GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Limited Area Search Engines, Directories, Databanks, and Portals
ECOLEX: A Gateway to Environmental Law-- From the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Union, several large databases of national and international legal instruments and materials related to environmental management, searchable by subject area, keyword, country, or date.
Eldis-- "Sharing the best in
development policy, practice and research," Eldis is a
world class directory and gateway to electronic
information resources on development and the environment,
with a huge searchable database of thousands of papers
online at its site or linked. Note especially the Climate Change Resource Guide.
Environmental Performance Index--
Biennial index presents interactive results of
collaboration between Yale and Columbia Universities to
rank countries on environmental performance indicators
across policy categories covering "both environmental
public health and ecosystem vitality." Results are shown
in interactive maps, country rankings, country profiles,
and case studies. Posts news and blogs.
Forest Protection Portal-- Directory
and limited area search engine for full-text searches for
the best Internet resources on rainforest and forest
preservation and conservation.
Freshwater Ecoregions of the World-- "Global biogeographic regionalization of the Earth's freshwater biodiversity... covering virtually all freshwater habitats on Earth, [an] ecoregion map, together with associated species data." From the Nature Conservancy.
Other
Sources
• Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities-- Official governmental source of information on the environment in Australia.
• Center for International Earth Science
Information Network-- Excellent site from Columbia
University's Earth Institute, to further the
interdisciplinary study of global environmental change.
See especially their very useful Socioeconomic
Data
and Applications Center, with datasets, interactive
maps, and links designed to integrate social and natural
science data for better decision making on environmental
issues.
• Commission for Environmental Cooperation--
Created under the North American Agreement for
Environmental Cooperation, under NAFTA, to address
environmental and related trade issues in North America.
• Convention on Biological Diversity--
Website of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with
news, fact sheets, country profiles, and many reports on
the Convention and related topics. See especially their
flagship publication "Global Biodiversity Outlook."
• Earth
Policy Institute-- Research institute with the
mission of providing "a vision of what an environmentally
sustainable economy will look like and a plan for how to
get from here to there." Posts statistics, news, updates,
reports, and analyses about the current global environment
and sustainable alternative economic measures.
• Environmental News Network-- "The
largest and longest-running portal in the global business
of the environment, "excellent for news, features,
multimedia presentations, forums, polls, and special
reports.
• European Environmental Agency--
News, publications, datasets, multimedia, and maps from
this European Union organization. Also check out the European
Environment Information and Observation Network.
• European Environmental Law Network--
Full text cases, legislation, dossiers, articles, national
pages, and other materials on European environmental law.
• Forestry
Site of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the
United Nations-- Detailed databased information on
the world's forests, including in country profiles. Note the annual
report State of the World's Forests and the
Global Forests Resources Assessments
section.
• Global Footprint
Network-- "International think tank working to
advance sustainability through use of the Ecological
Footprint, a resource accounting tool that measures how
much nature we have, how much we use and who uses what."
The site develops, applies, and allows users to apply the
concept of the Ecological Footprint to "bring about new
solutions and spark a global dialogue about ecological
limits and overshoot."
• Greenpeace International-- This famous environmentalist group offers
information on many topics, emphasizing climate, oceans,
forests, agriculture, toxic pollution, and nuclear
matters.
• Inter-American Development Bank,
Sustainable Development Department-- Full-text
publications on environment and natural resources issues.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change-- IGO established by the World Meteorological
Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme
"to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic
information relevant for the understanding of climate
change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation
and mitigation." Posts reports, press releases, official
documents, and graphic presentations on the topic.
• International Institute for Sustainable
Development-- IISD's
mission is to promote sustainable development in
decisionmaking, internationally and within Canada, for
audiences and clients including businesses, governments,
communities, and concerned individuals.
• International Water Management Institute--
International research center supported by the network of
60 governments, private foundations and international and
regional organizations, the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research, with
the mission of improving the "management of land and water
resources for food, livelihoods and nature," especially in
developing countries. Posts a wide variety of
publications, analytical tools, and databases.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce--
Environmental, climatic, weather, and oceanographic
information. Note the National Oceanographic Data Center.
• Nature Conservancy-- "The leading
conservation organization working around the world to
protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature
and people," with a wide range of international
information and analysis.
• Pollution-- News, information, and links on many aspects
of global pollution, from the World News Network.
• Resources for the Future-- This
nonprofit and nonpartisan U.S. organization conducts
independent social science research on environmental and
natural resource issues, and provides online discussion
papers, articles, project summaries, and reports.
• UN-Water-- Official United Nations
site that posts much information on and analysis of "all
aspects of freshwater, including surface and
groundwater resources and the interface between fresh and
sea water. It includes freshwater resources, both in terms
of their quality and quantity, their development,
assessment, management, monitoring and use (including, for
example, domestic uses, agriculture and ecosystems
requirements)."
• UNESCO Water Portal-- "Intended to
enhance access to information related to freshwater
available on the World Wide Web. The site provides links
to the current UNESCO and UNESCO-led programmes on
freshwater and will serve as an interactive point for
sharing, browsing and searching websites of water-related
organizations, government bodies and NGOs, including a
range of categories such as water links, water events,
learning modules and other on-line resources." Note as
well UNESCO's World Water Assessment Program.
• United Nations Atlas of the Oceans--
"An Internet portal providing information relevant to the
sustainable development of the oceans. It is designed for
policy-makers who need to become familiar with ocean
issues and for scientists, students and resource managers
who need access to databases and approaches to
sustainability."
• United Nations Environment Programme--
To provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring
for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling
nations and peoples to improve their quality of life
without compromising that of future generations. Be sure
to consult the major UNEP year book "Global Environment
Outlook." For data, maps, and
country reports, also try the United Nations Environment
Programme at GRID-Arendal. Note the UNEP
World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the world
biodiversity information and assessment center of the
UNEP. The UNEP Freshwater site provides
analysis about the world's threatened supplies of fresh
water, in news, reports, conference papers, and graphics.
• United Nations Gateway to the UN
System’s Work on Climate Change-- Useful hub for
monitoring the work of the entire UN system on the climate
change issue, with publications linked or on-site.
• World Bank Environment Site--
Outlines World Bank projects related to the environment
and provides plentiful data and analysis of environmental
conditions and issues around the world. The Environmental Economics and Indicators
page lends access to abundant World Bank data, analysis,
and publications on environmental indicators, examination
of the linkages between poverty and the environment, and
policy options.
• World Resources Institute-- A policy research center striving to address
how societies can meet basic human needs and promote
economic growth without undermining natural resources and
environmental integrity. This major site has a large
number of full-text searchable studies and other resources
online (such as databanks), by location and subject. Read
their World Resources Report online.
• World
Water
Council-- Based in Marseille, this "international
water policy think tank dedicated to strengthening the
world water movement for an improved management of the
world's water resources" posts news and analysis about
world water issues and about conferences on the topic.
• World Wildlife Fund-- World's
largest independent conservation organization. Note the Publications and Resources page and
especially the interactive Living Planet Report, a quantitative
picture of the world's natural environment and the human
pressures upon it, through the Living Planet Index, to
measure the change in the health of the world's natural
ecosystems since 1970.
• World's Water-- "Dedicated to
providing information and resources to help protect and
preserve freshwater around the globe." Also see the related site, the International Water Law Project.
• Worldwatch Institute-- Informs policymakers and the public
about emerging global problems and trends and the complex
links between the world economy and its environmental
support systems, with the motto "independent research for
an environmentally sustainable and socially just society."
Free and paid downloads of reports, plus news, articles,
and blogs.
• Yale Environment 360-- "Online
magazine offering opinion, analysis, reporting and debate
on global environmental issues [with] original articles by
scientists, journalists, environmentalists, academics,
policy makers, and business people, as well as multimedia
content and a daily digest of major environmental news,"
from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies.
