The following list of WWW resources is a preliminary attempt at identifying links to websites which provide information organised by country. The list was last updated 22 June 1999.

At the end of the table are links to information on initiatives which aim to reduce the burden of reporting on national agencies, through greater integration and information sharing. At the end of the table are also links to information on reporting requirements.

We would welcome suggestions of further websites we should add.


International agreement reports and profiles

Convention on Biological Diversity

National reports submitted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in compliance with Article 26 of the Convention and related agreements.

Convention on Wetlands

National reports submitted by Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

Climate Change Convention

Access to National Communications required from Contracting Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and to other information including in depth reviews of the national communications

National State of Environment Reports

State of Environment Reporting Information System This information system (SERIS) has been jointly developed by GRID Arendal, the European Environment Agency, and the Danish National Environmental Research Institute.
ENRIN Programme Under this UNEP programme GRID-Arendal supports production of user-friendly State of Environment reports on the Internet by countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States
Links to SoE Reports GRID-Arendal also provides links to all State of Environment reports that it knows to be available on line

International programme reports and profiles

Caribbean Sustainable Development

National profiles prepared by the ECLAC/CDCC secretariat on the basis of questionnaires submitted by Governments, standardized to allow for country comparisons

Small Island Developing States

Country profiles covering fisheries and forestry in the Small Island Developing States, with further links to agricultural and trade data, as well as general country information (on the FAO web site)

Sustainable Development

UN System-Wide Web Site on national implementation of the Rio Commitments - established to begin the process of streamlining access to and use of information gathered by the UN system in reviewing implementation of the Rio commitments

UN CSD/Agenda 21

Country Profiles provided by national governments to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development on implementation of Agenda 21 for Earth Summit + 5 in 1997

Development assistance sources

AusAID

Access to Country Information on those countries and regions in which AusAID plays an active role

CIDA

Regions and Countries section of the CIDA Virtual Library on International Developments

JICA

Access to Country Study Reports prepared for Japan's official development assistance, Japanese International Cooperation Agency

USAID

Regions and Countries section of the USAID web site, including country reports (within each regional section)

World Bank

Access to Countries and Regions information compiled by the World Bank information by country and region

Access to national sources

Development Watch

This will in the "near future" link to National Development Watch homepages for national data based on Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI) - part of the UNDP programme Monitoring Progress on Sustainable Development implemented in collaboration with FAO, UN, UNEP, WB and WHO

Directory of Biodiversity and Conservation Data Centres

Maintained by the Association for Biodiversity Information, which is an international network of national and subnational Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centres

National CHMs Established in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and accessed through the Clearing-House Mechanism home page

Yahoo! - Government: Countries

Searchable access to web resources in most countries, and including a link to the web sites of national parliaments

Sources with general information presented by country

Country Studies

An information service provided by the U.S. Library of Congress.

The 1997 World Factbook

Compiled by the United States Central Intelligence Agency for briefing government officials

Travel Health Online

Summary health and safety profiles for a wide range of countries

World Travel Guide

Compiled by Columbus Press, and comprising a comprehensive and objective travel guide

Specific categories of information by country

Environmental treaty accession

Managed as part of the IUCN/UNEP Joint Environmental Law Information Service, and also available as part of the CEISIN Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators Project

FAO Statistics Database

On-line databases covering international statistics in the following areas: production, trade, food, fertilizer and pesticides, land use and irrigation, forest products, fishery products, population and agricultural machinery

Red List of Threatened Animals

The world list of threatened species, compiled by WCMC, IUCN and BirdLife International from a wide range source [To get a list for a specific country, select all species and then select the country at the next level]

Red List of Threatened Plants

The WCMC Threatened Plants Database of plants used in developing the 1997 IUCN Red List of globally threatened plant species

UN List of Protected Areas

The definitive list of the world's protected areas maintained by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and WCMC, and published in 1997

UNESCO Statistics

Statistical data on education, science, culture and communication, including the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1998

World Resources 1996-97

Query the data tables in the World Resources Report

Other sites with information on selected countries

WWF Country Profiles

Illustrated summaries of WWF International projects in various countries.

European Nature Conservation Organizations by country

Made available by the European Centre for Nature Conservation.

Environmental Atlas

Incomplete, sample countries only

MBendi Information for Africa

Business information.

US Department of State

Background information on countries of the world compiled by the US State Department


Initiatives for harmonizing national reporting

Proposals for the Streamlining of Requests for National Reporting prepared by the Secretary General of UNCSD (E/CN.17/1997/6 of 18 March 1997)

Streamlining and Harmonisation of Biodiversity Information and Reporting in the NIS - Report prepared by WCMC and UNEP-GRID based on a workshop held in Kyiv, Ukraine, 1-3 December 1997

Feasibility Study for a Harmonised Information Management Infrastructure for Biodiversity-related Treaties - prepared by WCMC on behalf of the secretariats of the five treaties and UNEP (1998)

Methodological guidance for the development of electronic environmental status reports prepared by GRID Arendal (1.3MB PDF file), and additional "cookbook" reference material


Documents relating to national reporting requirements

Agenda 21

Documents Related to National Reporting to CSD6

Documents Related to National Reporting to CSD7

CBD

COP Decision II-17 on form and intervals of national reports by parties

UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/3/Inf. 16 Further Guidelines for the Preparation of National Reports (information paper drafted by WCMC at the Secretariat's request)

Ramsar

Diplomatic notification 1998/1 concerning the 7th COP and preparation of national reports

World Heritage

Format for the periodic reporting on the application of the World Heritage Convention and associated explanatory notes


For further information please contact:

Jeremy Harrison
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1223 277314
Fax: +44 1223 277136.

Email: jerry.harrison@wcmc.org.uk

Document URL: http://www.wcmc.org.uk/country_knowledge.htm
Revision date: 10-March-1999
Current date: 10-March-1999