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  Improving International Environmental Governance »

  Since the late 1970s the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) has delivered services that support implementation of international biodiversity-related agreements at global, regional and national levels. These services not only support the work of the agreement secretariats, but also of the advisory and governance bodies, and of governments party to the various agreements. The aim of this paper is to illustrate this work through examples of work we have undertaken.

  The support that UNEP-WCMC provides is based on expert understanding of the agreements and how they work, resulting from many years of experience and close relationships with secretariats.

  Resource Type: Reports

• Impacts of climate change and selected renewable energie infrastructures on EU biodiversity and the Natura 2000 network »

  This summary report aims to provide the European Commission with an overview of the likely impact of climate change on biodiversity in the European Union and indications as to how the design and implementation of current policy might need to be adapted in order to ensure that the EU respects its commitment to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010 and beyond.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Global Seagrass Species Richness (2003) »

  General Data License (excluding WDPA)

  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.

  Read the data policy here

  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 and biodiversity of seagrass species. This dataset has been created from multiple sources and was published in "The World Atlas of Seagrasses" (2003). It is derived from the range data for the individual species.

  Resource Type: Spatial Data / Maps
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  Biogeographic Realms (Generalised) (2004) »

  General Data License (excluding WDPA)

  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.

  Read the data policy here

  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 / Maps
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  Global Wilderness (1998) »

  General Data License (excluding WDPA)

  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.

  Read the data policy here

  Based on the Wilderness Index developed by the Australian Heritage Commission (R. Lesslie, in litt., 30 May 1998). The wilderness value of any given point is essentially a measure of remoteness from human influence and is assessed on the basis of: remoteness from settlement (settled land or points of permanent occupation), from access (constructed vehicle access routes), and apparent naturalness (remoteness from permanent manmade structures) (Lesslie and Maslen, 1995). The analysis is carried out on a grid, using data from the Digital Chart of the World (DCW), and remoteness is measured as a distance from each grid point to the nearest feature of each class within a given radius (generally 30 km). Wilderness value is the sum of standardised values for each indicator class.

  Resource Type: Spatial Data / Maps
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  Holdridge's Life Zones (1992) »

  General Data License (excluding WDPA)

  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.

  Read the data policy here

  Holdridge’s work aimed to correlate world plant formations with simple climatic data. The system embraces all major environmental factors in three hierarchical tiers.

   

  Level I - The Life Zone. This is determined by specific quantitative ranges of long-term average annual precipitation, mean annual biotemperature and potential evapotranspiration ratio. These are modified for montane systems.

  Level II - The "Association". This is an area of land which, under undisturbed conditions, supports a distinctive natural community adapted through evolution to a specific narrow range of atmospheric and edaphic conditions. No Association can occur in more than one Life Zone.

  Level III - The successional stage or cover type, which takes into account that the community may not be in its climax state, either through natural causes or through human intervention.

  Resource Type: Spatial Data / Maps
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  Climate change and coral bleaching »

  Coral reefs are a critical global resource, both biologically, and in socio-economic terms. Coral reefs are also highly sensitive to climatic influences and appear to number among the most sensitive of all ecosystems to temperature changes, exhibiting the phenomenon known as coral bleaching when stressed by higher than normal sea temperatures.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Waterbirds on the Edge: first circumpolar assessment of climate change impact on Arctic Breeding water birds »

  This first analysis of the likely impact of climate change on biodiversity demonstrates the impact on Arctic waterbirds. The Arctic will be the biome most affected by climate change and hence waterbird species, most of which are entirely reliant on Arctic habitats, are particularly vulnerable.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Forests in Flux. Climate change: the threats to world forests »

  Consideration of predictions for global climate change and the general scientific principles underlying the interaction between vegetation and climate, and examination of likely scenarios for different forest regions.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Climate Change and the Biodiversity of European Islands »