Conservation Thematic Portal: News
2012 EPI Ranks the Environmental Performance of 132 Countries
Date: January 26, 2012
Announced at the World Economic Forum held January 25–29 in Davos, Switzerland, the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) produced by CIESIN and Yale University’s Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP), in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy, identifies Switzerland as first in addressing pollution control and natural resource management challenges. Iraq is ranked last. The EPI has been produced every two years since 2006. The 2012 EPI ranks 132 countries, using 22 indicators in ten major policy categories including air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity, and forest management.
For the first time a complementary index showing country improvement from 2000 to 2010, the Pilot Trend Environmental Performance Index (Trend EPI), was released. Latvia was ranked number one in the Trend EPI, with Russia in last place. The U.S., which is 49th in the EPI, was just 77th in the Trend EPI, implying few recent gains in addressing environmental issues.
Data sets making up the EPI were contributed from the International Energy Agency, remote sensing research groups at Battelle and University of Maryland, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and other entities. Lack of data in certain areas—in particular, waste management, toxic exposures, agricultural sustainability and water resources—continue to limit the ability of the EPI to contribute towards the understanding necessary to develop policies for safeguarding the environment.
New Data Set Reveals the Global Extent of Cropland and Pasture
Date: December 10, 2010
A new data set showing the extent of global agricultural activity, Global Agricultural Lands, has been released by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center operated by CIESIN. Satellite data were combined with agricultural inventory data and compiled by Navin Ramankutty et al. (2008) to show the proportion of land area used as cropland (land used for the cultivation of food) and pasture (land used for grazing). The data set presents a snapshot of agricultural activity around the year 2000.
The data are packaged as one global grid or as a grid for each of the six populated continents, and are available in raster GeoTiff and GRID formats for download from the Web site. The data set can be applied in a number of ways to understand human-environment interactions, land use patterns, and potential threats to biodiversity.
Global Data Set Explores Indicators of Coastal Water Quality
Date: March 31, 2010
Over the past few decades coastal waters throughout the world have received an increased influx of nutrients from land-based sources. The resulting change in water quality has many possible implications for coastal and marine ecosystems. In extreme cases eutrophication results, where excess nutrients in the water stimulate excessive plant growth. This can lead to hypoxia—oxygen-depleted “dead zones”—and harmful algal blooms.
Coastal water quality over time may be assessed by measuring chlorophyll concentrations as an indicator of algae biomass. A new global data set, Indicators of Coastal Water Quality, aims to identify near-coastal areas that have improving, declining, and stable chlorophyll concentrations in order to help identify areas that may need management intervention. The data set uses chlorophyll-a concentrations derived from NASA’s sea-viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWiFS) to analyze trends over a ten year period (1998–2007). This data set is a result of a pilot effort, and the methodology will be further refined as part of a NASA Decisions feasibility project.
New Interactive Mapper Previews Human Influence Data
Date: February 5, 2010An interactive mapper has been released as part of the Last of the Wild Web site. This new mapper provides previews of the Last of the Wild, Version Two data sets. Using the mapper, users are now able to visualize the human influence index and the human footprint data sets, overlay national boundaries, or pan and zoom to an area of interest to gain a preliminary understanding about the data sets before downloading them. The mapper was developed using the open source Open Layers client technology with Geoserver backend.
For more advanced visualization and overlay with other related data sets, users may turn to the stand-alone SEDAC Map Client, which is offered via CIESIN’s World Data Center for Human Interactions in the Environment Web site. The Last of The Wild, Version Two data sets depict the extent of human influence on terrestrial ecosystems, using data sets compiled on or around the year 2000.
2010 Index Rates How Close a Country is to Environmental Benchmarks
Date: January 28, 2010
The 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which ranks 163 countries on environmental performance, has been released at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos, Switzerland. The Index, produced every two years since 2006 by researchers at CIESIN and Yale University’s Center for Environmental Law and Policy, is based on twenty-five indicators grouped within ten core policy categories—including environmental health, air quality, water resource management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and climate change—in the context of two objectives: environmental health and ecosystem vitality. The EPI’s proximity-to-target approach, in which each country’s performance is measured against clearly defined targets, enables comparisons among countries with very different characteristics.
Although some rankings have changed dramatically—the U.S. dropped from 39th to 61st place since the 2008 index, for example—so too have the methodologies and data. “A better focus is the comprehensive country profiles, which present a measurement across the different environmental indicators,” says CIESIN senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin, a co-author on the report. These profiles, designed by CIESIN research associate Valentina Mara in conjunction with the Yale team, show a country’s scores for the indicators, policy categories, and objectives. Drilling down here, de Sherbinin points out, can help decision makers identify the needed focus of attention for a particular country. Geographic information specialist Malanding Jaiteh, CIESIN deputy director and EPI project leader Marc Levy, and senior research staff assistant Paola Kim were also part of the CIESIN team.
Analysis shows that income is a major factor in high environmental performance, but that policy choices may trump economic capacities. For example, the differences between neighboring countries Chile (ranked 16th) and Argentina (70th), or between Malaysia (55th) and Thailand (68th), have a lot to do with different approaches to environmental policy and governance. The biggest changes this year were seen in the scores for air pollution and effects on ecosystems, and a new indicator, water scarcity, was added. The indicators were drawn from international organizations such as the World Bank, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Some of the data sets are drawn from government reporting that is not subject to external validation, and incomplete data have resulted in incomplete representation of countries. The report calls for greater investment by the world community in environmental monitoring, and for data sharing and transparency on the part of national governments.
The First Global Assessment of Light Pollution Impact on Protected Areas
Date: January 26, 2010
Nighttime satellite image of Europe, derived from U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS).
A new report conducted by Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) relates findings from the first-ever global assessment of light pollution and related human impacts on protected areas. The assessment, a contribution to the Dark Skies Advisory Group of the Cities and Protected Areas Specialist Group of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, uses satellite observations of artificial night lighting derived from the U.S. Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS).
The report highlights adverse effects on ecosystems or species that are sensitive to light, providing a list of countries and biomes where protected areas are particularly affected by light pollution—and also, presumably, by human activities. First results of the analysis indicate that the most affected regions are in Europe and Asia Minor, the Caribbean, and South and East Asia, as well as in the eastern part of the United States. Another finding, revealed by introducing aggregated data on biomes, demonstrates that among protected areas, those located in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests suffer the greatest impact from light pollution. The report communicates groundbreaking analysis about the impacts of light pollution to the scientific community as well as raises awareness of the general public about the seriousness and environmental ramifications of light pollution.
Map Viewer Tutorial Now Available on YouTube Web Site
Date: January 8, 2010TerraViva! SEDAC Viewer is a map viewer and standalone software application that uses a powerful data-viewing engine and tools to enable the visualization and integration of hundreds of socioeconomic and environmental variables and layers, including a range of satellite-based data. A three-part tutorial that explains how to use TerraViva! is now available through the YouTube Web site. The tutorial was produced by senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin and senior media designer Al Pinto, under the auspices of the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by CIESIN.
Updated Data, Improved Methodology for 2009 NRMI Release
Date: October 20, 2009The NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by CIESIN has released the 2009 National Resource Management Index (NRMI). This version of the NRMI has updated data and improved methodology for the eco-region protection indicator, one of the four indicators that make up the NRMI. The improvements included the exclusion of international protected areas, many of which lack effective protection (the ones that do already have a national designation), and improved coastal boundary matching between biomes and national boundaries using the highest resolution coastal data available.
The NRMI is a composite index of four measures. In addition to the eco-region protection indicator, the indicators include: access to improved sanitation, access to improved water, and child mortality. In response to the search for a natural resources management indicator initiated by the the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the NRMI was first developed in May 2005 by a consortium led by CIESIN and including the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP), the University of New Hampshire Water Systems Analysis Group, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Columbia University Tropical Agriculture Program. The MCC uses the NRMI as as one of its performance indicators to help determine country eligibility for its foreign aid programs.
Human Biomes Defined, Data Available, on New Web Site
Date: October 1, 2009Anthropogenic biomes, also known as “anthromes” or “human biomes,” describe the terrestrial biosphere in its contemporary, human-altered form using global ecosystem units defined by patterns of sustained direct human interaction. In a paper presented in the journal, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Ellis and Ramankutty (2008) delineate 21 anthropogenic biomes based on population density, land use, biota, climate, terrain and geology. The anthropogenic biomes are further grouped into six major categories: dense settlements, villages, croplands, rangeland, forested, and wildlands. A new Web site, “Anthropogenic Biomes (version one),” provides access to the spatial data sets described in the paper. Available in raster GeoTiff and GRID formats, the data may be downloaded as one global grid or a grid for each of the six populated continents. The methodology involves a multi-stage procedure where “anthropogenic” cells are first separated from “wild” cells based on presence of population, crops, or pastures. A detailed description of the methods utilized to produce the data, as well as research results, may be downloaded from the Web site.
NASA and USGS Announce Availability of Global Land Survey 2005 Data
Date: June 24, 2009NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are pleased to announce that the Global Land Survey (GLS) 2005 data set is now essentially complete, and is available for download from USGS EROS. The GLS2005 offers global, orthorectified Landsat coverage centered on 2005, designed to support long-term mapping of land cover and vegetation trends.
The data set is composed of a single leaf-on, cloud-minimized image for each WRS-2 path/row location. In cases where Landsat-7 imagery have been used, multiple images have been merged and radiometrically adjusted to minimize gaps caused by the failure of the Landsat-7 scan-line corrector. Images were selected to optimize seasonal timing (vegetation greenness derived from AVHRR) and to minimize cloud cover. These data, together with those from the earlier GLS epochs (1975, 1990, 2000) offer a unique resource for assessing changes in the terrestrial environment during the past 35 years.
Currently about 140 images remain to be added to the GLS2005 data set, primarily over Indonesia and Brazil. As these images are processed they will be available through the GLOVIS interface. For more information on the Global Land Survey project or to download data, go to the GLS Web site.
New NRMI Conservation Data Added to SEDAC Map Client
Date: March 26, 2009In support of CIESIN’s Natural Resource Management Index (NRMI) contribution to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), CIESIN’s SEDAC program has added to its Internet map client the protected areas “mask” and the World Wildlife Fund terrestrial biome data upon which the 2008 NRMI ecoregion protection indicator was calculated.
This tool will help countries assess their protected area coverage by biome in order to better understand their ecoregion protection indicator score. Further information on the methodology used to calculate the ecoregion protection indicator is available from the MCC/NRMI Web site.
Progress Toward Environmental Performance Index for China Reviewed at Beijing Meeting
Date: February 8, 2009
Attendees of experts meeting in Beijing to review progress toward an environmental performance index for China. Front row, left to right: Xiaoshi Xing, Wang Jinnan, Christine Kim, Alex de Sherbinin, Cao Dong. Back row: Staff of CAEP, YCELP, and City University of Hong Kong, with CIESIN’s Marc Levy (sixth from left).
CIESIN deputy director Marc Levy, senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin, and information scientist Xiaoshi Xing participated in an experts meeting in Beijing February 5, the purpose of which was to review data and indicators for the China Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The meeting was co-organized with the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP) and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy (YCELP). CIESIN and YCELP were responsible for leading development of the 2008 EPI, a global environmental performance assessment which ranked 149 countries on 25 indicators tracked across six established policy categories. The China EPI is expected to be released in September 2009.
Species Data Reveal Areas of High Biodiversity in the Americas, the World
Date: September 12, 2008
Human activities have contributed to habitat loss for a large number of species worldwide. In response, species mapping has become an increasingly important tool for conservation priority-setting and ecological modeling. Now a consortium of conservation organizations—NatureServe, IUCN, Conservation International, and World Wildlife Fund-USA—has developed a vast digital library of the distribution of birds and mammals of the Americas and amphibians of the world. To make these data more useful for a wide range of applications, CIESIN’s NASA-funded Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) converted the entire collection of shapefiles to raster format at 1-km grid-cell resolution. Basic or advanced searches may be undertaken for species in each of the three classes—amphibia, aves, and mammalia—using any number of criteria including class, family, genus, and endangerment status according to the IUCN Red List. Users may download the search results as zip files, with a readme file explaining how to use the data and a full metadata record of each of the data sets bundled in the file. The Web site provides the original vector data (in ESRI shape file format), the original grids (a raster version of the vector data), and presence grids (raster data depicting the presence or absence for each species). The grids are distributed in GeoTIFF format. In addition, SEDAC has created “richness grids” that describe the number of species by class and family found in each grid cell. Data sets include:
- 5,810 species of amphibia
- 4,166 species of aves
- 1,716 species of mammalia
Users may download maps showing species richness at continental and global scales for each of the three classes.
New Characterization of Biomes Includes Human Interaction
Date: August 18, 2008Existing systems of ecological research have traditionally omitted any representation of human interaction, or have simplified it. Now a recently-released data set, “Anthropogenic Biomes of the World,” authored by Erle C. Ellis and Navin Ramankutty, presents the first description of biomes that includes the element of human interaction with ecosystems. This data set identifies 18 so-called “anthropogenic biomes,” acknowledging that human residence and agriculture have significantly altered ecosystems. This integrated approach to ecological classification suggests new possibilities for exploring and understanding patterns within the terrestrial biosphere.
Now Released: First-Ever Global Map of Total Human Effect on Oceans
Date: April 1, 2008The world’s oceans are significantly impacted by human activities, with no unaffected areas remaining, according to the first global-scale study of human influence on marine ecosystems. However, there are still large areas that are relatively unaffected by humans, particularly near the poles.
Researchers overlaid maps of 17 different activities such as fishing, climate change, and pollution, to produce a composite map of human influence on the oceans of the world.
The report, “A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems,” was published in the February 15 issue of Science. Data is available from the Web site. The project had its genesis in a working group at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, California.
Updated Human Footprint Data Now Available
Date: March 17, 2008CIESIN has released an updated version of The Human Footprint, a data set that aims to measure the extent of human influence on the Earth’s surface. First produced in 2002 by CIESIN with the Wildlife Conservation Society, this new version of The Human Footprint uses updated data on human population density, land transformation, human access, electrical power infrastructure, and settlements. Urban boundaries are drawn from CIESIN’s urban population data (Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP)), which is more recent (circa 2000) and is also a better representation of urban boundaries than what was used in the first version. The population density data (Global Population of the World (GPWv3)), produced by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) operated by CIESIN, also have a number of improvements over the data used in the earlier version. The roads data are more complete, particularly concerning roads in Africa and Latin America; a greater number of navigable rivers is included; and more extensive land cover data are used.
Data available for download include the Human Influence Index, Human Footprint, and the Last of the Wild data sets.
TerraLook: Improved Access to Satellite Imagery
Date: January 8, 2008Developed by USGS, TerraLook aims to serve user communities who need images of the Earth but do not have technical remote sensing expertise or access to expensive and/or specialized scientific image processing software. Terralook is accessible to any user who can open a JPEG, providing both ASTER and Landsat data as simulated natural-color JPEG images.
New Biodiversity Data Portal Released by GBIF
Date: October 10, 2007The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international non-profit organization to provide free and universal access to data regarding the world's biodiversity, with a wide range of countries and organizations participating and sharing data. The portal provides access to the two types of data which are already being shared through the GBIF Network, taxonomic names; and specimens and observations.
Global Amphibian Assessment
Date: November 7, 2006The Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) is the first-ever comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of the world’s 5,918 known species of frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians. Since the initial release of the GAA data in 2004 there has been constant updating and upgrading of the information. The 2006 update is now available.
Banking on Conservation: IUCN and EIB Sign Framework for Cooperation on Biodiversity
Date: September 19, 2006The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed an historical cooperation agreement.
Managing Large River Basins: Solutions that Benefit Both People and Nature
Date: September 13, 2006In the Yellow river basin in China, 100 million people need to share the water. In the Pangani river basin in Tanzania, conflicts are emerging between water users. To promote peaceful ways of solving potential water crises while benefiting both people and nature, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) convened a workshop at the IWA Beijing World Water Congress ( September 10–14, 2006).
New Documentary Exposes National Crisis, Louisiana's Disappearing Coastline
Date: August 23, 2006As Louisiana rebuilds one year after the Hurricane Katrina and Rita tragedies, "Washing Away," a new public broadcast documentary exposing the extent of the hurricane's impact on the state’s disappearing coastline, premiered to Louisiana audiences.
2006 IUCN Red List Reveals Continuing Declines
Date: May 2, 2006The 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species brings into focus the ongoing decline of the earth’s biodiversity. Widely recognized as the most authoritative assessment of the global status of plants and animals, the Red List provides an accurate measure of progress, or lack of it, in achieving the globally agreed upon target to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Of the 40,177 species worldwide that have been assessed using the IUCN Red List criteria, 16,119 are now listed as threatened with extinction. This includes one in three amphibians and a quarter of the world's coniferous trees, on top of the one in eight birds and one in four mammals known to be in jeopardy. The total number of species declared officially extinct is 784; and a further 65 are found only in captivity or cultivation.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Defines Indicators to Meet 2010 Target
Date: March 23, 2006The CBD Conference of the Parties agreed on a limited number of trial indicators, to assess progress at the global level towards the 2010 target, and to effectively communicate trends in biodiversity related to the three objectives of the Convention (paragraphs 3 and 4 of decision VII/30). The 2010 target is “to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth.“ The COP agreed on eight indicators for immediate testing and another 13 indicators requiring further development.
