To assist in the country selection process for the Millennium Challenge Account by providing indicators of natural resource management that complement the governance, social, and economic indicators.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide tabular data on the trends of chlorophyll-a concentration on a pixel by pixel basis for identifying areas with improving, declining, and stable coastal water quality that can provide guidance for decision making in the context of coastal management.

To provide an assessment of potential climate change impacts on world crop production.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide tabular data on environmental conditions (elevations, climate, coastal) in which people reside.

To provide estimates of urban and rural populations and land areas in the low elevation coastal zone.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To make the acquisition, comparison and analysis of sustainability indicators easier by compiling them in a single database, incorporating multiple country codes, and condensing the indicator descriptions into short methodological summaries in an accompanying data dictionary.

To help assess a country's demand on and supply of biological capital.

To provide population estimates, gross domestic product, and surface area data to be used in conjunction with the sustainability indicators included in the compendium.

To preserve access to the original ecosystems data used by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and other related research.

To preserve access to the original biodiversity data used by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and other related research.

To create a comparative index of national-level environmental sustainability and to provide a mechanism for making environmental management more quantitative, empirically grounded and systematic.

To provide tabular data on human appropriation of net primary productivity by country.

To provide tabular data on environmental conditions (elevations, climate, coastal) in which people reside.

To provide a comparative index of national-level environmental sustainability covering a number of sustainability dimensions.

To provide data to gauge broad similarities and differences of national progress on sustainability of countries, over time and relative to other nations.

To provide a comparative index of national-level environmental sustainability based on lessons learned from the year 2000 pilot effort.

To provide data that address the key issues of sustainability by combining indicators of human wellbeing with those of environmental sustainability to generate a more comprehensive picture of the state of the world.