UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
Currently, information services are provided to: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species; IUCN/UNESCO World Heritage programme; IUCN's expert networks on species and protected areas; UNEP and the Convention on Biological Diversity
WWW site includes: information on WCMC; full text of selected publications; guide to and samples of datasets held by WCMC, access to WCMC library catalogue, background reports in current environmental disasters.
Full text data includes:
1993 United Nations List of National Parks and Protected Areas; 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, Threatened Plants of the World; 1994 IUCN Red List; IUCN Publications Catalogue; text of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES); text of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; National Biodiversity Profile publications (sample is full text reports on India and Viet Nam); guidelines for country studies on biological diversity.
Datasets held by WCMC include:
(1) Biodiversity Map Library: information on the habitats on which the threatened species depend for their survival. Bulk of this is held within a Geographical Information System (GIS). The following GIS databases are currently maintained on the BML: tropical forests, wetlands, coral reefs, mangroves. Samples of maps are available online (for Colombia and Ethiopia).
(2) Protected Areas Mapping: Boundaries of some 10,000 of the larger protected areas have been digitized. The remaining protected areas are also represented in digital map form though a as point references. These two digital map databases, referred to as the Protected Areas Map Database is closely linked to the main Protected Areas Database. These have been created and are managed by Arc/Info (TM) under the Biodiversity Map Library (BML). The BML includes a growing collection of vegetation and species maps, as well as other contextual information. The programs allow creation of a wide range of maps compiled from the information held, and facilitate a range of analyses. Online example is of the protected areas of Sulawesi.
(3) Marine and Coastal Mapping: detailed map series of the coastal zone of Belize, Coral reef mapping (Reefbase), development of a World Atlas of Mangroves, Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), marine species mapping (including project to map the nesting and feeding sites of the world's sea turtles, a distribution database of coral reef fish, a coral reef database, Antarctic penguin colonies, a database of the world's sea bird colonies), International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau's waterfowl census sites, coastal wetland mapping, coastal species mapping and recording, emergency response to coastal pollution. Online examples include Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastal zone, Rakahanga and Manihiki (Cook Islands), Fiji.
(4) Terrestrial Species Mapping: endemic bird areas (from BirdLife International), centres of plant diversity from IUCN/WWF (not yet implemented), African elephant ranges (not yet implemented),
(5) Antarctic Digital Database
(6) EC Corine Biotopes and Designated Areas databases which cover a very large number of important habitats and protected areas in the EC;
(7) A number of global topographic base-maps at WCMC - most maps are currently linked to Mundocart, a 1:1 million scale base map derived from the US Operational Navigational Charts. The Digital Chart of the World, from the same source, gives further details, including topography, roads and areas of human population. For more detailed coastal information the World Vector Shoreline is available showing the world's coast at a scale of 1:250,000. WCMC also holds a global bathymetric database at scales of 1:1,000,000 to 1:2,500,000, which gives 200m and 2000m depth contours.
(8) WCMC metadata definition and compilation: project to define, collate and compile a complete correct metadata database covering all the current data holdings of WCMC at the catalogue, directory and dictionary level, and to make this information available via Internet to external users.
(9) Global Forest Information Service (GFIS): see separate entry
