The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) Version 3 (ASTGTM) provides a global digital elevation model (DEM) of land areas on Earth at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meter horizontal posting at the equator).
The development of the ASTER GDEM data products is a collaborative effort between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). The ASTER GDEM data products are created by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo.
This report stems from a simple observation: that since Independence in 1975, Papua New Guinea’s economic and social development outcomes have not matched people’s aspirations or government promises. Indeed, despite the abundance of its riches, PNG lags behind its Pacific neighbours on many important development indicators.
This report provides a concise summary of the processes and outcomes for planning and development of the conservation Blueprint for the Kikori River Basin landscape. The planning and development exercise was concluded in December 2011 providing the most complete data analysis on available conservation and biodiversity information for the provincial land-use plans in the Kikori River Basin landscape for the local level governments and provincial governments of Gulf, Southern Highlands,Hela and Enga
Since 1972, the joint NASA/ U.S. Geological Survey Landsat series of Earth Observation satellites have continuously acquired images of the Earth’s land surface, providing uninterrupted data to help land managers and policymakers make informed decisions about natural resources and the environment.
The Protected Area Forum's (PAF) outcome is that the forum will enable protected area practitioners, researchers, academics, private sector, potential donors and local communities who manage or support protected areas in PNG, to share their experiences, insights and any lessons learnt in relation to factors impacting protected areas. It will identify and formulate national priorities for effective protected area management in the country. The results of the forum will contribute to the implementation of the Protected Area Policy.
The island of New Guinea harbours one of the world’s largest tracts of intact tropical forest, with 41% of its land
Tonda Wildlife Management Area on the southern extremity of Papua New Guinea’s border with Indonesia is PNG’s largest and oldest conservation area and its only Ramsar site. For over 20 years it has been managed by a committee of indigenous leaders drawn from 20 village communities. While this group has provided strong local level protection of land, lack of support to the committee has meant that the full potential of community management has not been realised. Furthermore threats on a regional and international scale cannot be easily
dealt with by current community institutions.
This dataset shows the global distribution of seamounts and knolls identified using global bathymetric data at 30 arc-sec resolution. A total of 33,452 seamounts and 138,412 knolls were identified, representing the largest global set of identified seamounts and knolls to date. Seamount habitat was found to constitute approximately 4.7% of the ocean floor, whilst knolls covered 16.3%.
The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, and from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) is housed in the Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, in Washington D.C. We are devoted to a better understanding of Earth's active volcanoes and their eruptions during the last 10,000 years.
The Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is a collaboration between Aberystwyth University (U.K.), solo Earth Observation (soloEO; Japan), Wetlands International the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Reefs at Risk Revisited is a high-resolution update of the original global analysis, Reefs at Risk: A Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs. Reefs at Risk Revisited uses a global map of coral reefs at 500-m resolution, which is 64 times more detailed than the 4-km resolution map used in the 1998 analysis, and benefits from improvements in many global data sets used to evaluate threats to reefs (most threat data are at 1 km resolution, which is 16 times more detailed than those used in the 1998 analysis).
The InterRidge Vents Database is a global database of submarine hydrothermal vent fields. The InterRidge Vents Database is supported by the InterRidge program for international cooperation in ridge-crest studies (www.interridge.org).
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is part of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The Western and Central Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have compiled a public domain version of aggregated catch and effort data using operational, aggregate and annual catch estimates data provided by Commission Members (CCMs) and Cooperating Non-members (CNMs). The data provided herein have been prepared for dissemination in accordance with the current “Rules and Procedures for the Protection, Access to, and Dissemination of Data Compiled by the Commission” or (“RAP”).
The Sea Around Us is a research initiative at The University of British Columbia (located at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, formerly Fisheries Centre) that assesses the impact of fisheries on the marine ecosystems of the world, and offers mitigating solutions to a range of stakeholders.
The Sea Around Us was initiated in collaboration with The Pew Charitable Trusts in 1999, and in 2014, the Sea Around Us also began a collaboration with The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to provide African and Asian countries with more accurate and comprehensive fisheries data.
AquaMaps are computer-generated predictions of natural occurrence of marine species, based on the environmental tolerance of a given species with respect to depth, salinity, temperature, primary productivity, and its association with sea ice or coastal areas. These 'environmental envelopes' are matched against an authority file which contains respective information for the Oceans of the World. Independent knowledge such as distribution by FAO areas or bounding boxes are used to avoid mapping species in areas that contain suitable habitat, but are not occupied by the species.
Bioregions, of course, are just one of the important data layers in indentifying an ecologically representative system of marine protected areas. To be truly ecologically representative and comprehensive, one must also consider all available information about habitats, species and ecological processes. In addition, socio-economic and cultural considerations are vital in the spatial planning process. This report is focussed upon one important, but only one, input to marine spatial planning: the development of marine bioregions.
This Pacific Islands Framework for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas2021-2025 is the principal regional strategy document for environmental conservation in the Pacific. Its purpose is to guide broad strategic guidance for nature conservation planning, prioritisation, and implementation in our region. It reflects the urgent need for transformative action in response to the multiple accelerating threats, both established and emerging, that are faced by nature and people in the Pacific.
This report assesses the overall state of conservation in the Pacific Islands region of Oceania, that is, the 21 countries and territories covered by SPREP plus Pitcairn Island. The report uses an analysis of 16 indicators chosen in consultation with SPREP and based on the Global Biodiversity Indicator project (http://www.bipindicators.net).
This paper attempts to present a “quick snapshot” of the status of biodiversity in the Pacific Islands and the prospects and challenges for the mainstreaming of its conservation and sustainable use by Pacific Island peoples during the 21st century