This atlas is a unique and powerful publication which brings to light stories of
environmental change at more than 100 locations spread across every
country in Africa. Using current and historical satellite images, the
Atlas provides scientific evidence of the impact that natural and human
activities have had on the continent's environment over the past several
decades.
Through a combination of ground photographs, current and historical satellite
images, and narrative based on extensive scientific evidence, this publication
illustrates how humans have altered their surroundings and continue to
make observable and measurable changes to the Africa's lakes and its
environment.
One Planet Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
Increasing concern as to how human activities impact the Earth has led to
documentation and quantification of environmental changes taking place on land,
in the water, and in the air. Through a combination of ground photographs,
current and historical satellite images, and narrative based on extensive
scientific evidence, this publication illustrates how humans have altered their
surroundings and continue to make observable and measurable changes
to the global environment.
North America's environment—air currents, watersheds, and wildlife and their
habitat—is not dissected by political borders. But Canada and the United States
often measure environmental conditions and report on them using different
indicators. This report examines the environmental indicators used by both
nations, suggests a way develop a set of North American indicators, and using a
number of common indictors, provides a snapshot of the level of progress being
made in protecting the environmental assets and services that underpin North
America's economy.
Analyzing Environmental Trends using Satellite Data: Selected Cases
An analysis of recent and historical satellite imagery collected over the
past forty years was carried out for Lake Chad in West Africa, the Sundarbans along the
India-Bangladesh border, Papua in Indonesia, the Paranaense Forest around Itaipú Dam, and
the Harran Plain in southeastern Turkey to provide scientific evidence of environmental
change taking place in these ecologically significant regions of the world. (PDF 5.4mb)
Selected Satellite Images of Our Changing Environment
Focusing on a number of "hot spots" by using state-of-the-art
remote sensing and spacial data intergration techniques, this
publication exams diverse themes ranging from forest cover and
urban sprawl to emerging urban growth centers and collapsing
ice shelfs by comparing satellite imagery over a 30 year period.
Almost half of the Earth's land surface lies
within international river basins. The physical,
economic and social disparities between
riparian nations that share river basins make their management
complex. International treaties and agreements serve to provide
structure to allow nations to address these disparities within a legal
framework. This structure may provide for joint management and
monitoring of the resources to support sustainable development of
the water resources, including management of water flow, water
quality, and infrastructure development. Report created by
Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD).
Making Science for Sustainable Development More Policy Relevant:
New Tools for Analysis
To date there has been no comprehensive evaluation of the major scientific
assesments of the past two decades that address questions like, what topics have been covered?
Are there important topic gaps? What are the successes and failures? This report
proposes that the relevant international scientific organizations, in co-operation with
intergovernmental organizations jointly undertake such a comprehensive evalutation.
(PDF 740kb)
Report created by
International Council for Science.
North America's Environment: A Thirty–Year State
of the Environment and Policy Retrospective
Focusing on UNEP's North American region, comprised of Canada and
the United States, this report provides an integrated analysis of
the state of resource assests and 30–year trends in nine major themes:
atmosphere, biodiversity, coastal and marine areas, disasters, freshwater,
forests, human health and the environment, land, and urban areas.(HTML)
A global environmental assessment process,
the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral and
participatory. It incorporates regional views
and perceptions, and builds consensus on
priority issues and actions through dialogue
among policy-makers and scientists at
regional and global levels. (Offsite HTML)
Satellite Images for Land Cover Monitoring
Navigating Through the Maze
The focus of this paper is satellite systems for
land cover monitoring including a table that
compares a selection of these systems, whose
data are globally available in a form suitable
for land cover analysis. (PDF 480kb)
An Assessment of the Status of the World's Remaining
Closed Forests
Short of a miraculous transformation in the attitude of
people and governments, the Earth's
remaining closed-canopy forests and
associated biodiversity are destined to
disappear in the coming decades.
Knowing it is unlikely that all forests
can be protected, it would be better to
focus conservation priorities on those
target areas that have the best prospects
for continued existence. Hence it
is critical to assess the extent and
distribution of such areas using the
latest scientific information.
(PDF 768kb)
