are threatened with extinction. All species are rapidly declining in abundance, even within protected areas.The main factors responsible for this decline are loss and degradation of habitat, and hunting. Construction of roads in forest areas is particularly damaging, as such development facilitates hunting and other activities which lead to habitat destruction.
This report assesses the impact of infrastructural development on great ape populations, using the GLOBIO modelling approach. GLOBIO is a multivariable spatial model, which estimates the extent of land area with reduced abundance and diversity of living organisms, as a result of infrastructural development. The model can also be used to develop scenarios of possible future impacts, based on the current rates of infrastructural development.
Resource Type: Reports -
The relevance of the World Database on Protected Areas for a network of forest protected areas under the Convention on Biological Diversity »
The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the key source for global and regional forest protected area information. It is in the process of a major redevelopment that will significantly enhance its usefulness for various users. The database already plays a significant role in reporting to major globally-agreed goals and targets, such as Millennium Development Goal 7 and the CBD programmes of work on forests and protected areas. For any global forest protected area network, the WDPA could provide information on officially designated protected areas, including sites that have not been assigned a particular IUCN management category but nevertheless qualify as sites contributing towards national, regional and global efforts and processes addressing forest conservation.
Resource Type: Reports -
A handbook for the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas Registry (2010) »
Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) are managed areas that are voluntarily conserved by local or indigenous communities for conservation and cultural purposes. This handbook is intended as a guide for those who wish to learn about ICCAs and the newly developed ICCA Registry tool, which aims to develop awareness, recognition and documented values of ICCAs through a community-supported database, maps and an interactive, multimedia website. Communities who govern and manage ICCAs will find this handbook particularly helpful to understand how they can contribute to and benefit from the Registry if they wish. This handbook adheres to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and supports the application of bio-cultural community protocols in maintaining the integrity of community knowledge and resources.
Resource Type: Reports -
UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) – Progress and Steps Towards Delivery »
The findings of the MA not only demonstrated the importance of ecosystem services to human well-being, but also showed that at global scales, many key services are being degraded and lost. As a result, in 2007 the House of Commons Environmental Audit recommended that the Government should conduct a full MA-type assessment for the UK to enable the identification and development of effective policy responses to ecosystem service degradation (House of Commons Environmental Audit 2007).
Resource Type: Reports
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Towards a Global Tree Conservation Atlas: mapping the status and distribution of the world's threatened tree species »
This summary document outlines the need for spatial data on tree species as a tool for conservation action. It introduces plans for a tree species mapping programme that will build on the forest mapping information management expertise of UNEP-WCMC. A Global Tree Conservation Atlas will be one of the main outputs of the Global Trees Campaign. The Campaign focuses on trees as flagship species for conservation of ecosystems and landscapes, and enables local people to carry out rescue and sustainable use operations. Working in partnership with organizations around the globe, the Global Trees Campaign aims to save the world's most threatened tree species and their habitats through information, conservation and wise use.
Resource Type: Reports -
The Living Planet Index - Guidance for National and Regional Use »
This guidance document is one of a series produced with the support of the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (2010 BIP) to assist Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) track their progress towards the CBD’s 2010 Target. The Living Planet Index (LPI) has been selected as one of the indicators suitable for assessing progress towards and communicating the 2010 Target at a global level. The aim of this document is to provide information to support the calculation and interpretation of the Living Planet Index at the national and regional scales.
Resource Type: Reports
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The ecological representativeness of the global protected areas estate in 2009: progress towards the CBD 2010 target »
The Convention on Biological Diversity has established a global target for the protection of 10% of each of the world’s ecological regions by 2010. This report uses the WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World and the 2009 version of the World Database of Protected Areas to analyse progress towards achieving this politically established conservation goal across the world.
Resource Type: Reports -
International Expert Workshop on the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators and Post-2010 Indicator Development »
In July 2009, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre jointly convened a meeting to review the use and effectiveness of the 2010 biodiversity indicators and to consider the implications for the development of post-2010 targets and indicators. This is a summary of that meeting.
Resource Type: Reports
