An Environmental Information Portal: EarthTrends

  By Dan Tunstall (World Resource Institute, Washington DC, USA)

 EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal , http://EarthTrends.wri.org/ , is a World Resources Institute website that provides relevant and timely information on environmental, economic, and social trends that shape our world.  EarthTrends will be the first place to look for internationally comparable data that can be used to analyze trends, assess progress, and plan for the future. 

EarthTrends is designed to be used by people ranging from those experienced and expert in  environmental issues and data to the novice.  The site is organized into ten topic areas and five information tools, allowing for intuitive navigation and varying levels of information searching and retrieval.  Links to other quality sites are included.

EarthTrends topic areas and tools

The ten topic areas covered by EarthTrends are the following:

§         Coastal and Marine Ecosystems,

§         Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems,

§         Climate and Atmosphere,

§         Population, Health and Human Well-being,

§         Economics, Business, and the Environment,

§         Energy and Resources,

§         Biodiversity and Protected Areas,

§         Agriculture and Food,

§         Forests and Grasslands and

§         Environmental Governance and Institutions.

 

 The various  information tools available are described below:

• A Searchable Database: There are more than 400 variables from 16 core and 20 secondary data providers; 60% of the variables have annual time series covering 30 or more years.  Data is available for over 210 countries, inlcuding all African countries. 

• Maps: 60 maps present global, regional, and country level environmental information.

• Data Tables: Pre-formatted data tables contain key variables for each topic area.

• Country Profiles: Data and graphics for the ten topic areas are organized by country.  This Includes profiles for all countries in Africa.

• Features: Textual analysis and graphics of key environmental, economic, and social trends shaping our world are also provided.

The core data providers to EarthTrends include the following institutions:

·         Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

·         UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC)

·         United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; Population Division (UN/ESA/PD)

·         Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

·         International Energy Agency (IEA)

·         World Bank

·         United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

·         United Nations Education, Scientific and Educational Organization (UNESCO)

·         World Conservation Union (IUCN)

·         Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

·         Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

·         Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

·         United States Geologic Survey (USGS)

·         United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)

·         United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC)

·         Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

 

EarthTrends partners and sponsors

UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank are partners with the World Resource Institute in Earth Trends. In addition to the support received from the partners, EarthTrends is supported financially by:

·         The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

·         The Ford Motor Company

·         V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation

Contact Information
For more information on EarthTrends, please contact Christian Ottke: Cottke@wri.org or Amy Cassara: Acassara@wri.org.