Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Data Portal

The World Data Center for Biodiversity and Ecology (WDCBE) of the NBII-USGS is developing a collaborative web site project for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment purposes. At the site you can find links to MA partners, data sources and analysis tools.

URL: wdc.nbii.gov/ma/

A list of data sources and analysis tools with emphasis on Africa will be posted here soon.

Useful Literature on Poverty & Environment Links

Selection by: Ivonne Cruz

Updated version: 070705


A) In CSC database and online:

Aggregating Governance Indicators
Daniel Kaufmann, Aart Kraay & Pablo Zoido-Lobatón (The World Bank)
URL:http://wb-cu.car.chula.ac.th/Papers/worldbank/wps2195.pdf

On the Methodological Foundations of Composite Indicators Used for Ranking Countries
Giuseppe Munda & Michela Nardo (UAB)
URL:http://webfarm.jrc.cec.eu.int/uasa/events/oecd_12may03/Background/material/MundaNardo.pdf

Exploring the Links - UNEP
URL:http://www.unep.org/dpdl/poverty_environment/PDF_docs/economics_exploring_the_links.pdf

A Framework for Incorporating Environmental Indicators to the Measurement of Human Well-Being
O. Zaim (WIDER Institute)
URL:http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/rps/rps2005/rp2005-05%20zaim.pdf

Indicators for Sustainable Development: Theory, Method, Applications
Hartmut Bossel (IISD)
URL:http://www.formambiente.org/isa/Sezioni/Materiali/Indicatori.pdf

Measuring well-being with an integrated system of economic and social accounts
Peter van de Ven, Brugt Kazemier & Steven Keuning
URL:http://www.cbs.nl/en/publications/articles/macro-economics/national-accounts/wellbeing_def.pdf

Non-monetary Indicators of Social Exclusion and Social Inclusion: What Does Exist and What Do We Need?
Vranken J., F. de Keulenaer & J. Estivill. 2001 (University of Antwerp)
URL:http://www.ufsia.ac.be/ESPICE/paper.PDF

A Survey of Indicators of Economic and Social Well-being (Second Draft)
Andrew Sharpe, 1999 (Centre for the Study of Living Standards)
URL:http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/300/cprn/english/sie_e.pdf

Sustainability and Well-being Indicators
Eric Neumayer, 2004 (WIDER Institute, Research Paper No. 2004/23)
URL:http://www.wider.unu.edu/publications/rps/rps2004/rp2004-023.pdf


B) Other literature (free online if indicated):

A multidimensional assessment of well-being based on Sen’s functioning approach
Enrica Chiappero Martinetti
URL:http://www.unipv.it/websiep/wp/007.pdf

Growing pains: a conceptual framework for considering integrated assessments
DALE S. ROTHMAN & JOHN B. ROBINSON, 1997 (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 46: 23 – 43)

A spatial approach for integrating and analyzing indicators of ecological and human condition
Michael E. Troyer, 2002 (Ecological Indicators 2: 211–220)

Poverty and Environmental Degradation: A Review and Analysis of the Nexus
ANANTHA K. DURAIAPPAH, 1998 (World Development 26: 2169-2179)

Send any literature comments & recommendations to ivonne@catunesco.upc.edu

Our flagship project: P&E Links in Africa

Basic facts:

Continent Size: Second largest in the world
Continental Area: 11,700,000 square miles
Estimated Population: 690 million people
Largest City: Cairo, Egypt, 9.2 million people
Largest Country: Sudan, 968,000 square miles
Longest River: Nile, 4,160 miles
Largest Lake: Victoria, 26,828 square miles
Tallest Mountain: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, 19,340 feet

More information:

The Millennium Development Goals in Africa (UNDP, 2002): http://www.undp.org/mdg/mdgreportinafrica.pdf

UNDP in Africa:
http://www.undp.org/rba/pubs/UNDP%20in%20Africa%202004.pdf

Africa by Country (UNDP):
http://www.undp.org/regions/africa/

Africa 2015-UNDP:
http://www.africa2015.org/

National Human Development Reports 2004:
http://hdr.undp.org/nhdr/corporate_policy.cfm

African Development Indicators 2000 (WB, 2000):
http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/adi/adi.html

African Development Indicators 2005 (WB, 2005):
http://www4.worldbank.org/afr/stats/adi2005/default.cfm

Let's explore the links

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is an international work program launched by U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan in June 2001 and was completed in March 2005 (www.millenniumassessment.org/). It was designed to meet the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and options for responding to those changes.

The MA is mainly an instrument to identify priorities for action! It focuses on ecosystem services (the benefits people obtain from ecosystems), how changes in ecosystem services have affected human wellbeing, how ecosystem changes may affect people in future decades, and response options that might be adopted at local, national, or global scales to improve ecosystem management and thereby contribute to human well-being and poverty alleviation.

A key step in the process is to identify the links between human societies and the environmental condition (functioning). By exploring and recognizing these relevant links we will be able to develop better strategies, actions and success measures towards a more sustainable socio-ecological system.

This is an initiative of:

Capability and Sustainability Centre

St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge

www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/csc/

United Nations Environmental Programme

www.unep.org/