One-stop shop for digital global maps launched

How does a country’s per capita Gross Domestic Product relate to its forest or biodiversity intactness? Where do areas of deposits of minerals or fossil fuels coincide with the singular habitats of highly endemic species? Which areas of key cereal crops are likely to experience water stress or erosion  in the near future? A new online data platform may help us answer these and similar environmental questions. Does higher per capita GDP correspond to greater loss of natural vegetation? Or higher levels of conservation? Photo credit: Sue Palminteri Environmental information about our planet, such as land use changes at individual sites or across broad regions, is becoming increasingly available, thanks to aerial and ground data collection technologies. Similarly, improved access and communications have enabled researchers to compile global-scale socioeconomic data sets. A team of institutions, led by World Resources Institute (WRI), launched an open-source data platform, called Resource Watch, earlier this month. The new platform pulls together and organizes over 200 spatially referenced data sets relevant to economic development and natural resource management. It allows the user to freely download or view these data on maps or, in some cases, as graphs or charts. The site also offers analyses of specific data sets curated by WRI research staff. The aim for the new platform is to allow anyone with internet access to better understand the interconnectedness of human and natural activities by making it easy for you to spatially overlay any of a variety of global and regional-scale environmental and…

from Conservation news https://ift.tt/2vZFfh9
via IFTTT