UNEP-WCMC has been working closely with partners including the CBD Secretariat to implement COP Decision IX/20, to develop an online interactive map and associated tools to support decision making for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the open ocean and deep seas. Building upon this decision, and incorporating related needs in the Island Biodiversity and Protected Areas Programme of Work, UNEP-WCMC has initiated a collaborative Global Marine Data Partnership, whose aim is to:
These activities directly respond to SBSTTA recommendation XIV/3, which will be considered by COP10, through, inter alia, enabling improved assessment activities, supporting the identification of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs), and promoting better understanding of specific and cumulative human impacts, including those of invasive alien species
Resource Type: Tools / ApplicationsThe range of information on biodiversity currently available via the Internet is reviewed and its accessibility, usefulness and relevance to biodiversity research and to policy decision making assessed. Commercial and non-commercial databases are reviewed. The future of information via the net is also reviewed, in particular the role of the `Clearing House Mechanism' of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Biodiversity Conservation Information System.
Resource Type: Journal PapersDatasets 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.
This dataset shows the global distribution of wetlands. It was produced at UNEP-WCMC from various sources alongside the publication 'Wetlands in Danger", Dugan, P ed. (1993).
Datasets 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.
This dataset shows the location of tropical montane cloud forest sites as recorded in a worldwide inventory compiled by UNEP-WCMC and published in "A Global Directory of Tropical Montane Cloud Forests", Aldrich et al., 1997. This inventory was compiled from literature searches and correspondence with regional experts, and contains a total of 529 sites. The central location for each site is recorded but does not identify the great variability in their size, which ranges from 50 hectares to hundreds of square kilometres.
Datasets 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 Global Marine Turtle Nesting database provides the distribution of
marine turtles. Information was obtained from published and unpublished
literature, and through liaison with turtle fieldworkers. It was intended that
the database would be of use to a wide audience, including biologists,
coastal planners and those concerned with emergency response to oil spills.
The marine turtles database of nesting and feeding sites was developed by
UNEP-WCMC over a number of years and contains source information from
1949 to 1993. This dataset is no longer being maintained and must be used
With caution.
Datasets 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.
This map is a simplified representation of the eight Biogeographical Realms of the world. This global map provides a useful general framework for conducting biogeographical or macroecological research. The realms are based originally on ecoregion delineations on hundreds of previous biogeographical studies, and refined and synthesized existing information in regional workshops over 10 years to assemble the global dataset. Ecoregions were then nested within two higher-order classifications to produce biomes (14) and biogeographic realms (8). Together, these nested classification levels provide a framework for comparison among units and the identification of representative habitats and species assemblages.
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 Global Marine Turtle Nesting and Feeding Sites database provides the distribution of marine turtles. Information was obtained from published and unpublished literature, and through liaison with turtle fieldworkers. It was intended that the database would be of use to a wide audience, including biologists, coastal planners and those concerned with emergency response to oil spills.
The marine turtles database of nesting and feeding sites was developed by UNEP-WCMC over a number of years and contains source information from 1949 to 1993.
This dataset is no longer being maintained and must be used with caution.
Datasets 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.
This dataset was created show the original habitat types as they were before man's influence in the Indo-Malayan realm; change over time can be seen when used alongside the remaining natural habitats dataset. These datasets were produced alongside the publication "Protected Areas Systems Review of the Indo-Malayan Realm, Mackinnon, J. ed. 1997" in collaboration with The Asian Bureau for Conservation (ABC). This was produced to document the growth and changing character of the protected areas systems of the region over the ten year period 1986-1996. This was in the hope of aiding conservationists and development practioners to conserve Asia's rich biological resources upon which so many depend.
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.
This dataset was derived from a variety of sources to provide a dataset of the remaining natural habitats of the Indo-Malayan Realm at around the year 1990; change over time can be seen when used alongside the original natural habitats dataset. It was produced alongside the publication "Protected Areas Systems Review of the Indo-Malayan Realm, Mackinnon, J. ed. 1997" in collaboration with The Asian Bureau for Conservation (ABC). This was produced to document the growth and changing character of the protected areas systems of the region over the ten year period 1986-1996. This was in the hope of aiding conservationists and development practioners to conserve Asia's rich biological resources upon which so many depend.
Resource Type: Spatial Data / Maps©2013 UNEP All rights reserved