CIESIN World Data Center: Related Resources
The following data centers provide data on subject matter related to global change, human-environment interactions, and sustainable development.
Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR)
Host: University of Kassel, Germany
CESR research projects address regional and global environmental change, environmental change and human security, world water (strategic analysis and assessment), sustainable energy and materials management, and lifestyles and sustainability. From these projects the center had developed a number of global data sets (e.g., WaterGAP, a Global Lakes and Wetlands Dataset), that are available on request.
Visit: http://www.usf.uni-kassel.de/cesr/
Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)
Host: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, USA
The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) is a center within the Earth Institute at Columbia University. CIESIN works at the intersection of the social, natural, and information sciences, and specializes in on-line data and information management, spatial data integration and training, and interdisciplinary research related to human interactions in the environment. (See also SEDAC entry below.)
Visit: http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu
CGIAR Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI)
Host: Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (CGIAR)
The Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI) is an initiative of the many geospatial scientists within the CGIAR linking the efforts of scientists, national and international partners, and others working to apply and advance geospatial science for sustainable agriculture development, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and poverty alleviation in developing countries.
Visit: http://csi.cgiar.org
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
Host: United Nations
The FAO possesses numerous geostatistical and geospatial data sets addressing themes related to food production and security, environmental conditions and sustainable development. They can be accessed from the following link.
Visit: http://www.fao.org/waicent/portal/statistics_en.asp
GEO Data Portal
Host: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and other integrated environment assessments. Its online database holds more than 450 different variables, as national, subregional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes like freshwater, population, forests, emissions, climate, disasters, health and the economy. Display them on-the-fly as maps, graphs, data tables or download the data in different formats.
Visit: http://geodata.grid.unep.ch/
GeoNetwork
Host: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations
GeoNetwork allows users to easily share geographically referenced thematic information between different FAO Units, other UN Agencies, NGO's and other institutions. The metadata search tool is employed by the CIESIN World Data Center for Human Interactions in the Environment and allows one to search across multiple repositories of geospatial data.
Visit: http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/
Geography Network
Host: Environmental Systems Resource Institute (ESRI), USA
The Geography Network offers several ways to discover and access geographic data for use with your GIS software. Some data is available to download immediately or preview online while other data may be discovered from one of the many Web-based sources referenced on this site.
Visit: http://www.geographynetwork.com/data/
Global Change Master Directory (GCMD)
Host: U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
A directory to Earth science data and services, the GCMD has data sets in the following thematic areas: agriculture, atmosphere, biosphere, climate, cryosphere, human dimensions, hydrosphere, land surface, oceans, paleoclimate, solid earth, spectral/engineering, and sun-earth interactions.
Visit: http://gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF)
Host: University of Maryland, USA
The GLCF is a center for land cover science with a focus on research using remotely sensed satellite data and products to assess land cover change for local to global systems. The website provides access to a large number of global land cover data sets, many of them derived from MODIS and AVHRR.
Visit: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Host: IIASA, Austria
IIASA distributes data and reports on sustainable development, land-use and land-cover change, adaptive dynamics, air pollution, forestry, radiation safety, international negotiations, world population, risks, modeling and society.
Visit: http://www.iiasa.ac.at
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Host: IGES, Japan
Includes a number of governance and policy-related databases.
Visit: http://www.iges.or.jp/en/database/
IRI-LDEO Climate Data Library
Host: International Research Institute for Climate and Society & Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, The Earth Institute of Columbia University, USA
The IRI-LDEO Climate Data Library contains over 300 datasets from a variety of earth science disciplines and climate-related topics. This powerful tool offers the following capabilities: access any number of datasets; create analyses of data ranging from simple averaging to more advanced EOF analyses; monitor present climate conditions with maps and analyses in the Maproom; create visual representations of data, including animations; download data in a variety of commonly-used formats, including GIS-compatible formats.
Visit: http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu/
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP)
Host: Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) (former RIVM), Holland
MNP specializes in environmental, population, and global environmental change modeling. A recent emphasis is vulnerability to environmental change. Core models and data sets include IMAGE, EDGAR, and HYDE.
Visit: http://www.mnp.nl/en/dossiers/modelsanddata/
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)
Host: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, USA
Funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), SEDAC is one of eight Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), and the only one to focus on socioeconomic data. The role of SEDAC is to act as a bridge between the earth and social science research communities. The data it provides complement the Earth science and remote sensing data being distributed through the other DAACs. (see also CIESIN entry)
Visit: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/
UNEP-GRID Centers
Host: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP-Global Resource Information Database (GRID) specialize in global data for environmental assessment and for early warning systems. There are regional centers in the following locations: Asia (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand), Africa (GRID-Nairobi), Europe (GRID-Geneva), Eastern Europe (GRID-Warsaw), Northern Europe (GRID-Arendal), and North America (GRID-Sioux Falls, South Dakota).
Visit: http://www.rrcap.unep.org/about/gcenter.cfm
World Data Center System
Host: International Council for Science (ICSU)
The World Data Center (WDC) system was created to archive and distribute data collected from the observational programs of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year. Originally established in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan, the WDC system has since expanded to other countries and to new scientific disciplines. The WDC system now includes 52 Centers in 12 countries. Its holdings include a wide range of solar, geophysical, environmental, and human dimensions data.
Visit: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wdc/wdcmain.html
