Developmentrelevance: Air pollution places a major burden on world health. In many places, including cities but also in rural areas, exposure to air pollution is the main environmental threat to health, responsible for 6.5 million deaths per year, about one every 5 seconds. Around 40 percent of the world’s people rely on household burning of wood, charcoal, dung, crop waste, or coal to meet basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with solid fuels create harmful smoke and particles that fill homes and the surrounding environment. Household air pollution from cooking and heating with solid fuels is responsible for 2.9 million deaths a year. Long-term exposure to high levels of fine particles in the air contributes to a range of health effects, including respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and heart disease, resulting in 4.2 million deaths annually. Not only does exposure to air pollution affect the health of the world’s people, it also carries huge economic costs and represents a drag on development, particularly for low and middle income countries and vulnerable segments of the population such as children and the elderly. Three interim targets were defined for PM2.5 and have been shown to be achievable with successive and sustained abatement measures. Countries may find these interim targets particularly helpful in gauging progress over time in the difficult process of steadily reducing population exporsure to PM. IT-1 level corresponds to the highest mean concentrations reported in studies of long-term effects, and may also reflect higher but unknown historical concentrations that may have been contributed to observed health effects. IT-1 level has been shown to be associated with significant mortality in the developed world.

IndicatorName: PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-1 value (% of total)

Longdefinition: Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 1 (IT-1) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 35 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality Guideline (AQG) of 10 micrograms per cubic meter is recommended by the WHO as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: A. van Donkelaar, R.V. Martin, M. Brauer, N.C. Hsu, R.A. Kahn, R.C. Levy, A. Lyapustin, A.M. Sayer, D.M. Winker, "Global Estimates of Fine Particulate Matter using a Combined Geophysical-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites, Models, and Monitors," Environ. Sci. Technol 50, no. 7 (2016): 3762–3772;GBD 2017 Risk Factors Collaborators, "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 194 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017," Lancet 392 (2018): 1923-1994; Shaddick G, Thomas M, Amini H, Broday DM, Cohen A, Frostad J, Green A, Gumy S, Liu Y, Martin RV, Prüss-Üstün A, Simpson D, van Donkelaar A, Brauer M. Data integration for the assessment of population exposure to ambient air pollution for global burden of disease assessment. Environ Sci Technol. 2018 Jun 29. Data provided by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle. Data on exposure to ambient air pollution are derived from estimates of annual concentrations of very fine particulates produced by the Global Burden of Disease study, an international scientific effort led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Estimates of annual concentrations are generated by combining data from atmospheric chemistry transport models, satellite observations of aerosols in the atmosphere, and ground-level monitoring of particulates. Overlaying PM2.5 estimates with gridded population data, the percent of a nation's people that lives in areas where PM2.5 concentrations exceed recommended levels is calculated by summing the population for grid cells where PM2.5 concentrations are beyond a threshold value, in this case 10 micrograms per cubic meter, and then dividing by total population.


Aggregationmethod: Weighted average

Developmentrelevance: Air pollution places a major burden on world health. In many places, including cities but also in rural areas, exposure to air pollution is the main environmental threat to health, responsible for 6.5 million deaths per year, about one every 5 seconds. Around 40 percent of the world’s people rely on household burning of wood, charcoal, dung, crop waste, or coal to meet basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with solid fuels create harmful smoke and particles that fill homes and the surrounding environment. Household air pollution from cooking and heating with solid fuels is responsible for 2.9 million deaths a year. Long-term exposure to high levels of fine particles in the air contributes to a range of health effects, including respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and heart disease, resulting in 4.2 million deaths annually. Not only does exposure to air pollution affect the health of the world’s people, it also carries huge economic costs and represents a drag on development, particularly for low and middle income countries and vulnerable segments of the population such as children and the elderly. Three interim targets were defined for PM2.5 and have been shown to be achievable with successive and sustained abatement measures. Countries may find these interim targets particularly helpful in gauging progress over time in the difficult process of steadily reducing population exporsure to PM. IT-2 level is greater than the mean concentration at which effects have been observed in studies of long-term exposure and mortality and is likely to be associated with significant health impacts from both long-term and daily exposures to PM2.5. Attainment of IT-2 value would reduce the health risks of long-term exposure by about 6% relative to the IT-1 value.

IndicatorName: PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-2 value (% of total)

License_Type: CC BY-4.0

Limitationsandexceptions: Pollutant concentrations are sensitive to local conditions, and even monitoring sites in the same city may register different levels. Direct monitoring of PM2.5 is still rare in most parts of the world, and measurement protocols and standards are not the same for all countries. These data should be considered only a general indication of air quality, intended to inform cross-country comparisons of the health risks due to particulate matter pollution. The guideline set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for PM2.5 is that annual mean concentrations should not exceed 10 micrograms per cubic meter, representing the lower range over which adverse health effects have been observed. The WHO has also recommended guideline values for emissions of PM2.5 from burning fuels in households.

Longdefinition: Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 2 (IT-2) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 25 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality Guideline (AQG) of 10 micrograms per cubic meter is recommended by the WHO as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.

Periodicity: Annual

Source: Brauer, M. et al. 2017, for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: A. van Donkelaar, R.V. Martin, M. Brauer, N.C. Hsu, R.A. Kahn, R.C. Levy, A. Lyapustin, A.M. Sayer, D.M. Winker, "Global Estimates of Fine Particulate Matter using a Combined Geophysical-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites, Models, and Monitors," Environ. Sci. Technol 50, no. 7 (2016): 3762–3772; GBD 2017 Risk Factors Collaborators, "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 194 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017," Lancet 392 (2018): 1923-1994; Shaddick G, Thomas M, Amini H, Broday DM, Cohen A, Frostad J, Green A, Gumy S, Liu Y, Martin RV, Prüss-Üstün A, Simpson D, van Donkelaar A, Brauer M. Data integration for the assessment of population exposure to ambient air pollution for global burden of disease assessment. Environ Sci Technol. 2018 Jun 29. Data provided by Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle. Data on exposure to ambient air pollution are derived from estimates of annual concentrations of very fine particulates produced by the Global Burden of Disease study, an international scientific effort led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Estimates of annual concentrations are generated by combining data from atmospheric chemistry transport models, satellite observations of aerosols in the atmosphere, and ground-level monitoring of particulates. Overlaying PM2.5 estimates with gridded population data, the percent of a nation's people that lives in areas where PM2.5 concentrations exceed recommended levels is calculated by summing the population for grid cells where PM2.5 concentrations are beyond a threshold value, in this case 10 micrograms per cubic meter, and then dividing by total population.

Topic: Environment: Emissions


Developmentrelevance: Air pollution places a major burden on world health. In many places, including cities but also in rural areas, exposure to air pollution is the main environmental threat to health, responsible for 6.5 million deaths per year, about one every 5 seconds. Around 40 percent of the world’s people rely on household burning of wood, charcoal, dung, crop waste, or coal to meet basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with solid fuels create harmful smoke and particles that fill homes and the surrounding environment. Household air pollution from cooking and heating with solid fuels is responsible for 2.9 million deaths a year. Long-term exposure to high levels of fine particles in the air contributes to a range of health effects, including respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and heart disease, resulting in 4.2 million deaths annually. Not only does exposure to air pollution affect the health of the world’s people, it also carries huge economic costs and represents a drag on development, particularly for low and middle income countries and vulnerable segments of the population such as children and the elderly. Three interim targets were defined for PM2.5 and have been shown to be achievable with successive and sustained abatement measures. Countries may find these interim targets particularly helpful in gauging progress over time in the difficult process of steadily reducing population exporsure to PM. IT-3 level places greater weight than IT-2 on the likelihood of signifcant effects associated with long-term exposures. IT-3 value is close to the mean concentrations that are reported in studies of long-term exposure and provides an additional 6% reduction in mortality risk relative to the IT-2 value.

IndicatorName: PM2.5 pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO Interim Target-3 value (% of total)

Longdefinition: Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) Interim Target 3 (IT-3) is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 15 micrograms per cubic meter. The Air Quality Guideline (AQG) of 10 micrograms per cubic meter is recommended by the WHO as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.


Developmentrelevance: Air pollution places a major burden on world health. In many places, including cities but also in rural areas, exposure to air pollution is the main environmental threat to health, responsible for 6.5 million deaths per year, about one every 5 seconds. Around 40 percent of the world’s people rely on household burning of wood, charcoal, dung, crop waste, or coal to meet basic energy needs. Cooking and heating with solid fuels create harmful smoke and particles that fill homes and the surrounding environment. Household air pollution from cooking and heating with solid fuels is responsible for 2.9 million deaths a year. Long-term exposure to high levels of fine particles in the air contributes to a range of health effects, including respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and heart disease, resulting in 4.2 million deaths annually. Not only does exposure to air pollution affect the health of the world’s people, it also carries huge economic costs and represents a drag on development, particularly for low and middle income countries and vulnerable segments of the population such as children and the elderly.

IndicatorName: PM2.5 air pollution, population exposed to levels exceeding WHO guideline value (% of total)

Longdefinition: Percent of population exposed to ambient concentrations of PM2.5 that exceed the WHO guideline value is defined as the portion of a country’s population living in places where mean annual concentrations of PM2.5 are greater than 10 micrograms per cubic meter, the guideline value recommended by the World Health Organization as the lower end of the range of concentrations over which adverse health effects due to PM2.5 exposure have been observed.


Aggregationmethod: Sum

Developmentrelevance:
As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. The Red List Index for the world's birds shows that there has been a steady and continuing deterioration in the threat status of the world's birds since 1988, when the first complete global assessment was carried out.

The number of threatened species is an important measure of the immediate need for conservation in an area. Global analyses of the status of threatened species have been carried out for few groups of organisms. Only for mammals, birds, and amphibians has the status of virtually all known species been assessed.

 Threatened species are defined using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification: endangered (in danger of extinction and unlikely to survive if causal factors continue operating) and vulnerable (likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if causal factors continue operating).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN guides conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions. The IUCN draws on and mobilizes a network of scientists and partner organizations working in almost every country in the world, who collectively hold what is likely the most complete scientific knowledge base on the biology and conservation status of species.

Globally, threatened birds occur worldwide - nearly all countries support one or more threatened bird species. Small islands hold disproportionately high numbers of Globally Threatened Birds, supporting over half of threatened species. Threatened seabirds are found throughout the world's oceans. The most important threats to the world's birds are the spread of agriculture and an ever increasing human use of biological resources.

Direct threats to species are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the status of the taxon being assessed (e.g., unsustainable fishing or logging). Direct threats are synonymous with sources of stress and proximate pressures. Threats can be past (historical, unlikely to return or historical, likely to return), ongoing, and/or likely to occur in the future.

IndicatorName: Bird species, threatened

Limitationsandexceptions:
Reporting the proportion of threatened species on the Red List is complicated by the fact that not all species groups have been fully evaluated, and also by the fact that some species have so little information available that they can only be assessed as Data Deficient (DD). For many of the incompletely evaluated groups, assessment efforts have focused on species that are likely to be threatened; therefore any percentage of threatened species reported for these groups would be heavily biased (i.e., the percentage of threatened species would likely be an overestimate).

Since IUCN has evaluated extinction risk for less than 5 percent of the world's described species, IUCN cannot provide an overall estimate for how many of the planet's species are threatened. For those groups that have been comprehensively evaluated, the proportion of threatened species can be calculated, but the number of threatened species is often uncertain because it is not known whether Data Deficient species are actually threatened or not.

Due to variations in consistency and methods of collection, data quality is highly variable across countries. Some countries update their information more frequently than others, some have more accurate data on extent of coverage, and many underreport the number or extent of protected areas. Also, because of differences in definitions, reporting practices, and reporting periods, cross-country comparability of threatened species is limited.

In order to ensure global uniformity when describing the habitat in which a taxon (a taxonomic group of any rank) occurs, the threats to a taxon, what conservation actions are in place or are needed, and whether or not the taxon is utilized, a set of standard terms, called Classification Schemes, are being developed, for documenting taxonomy on the IUCN Red List.

Longdefinition: Birds are listed for countries included within their breeding or wintering ranges. Threatened species are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.

Source: United Nations Environmental Program and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, Red List of Threatened Species.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Species assessed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU) are referred to as "threatened" species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species collects and disseminates information on the global threated species.

Proportion of threatened species is only reported for the more completely evaluated groups (i.e., >90% of species evaluated). Also, the reported percentage of threatened species for each group is presented as a best estimate within a range of possible values bounded by lower and upper estimates:

Lower estimate = % threatened extant species if all Data Deficient species are not threatened, i.e., (CR + EN + VU) / (total assessed - EX)

Best estimate = % threatened extant species if Data Deficient species are equally threatened as data sufficient species, i.e., (CR + EN + VU) / (total assessed - EX - DD)

Upper estimate = % threatened extant species if all Data Deficient species are threatened, i.e., (CR + EN + VU + DD) / (total assessed - EX)

Additional information on ecology and habitat preferences, threats, and conservation action are also collated and assessed as part of Red List process.

Topic: Environment: Biodiversity & protected areas


Developmentrelevance:
The Hyogo Framework's goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 - in lives, and in the social, economic, and environmental assets of communities and countries. The Hyogo Framework offers guiding principles, priorities for action, and practical means for achieving disaster resilience for vulnerable communities. Governments around the world have committed to take action to reduce disaster risk, and have adopted a guideline to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards, called the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA assists the efforts of nations and communities to become more resilient to, and cope better with the hazards that threaten their development gains.

Scientists use the terms climate change and global warming to refer to the gradual increase in the Earth's surface temperature that has accelerated since the industrial revolution and especially over the past two decades. Most global warming has been caused by human activities that have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere through a buildup of greenhouse gases - primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Rising global temperatures will cause sea level rise and alter local climate conditions, affecting forests, crop yields, and water supplies, and may affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems.

IndicatorName: Disaster risk reduction progress score (1-5 scale; 5=best)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The Hyogo Framework for Action (FHA) national progress reports assess strategic priorities in the implementation of disaster risk reduction actions and establish baselines on levels of progress achieved in implementing the HFA's five priorities for action. National reporting processes are led by officially designated HFA focal institutions in country, and regional reporting by regional intergovernmental organizations.

HFA's five priorities are:
1. Making disaster risk reduction a policy priority, institutional strengthening
2. Risk assessment and early warning systems
3. Education, information and public awareness
4. Reducing underlying risk factors
5. Preparedness for effective response

Longdefinition: Disaster risk reduction progress score is an average of self-assessment scores, ranging from 1 to 5, submitted by countries under Priority 1 of the Hyogo Framework National Progress Reports. The Hyogo Framework is a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts that was adopted by 168 countries in 2005. Assessments of "Priority 1" include four indicators that reflect the degree to which countries have prioritized disaster risk reduction and the strengthening of relevant institutions.

Source: (UNISDR, 2009-2011 Progress Reports, http://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Resilience is measured by the disaster risk reduction progress score, an average of self-assessment scores submitted by countries under Priority 1 of the Hyogo Framework National Progress Reports. The Hyogo Framework is a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts that was adopted by 168 countries in 2005. Assessments of Priority 1 include four indicators that reflect the degree to which countries have prioritized disaster risk reduction and the strengthening of relevant institutions.

Topic: Environment: Land use


Developmentrelevance:
Scientists use the terms climate change and global warming to refer to the gradual increase in the Earth's surface temperature that has accelerated since the industrial revolution and especially over the past two decades. Most global warming has been caused by human activities that have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere through a buildup of greenhouse gases - primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Rising global temperatures will cause sea level rise and alter local climate conditions, affecting forests, crop yields, and water supplies, and may affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems.

A drought can lead to losses in agriculture, affect inland navigation and hydropower plants, reduce access to drinking water, and cause famines. A flood is a significant rise of water level in a stream, lake, reservoir, or coastal region. Extreme temperature events are either cold waves or heat waves. A cold wave can be both a prolonged period of excessively cold weather and the sudden invasion of very cold air over a large area. Accompanied by frost, it can damage agriculture, infrastructure, and property. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot and sometimes humid weather. Population affected by these natural disasters is the number of people injured, left homeless, or requiring immediate assistance and can include displaced or evacuated people.

IndicatorName: Droughts, floods, extreme temperatures (% of population, average 1990-2009)

Limitationsandexceptions: The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) assessment report concluded that global warming is "unequivocal" and gave the strongest warning yet about the role of human activities. The report estimated that sea levels would rise approximately 49 centimeters over the next 100 years, with a range of uncertainty of 20-86 centimeters. That will lead to increased coastal flooding through direct inundation and a higher base for storm surges, allowing flooding of larger areas and higher elevations. Climate model simulations predict an increase in average surface air temperature of about 2.5°C by 2100 (Kattenberg and others 1996) and increase of "killer" heat waves during the warm season (Karl and others 1997).

Longdefinition: Droughts, floods and extreme temperatures is the annual average percentage of the population that is affected by natural disasters classified as either droughts, floods, or extreme temperature events. A drought is an extended period of time characterized by a deficiency in a region's water supply that is the result of constantly below average precipitation. A drought can lead to losses to agriculture, affect inland navigation and hydropower plants, and cause a lack of drinking water and famine. A flood is a significant rise of water level in a stream, lake, reservoir or coastal region. Extreme temperature events are either cold waves or heat waves. A cold wave can be both a prolonged period of excessively cold weather and the sudden invasion of very cold air over a large area. Along with frost it can cause damage to agriculture, infrastructure, and property. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot and sometimes also humid weather relative to normal climate patterns of a certain region. Population affected is the number of people injured, left homeless or requiring immediate assistance during a period of emergency resulting from a natural disaster; it can also include displaced or evacuated people. Average percentage of population affected is calculated by dividing the sum of total affected for the period stated by the sum of the annual population figures for the period stated.

Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database: www.emdat.be, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels (Belgium), World Bank.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: This indicator measures vulnerability of population affected by droughts, floods, and extreme temperature. A drought is an extended period of deficiency in a region's water supply as a result of below average precipitation.


Developmentrelevance:
As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. The Red List Index for the world's birds shows that there has been a steady and continuing deterioration in the threat status of the world's birds since 1988, when the first complete global assessment was carried out.

The number of threatened species is an important measure of the immediate need for conservation in an area. Global analyses of the status of threatened species have been carried out for few groups of organisms. Only for mammals, birds, and amphibians has the status of virtually all known species been assessed.

Threatened species are defined using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification: endangered (in danger of extinction and unlikely to survive if causal factors continue operating) and vulnerable (likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if causal factors continue operating).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN guides conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions. The introduction in 1994 of a scientifically rigorous approach to determine risks of extinction that is applicable to all species, has become a world standard. The IUCN draws on and mobilizes a network of scientists and partner organizations working in almost every country in the world, who collectively hold what is likely the most complete scientific knowledge base on the biology and conservation status of species.

The freshwater system represents the most threatened of all ecosystems, and many freshwater species have a very high livelihood value for local human communities. IUCN's freshwater focus is on the following taxonomic groups: fish; molluscs; crabs and crayfish; and dragonflies. Global assessment of these groups is being pursued through a series of regional projects, such as one for Africa that is currently being implemented.

The marine realm is poorly covered in the IUCN Red List, comprising less than 5 percent of the species included. IUCN has identified priority taxonomic groups of marine fish, invertebrates, plants (mangroves and seagrasses) and macro-algae (seaweeds). If these priority groups can be assessed, the number of marine species on the IUCN Red List will be increased more than six-fold.

Direct threats to species are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the status of the taxon being assessed (e.g., unsustainable fishing or logging). Direct threats are synonymous with sources of stress and proximate pressures. Threats can be past (historical, unlikely to return or historical, likely to return), ongoing, and/or likely to occur in the future.

IndicatorName: Fish species, threatened

Longdefinition: Fish species are based on Froese, R. and Pauly, D. (eds). 2008. Threatened species are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.

Source: Froese, R. and Pauly, D. (eds). 2008. FishBase database, www.fishbase.org.


Developmentrelevance:
The number of threatened species is an important measure of the immediate need for conservation in an area. Global analyses of the status of threatened species have been carried out for few groups of organisms. Only for mammals, birds, and amphibians has the status of virtually all known species been assessed.

Threatened species are defined using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification: endangered (in danger of extinction and unlikely to survive if causal factors continue operating) and vulnerable (likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if causal factors continue operating).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN guides conservation activities of governments, NGOs and scientific institutions. The IUCN draws on and mobilizes a network of scientists and partner organizations working in almost every country in the world, who collectively hold what is likely the most complete scientific knowledge base on the biology and conservation status of species.

The plants and animals assessed for the IUCN Red List are the bearers of genetic diversity and the building blocks of ecosystems, and information on their conservation status and distribution provides the foundation for making informed decisions about conserving biodiversity from local to global levels. Only a small number of the world's plant and animal species have been assessed. In addition to the many thousands of species which have not yet been assessed so far, other species not included on the IUCN Red List are those that went extinct before 1500 AD and the "Least Concern" (plants that have been evaluated to have a low risk of extinction) species that have not yet been data based.

Direct threats to species are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the status of the taxon being assessed (e.g., unsustainable fishing or logging). Direct threats are synonymous with sources of stress and proximate pressures. Threats can be past (historical, unlikely to return or historical, likely to return), ongoing, and/or likely to occur in the future.

IndicatorName: Plant species (higher), threatened

Limitationsandexceptions:
Reporting the proportion of threatened species on the Red List is complicated by the fact that not all species groups have been fully evaluated, and also by the fact that some species have so little information available that they can only be assessed as Data Deficient (DD). For many of the incompletely evaluated groups, assessment efforts have focused on species that are likely to be threatened; therefore any percentage of threatened species reported for these groups would be heavily biased (i.e., the percentage of threatened species would likely be an overestimate).

Although there are over 12,000 plant species on the IUCN Red List, fewer than one thousand of these are properly documented. To help address this gap, IUCN is pursuing global assessments of plant species of value to people including species of high economic value. The conifer and cycad species already on the IUCN Red List need to be fully documented. IUCN is also developing a tool to assist with preliminary assessments of plant species.

Since IUCN has evaluated extinction risk for less than 5 percent of the world's described species, IUCN cannot provide an overall estimate for how many of the planet's species are threatened. For those groups that have been comprehensively evaluated, the proportion of threatened species can be calculated, but the number of threatened species is often uncertain because it is not known whether Data Deficient species are actually threatened or not.

Due to variations in consistency and methods of collection, data quality is highly variable across countries. Some countries update their information more frequently than others, some have more accurate data on extent of coverage, and many underreport the number or extent of protected areas. Also, because of differences in definitions, reporting practices, and reporting periods, cross-country comparability of threatened species is limited.

In order to ensure global uniformity when describing the habitat in which a taxon (a taxonomic group of any rank) occurs, the threats to a taxon, what conservation actions are in place or are needed, and whether or not the taxon is utilized, a set of standard terms, called Classification Schemes, are being developed, for documenting taxonomy on the IUCN Red List.

Longdefinition: Higher plants are native vascular plant species. Threatened species are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.


Developmentrelevance:
As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. The number of threatened species is an important measure of the immediate need for conservation in an area. Global analyses of the status of threatened species have been carried out for few groups of organisms. Only for mammals, birds, and amphibians has the status of virtually all known species been assessed.

Threatened species are defined using the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) classification: endangered (in danger of extinction and unlikely to survive if causal factors continue operating) and vulnerable (likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if causal factors continue operating).

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. The IUCN draws on and mobilizes a network of scientists and partner organizations working in almost every country in the world, who collectively hold what is likely the most complete scientific knowledge base on the biology and conservation status of species.

the IUCN Red List covers a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status of the world's 5,488 mammal species, including global summary statistics, individual species accounts/threat category, range map, ecology information, and some other data. Mammal species are found spread across the globe, with the exception of the land mass of Antarctica. Nearly one-quarter of the world's mammal species are known to be globally threatened or extinct, 63 percent are known to not be threatened, and 15 percent have insufficient data to determine their threat status. Habitat loss, affecting over 2,000 mammal species, is the greatest threat globally. The second greatest threat is utilization which is affecting over 900 mammal species, mainly those in Asia.

Direct threats to species are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the status of the taxon being assessed (e.g., unsustainable fishing or logging). Direct threats are synonymous with sources of stress and proximate pressures. Threats can be past (historical, unlikely to return or historical, likely to return), ongoing, and/or likely to occur in the future.

IndicatorName: Mammal species, threatened

Limitationsandexceptions:
Reporting the proportion of threatened species on the Red List is complicated by the fact that not all species groups have been fully evaluated, and also by the fact that some species have so little information available that they can only be assessed as Data Deficient (DD). For many of the incompletely evaluated groups, assessment efforts have focused on species that are likely to be threatened; therefore any percentage of threatened species reported for these groups would be heavily biased (i.e., the percentage of threatened species would likely be an overestimate).

Some parts of the world, such as the Andes, Central and West Africa, Angola, parts of South and Southeast Asia, and Melanesia, still have sparse information available of their mammal faunas. In addition, many species' names, especially in the tropics, actually represent complexes of several species that have not yet been resolved. The information on the relative importance of different threatening processes to mammal species is incomplete. IUCN codes all threats that appear to have an important impact, but not their relative importance for each species.

Since IUCN has evaluated extinction risk for less than 5 percent of the world's described species, IUCN cannot provide an overall estimate for how many of the planet's species are threatened. For those groups that have been comprehensively evaluated, the proportion of threatened species can be calculated, but the number of threatened species is often uncertain because it is not known whether Data Deficient species are actually threatened or not.

Due to variations in consistency and methods of collection, data quality is highly variable across countries. Some countries update their information more frequently than others, some have more accurate data on extent of coverage, and many underreport the number or extent of protected areas. Also, because of differences in definitions, reporting practices, and reporting periods, cross-country comparability of threatened species is limited.

In order to ensure global uniformity when describing the habitat in which a taxon (a taxonomic group of any rank) occurs, the threats to a taxon, what conservation actions are in place or are needed, and whether or not the taxon is utilized, a set of standard terms, called Classification Schemes, are being developed, for documenting taxonomy on the IUCN Red List.

Longdefinition: Mammal species are mammals excluding whales and porpoises. Threatened species are the number of species classified by the IUCN as endangered, vulnerable, rare, indeterminate, out of danger, or insufficiently known.


IndicatorName: Population living in slums (% of urban population)

Longdefinition: Population living in slums is the proportion of the urban population living in slum households. A slum household is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof lacking one or more of the following conditions: access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, housing durability, and security of tenure, as adopted in the Millennium Development Goal Target 7.D. The successor, the Sustainable Development Goal 11.1.1, considers inadequate housing (housing affordability) to complement the above definition of slums/informal settlements.

Source: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)

Topic: Environment: Density & urbanization


Developmentrelevance: Aquaculture is understood to mean the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated. For statistical purposes, aquatic organisms which are harvested by an individual of corporate body which has owned them throughout their rearing period contribute to aquaculture while aquatic organisms which are exploitable by public as a common property resource, with or without appropriate licences, are the harvest of fisheries.

IndicatorName: Aquaculture production (metric tons)

Longdefinition: Aquaculture is understood to mean the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Aquaculture production specifically refers to output from aquaculture activities, which are designated for final harvest for consumption.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Aquaculture production specifically refers to output from aquaculture activities, which are designated for final harvest for consumption. At this time, harvest for ornamental purposes is not included.

Topic: Environment: Agricultural production


IndicatorName: Capture fisheries production (metric tons)

Longdefinition: Capture fisheries production measures the volume of fish catches landed by a country for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: In 2008, China revised its 2006 production statistics to reduce about 13 percent based on its Second National Agriculture Census conducted in 2007. This implied the downward adjustment of global capture production about 2 percent. Historical statistics of China for the period 1997-2005 were subsequently revised by FAO.


IndicatorName: Total fisheries production (metric tons)

Longdefinition: Total fisheries production measures the volume of aquatic species caught by a country for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes. The harvest from mariculture, aquaculture and other kinds of fish farming is also included.


Developmentrelevance:
Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter is converted to a non-forest use, such as farms, ranches, or urban use. As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. Deforestation is a major cause of loss of biodiversity, and habitat conservation is vital for stemming this loss. Conservation efforts have focused on protecting areas of high biodiversity.

Destruction of rainforests remains a significant environmental problem - up to 90 percent of West Africa's coastal rainforests have disappeared since 1900. Much of what remains of the world's rainforests is in the Amazon basin, where the Amazon Rainforest covers approximately 4 million square kilometers. Large-scale planting of trees is significantly reducing the net loss of forest area globally, and afforestation and natural expansion of forests in some countries and regions have reduced the net loss of forest area significantly at the global level.

Forests cover more than 31 percent of total land area of the world; the world's total forest area is just over 4 billion hectares. On a global average, more than one-third of all forest is primary forest, i.e. forest of native species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes have not been significantly disturbed. Primary forests, in particular tropical moist forests, include the most species-rich, diverse terrestrial ecosystems.

National parks, game reserves, wilderness areas and other legally established protected areas cover more than 10 percent of the total forest area in most countries and regions. FAO estimates that around 10 million people are employed in forest management and conservation - but many more are directly dependent on forests for their livelihoods. Also, 80 about percent of the world's forests are publicly owned, but ownership and management of forests by communities, individuals and private companies is on the rise.

Close to 1.2 billion hectares of forest are managed primarily for the production of wood and non-wood forest products. An additional 25 percent of forest area is designated for multiple uses - in most cases including the production of wood and non-wood forest products. The area designated primarily for productive purposes has decreased by more than 50 million hectares since 1990 as forests have been designated for other purposes.

Generalcomments: This is a period growth rate indicator for online table use only.

IndicatorName: Annual deforestation (% of change)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The national figures in the database are reported by the countries themselves, thus eliminating any discrepancies between global and national figures. The reporting format ensures that countries provide the full reference for original data sources as well as national definitions and terminology. Separate sections in the reporting format (country reports) deal with the analysis of data; calibration of data to the official land area as held by FAO; and reclassification of data to the classes used in FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessments.

FAO has been collecting and analyzing data on forest area since 1946. This is done at intervals of 5-10 years as part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). FAO reports data for 229 countries and territories; for the remaining 56 small island states and territories where no information is provided, a report is prepared by FAO using existing information and a literature search. The data are aggregated at sub-regional, regional and global levels by the FRA team at FAO, and estimates are produced by straight summation.

The lag between the reference year and the actual production of data series as well as the frequency of data production varies between countries. Deforested areas do not include areas logged but intended for regeneration or areas degraded by fuelwood gathering, acid precipitation, or forest fires. Negative numbers indicate an increase in forest area.

Longdefinition: Average annual deforestation refers to the permanent conversion of natural forest area to other uses, including shifting cultivation, permanent agriculture, ranching, settlements, and infrastructure development. Deforested areas do not include areas logged but intended for regeneration or areas degraded by fuelwood gathering, acid precipitation, or forest fires. Negative numbers indicate an increase in forest area.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, Global Forest Resources Assessment.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Forest is determined both by the presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees should reach a minimum height of 5 meters in situ. Areas under reforestation that have not yet reached but are expected to reach a canopy cover of 10 percent and a tree height of 5 meters are included, as are temporarily unstocked areas, resulting from human intervention or natural causes, which are expected to regenerate.

Data includes areas with bamboo and palms; forest roads, firebreaks and other small open areas; forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas such as those of specific scientific, historical, cultural or spiritual interest; windbreaks, shelterbelts and corridors of trees with an area of more than 0.5 hectares and width of more than 20 meters; plantations primarily used for forestry or protective purposes, such as rubber-wood plantations and cork oak stands. Data excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems, such as fruit plantations and agroforestry systems. Forest area also excludes trees in urban parks and gardens. The proportion of forest area to total land area is calculated and changes in the proportion are computed to identify trends.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) provides detail information on forest cover, and adjusted estimates of forest cover. The current survey uses a uniform definition of forest. Although FAO provides a breakdown of forest cover between natural forest and plantation for developing countries, this indictor data does not reflect that breakdown. Thus the deforestation data may underestimate the rate at which natural forest is disappearing in some countries.

Deforested areas do not include areas logged but intended for regeneration or areas degraded by fuelwood gathering, acid precipitation, or forest fires. Negative numbers indicate an increase in forest area.


Developmentrelevance:
While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectoral planning and integration. According to World Water Council, by 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. The three major factors causing increasing water demand over the past century are population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

IndicatorName: Water productivity, total (constant 2015 US$ GDP per cubic meter of total freshwater withdrawal)

Limitationsandexceptions:
A common perception is that most of the available freshwater resources are visible (on the surfaces of lakes, reservoirs and rivers). However, this visible water represents only a tiny fraction of global freshwater resources, as most of it is stored in aquifers, with the largest stocks stored in solid form in the Antarctic and in Greenland's ice cap.

The data on freshwater resources are based on estimates of runoff into rivers and recharge of groundwater. These estimates are based on different sources and refer to different years, so cross-country comparisons should be made with caution. Because the data are collected intermittently, they may hide significant variations in total renewable water resources from year to year. The data also fail to distinguish between seasonal and geographic variations in water availability within countries. Data for small countries and countries in arid and semiarid zones are less reliable than those for larger countries and countries with greater rainfall.

Caution should also be used in comparing data on annual freshwater withdrawals, which are subject to variations in collection and estimation methods. In addition, inflows and outflows are estimated at different times and at different levels of quality and precision, requiring caution in interpreting the data, particularly for water-short countries, notably in the Middle East and North Africa.

The data are based on surveys and estimates provided by governments to the Joint Monitoring Programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The coverage rates are based on information from service users on actual household use rather than on information from service providers, which may include nonfunctioning systems.

Longdefinition: Water productivity is calculated as GDP in constant prices divided by annual total water withdrawal.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, AQUASTAT data, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Water productivity is an indication only of the efficiency by which each country uses its water resources. Given the different economic structure of each country, these indicators should be used carefully, taking into account a country's sectorial activities and natural resource endowments. GDP data are from World Bank's national accounts files.

Water withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including for cooling thermoelectric plants).

Topic: Environment: Freshwater


Developmentrelevance:
While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectoral planning and integration. According to World Water Council, by 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. The three major factors causing increasing water demand over the past century are population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiography, and climatic characteristics. It is estimated that in the coming decades the most intensive growth of water withdrawal is expected to occur in Africa and South America (increasing by 1.5-1.6 times), while the smallest growth will take place in Europe and North America (1.2 times).

IndicatorName: Annual freshwater withdrawals, agriculture (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Longdefinition: Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for agriculture are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, AQUASTAT data.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
This indicator measures the pressure on the renewable water resources of a country caused by irrigation. According to Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of freshwater drawn from lakes, rivers and underground sources. Most is used for irrigation which provides about 40 percent of the world food production. Poor management has resulted in the salinization of about 20 percent of the world's irrigated land, with an additional 1.5 million ha affected annually.

Water withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including for cooling thermoelectric plants).


Developmentrelevance:
UNESCO estimates that in developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, public water withdrawal represents just 50-100 liters (13 to 26 gallons) per person per day. In regions with insufficient water resources, this figure may be as low as 20-60 (5 to 15 gallons) liters per day. People in developed countries on average consume about 10 times more water daily than those in developing countries.

While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectorial planning and integration. According to World Water Council, by 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. The three major factors causing increasing water demand over the past century are population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture.

Water productivity is an indication only of the efficiency by which each country uses its water resources. Given the different economic structure of each country, these indicators should be used carefully, taking into account a country's sectorial activities and natural resource endowments. According to Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of freshwater drawn from lakes, rivers and underground sources. Most is used for irrigation which provides about 40 percent of the world food production. Poor management has resulted in the salinization of about 20 percent of the world's irrigated land, with an additional 1.5 million ha affected annually.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiography, and climatic characteristics. It is estimated that in the coming decades the most intensive growth of water withdrawal is expected to occur in Africa and South America (increasing by 1.5-1.6 times), while the smallest growth will take place in Europe and North America (1.2 times).

The Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) has reported that many countries lack adequate legislation and policies for efficient and equitable allocation and use of water resources. Progress is, however, being made with the review of national legislation and enactment of new laws and regulations.

IndicatorName: Annual freshwater withdrawals, domestic (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Longdefinition: Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Domestic water withdrawal, sometimes used interchangeably with municipal water withdrawal, focuses on human needs (drinking, cooking, cleaning, and sanitation). Data includes renewable freshwater resources, potential over-abstraction of renewable groundwater, withdrawal of fossil groundwater, and the potential use of desalinated water or treated wastewater. It is usually computed as the total water withdrawn by the public distribution network, and includes that part of the industries, which is connected to the municipal network. The ratio between the net consumption and the water withdrawn can vary from 5 to 15 percent in urban areas and from 10 to 50 percent in rural areas.

Water withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes.


Developmentrelevance:
While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectorial planning and integration. According to World Water Council, by 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. The three major factors causing increasing water demand over the past century are population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture. UNESCO estimates that Industrial uses account for about 20 percent of global freshwater withdrawals. Of this, 57-69 percent is used for hydropower and nuclear power generation, 30-40 percent for industrial processes, and 0.5-3 percent for thermal power generation.

Water productivity is an indication only of the efficiency by which each country uses its water resources. Given the different economic structure of each country, these indicators should be used carefully, taking into account a country's sectorial activities and natural resource endowments. According to Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of freshwater drawn from lakes, rivers and underground sources. Most is used for irrigation which provides about 40 percent of the world food production. Poor management has resulted in the salinization of about 20 percent of the world's irrigated land, with an additional 1.5 million ha affected annually.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiography, and climatic characteristics. It is estimated that in the coming decades the most intensive growth of water withdrawal is expected to occur in Africa and South America (increasing by 1.5-1.6 times), while the smallest growth will take place in Europe and North America (1.2 times).

The Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) has reported that many countries lack adequate legislation and policies for efficient and equitable allocation and use of water resources. Progress is, however, being made with the review of national legislation and enactment of new laws and regulations.

IndicatorName: Annual freshwater withdrawals, industry (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Longdefinition: Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for industry are total withdrawals for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Annual industrial freshwater withdrawals include renewable water resources as well as potential over-abstraction of renewable groundwater or potential use of desalinated water or treated wastewater. It includes water for the cooling of thermoelectric plants, but it does not include hydropower.

Water withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for industry are total withdrawals for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes.


Developmentrelevance: The level of water stress can show the degree to which water resources are being exploited to meet the country's water demand. It measures a country's pressure on its water resources and therefore the challenge on the sustainability of its water use. It tracks progress in regard to “withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity”, i.e. the environmental component of target 6.4. It also shows to what extent water resources are already used, and signals the importance of effective supply and demand management policies. It indicates the likelihood of increasing competition and conflict between different water uses and users in a situation of increasing water scarcity. Increased water stress, shown by an increase in the value of the indicator, has potentially negative effects on the sustainability of the natural resources and on economic development. On the other hand, low values of water stress indicate that water does not represent a particular challenge for economic development and sustainability.

IndicatorName: Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources

Limitationsandexceptions:
Water withdrawal as a percentage of water resources is a good indicator of pressure on limited water resources, one of the most important natural resources. However, it only partially addresses the issues related to sustainable water management. Supplementary indicators that capture the multiple dimensions of water management would combine data on water demand management, behavioural changes with regard to water use and the availability of appropriate infrastructure, and measure progress in increasing the efficiency and sustainability of water use, in particular in relation to population and economic growth. They would also recognize the different climatic environments that affect water use in countries, in particular in agriculture, which is the main user of water. Sustainability assessment is also linked to the critical thresholds fixed for this indicator and there is no universal consensus on such threshold.

Trends in water withdrawal show relatively slow patterns of change. Usually, three-five years are a minimum frequency to be able to detect significant changes, as it is unlikely that the indicator would show meaningful variations from one year to the other. Estimation of water withdrawal by sector is the main limitation to the computation of the indicator. Few countries actually publish water use data on a regular basis by sector. Renewable water resources include all surface water and groundwater resources that are available on a yearly basis without consideration of the capacity to harvest and use this resource. Exploitable water resources, which refer to the volume of surface water or groundwater that is available with an occurrence of 90% of the time, are considerably less than renewable water resources, but no universal method exists to assess such exploitable water resources. There is no universally agreed method for the computation of incoming freshwater flows originating outside of a country's borders. Nor is there any standard method to account for return flows, the part of the water withdrawn from its source and which flows back to the river system after use. In countries where return flow represents a substantial part of water withdrawal, the indicator tends to underestimate available water and therefore overestimate the level of water stress.

Other limitations that affect the interpretation of the water stress indicator include: difficulty to obtain accurate, complete and up-to-date data; potentially large variation of sub-national data; lack of account of seasonal variations in water resources; lack of consideration to the distribution among water uses; lack of consideration of water quality and its suitability for use; and the indicator can be higher than 100 per cent when water withdrawal includes secondary freshwater (water withdrawn previously and returned to the system), non-renewable water (fossil groundwater), when annual groundwater withdrawal is higher than annual replenishment (over-abstraction) or when water withdrawal includes part or all of the water set aside for environmental water requirements. Some of these issues can be solved through disaggregation of the index at the level of hydrological units and by distinguishing between different use sectors. However, due to the complexity of water flows, both within a country and between countries, care should be taken not to double-count.

Longdefinition: The level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources is the ratio between total freshwater withdrawn by all major sectors and total renewable freshwater resources, after taking into account environmental water requirements. Main sectors, as defined by ISIC standards, include agriculture; forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity industry; and services. This indicator is also known as water withdrawal intensity.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Proportion of total renewable water resources withdrawn is the total volume of groundwater and surface water withdrawn from their sources for human use (in the agricultural, municipal and industrial sectors), expressed as a percentage of the total actual renewable water resources. The terms water resources and water withdrawal are understood as freshwater resources and freshwater withdrawal. Water withdrawal is estimated for the following three main sectors: agriculture, municipalities (including domestic water withdrawal) and industries, at country level and expressed in km3/year. The total actual renewable water resources for a country or region are defined as the sum of internal renewable water resources and the external renewable water resources, also expressed in km3/year. The indicator is computed by dividing total water withdrawal by total actual renewable water resources minus environmental requirements and expressed in percentage points.

Total freshwater withdrawal is the volume of freshwater extracted from its source (rivers, lakes, aquifers) for agriculture, industries and municipalities. It is estimated at the country level for the following three main sectors: agriculture, municipalities (including domestic water withdrawal) and industries. Freshwater withdrawal includes primary freshwater (not withdrawn before), secondary freshwater (previously withdrawn and returned to rivers and groundwater, such as discharged wastewater and agricultural drainage water) and fossil groundwater. It does not include non-conventional water, i.e. direct use of treated wastewater, direct use of agricultural drainage water and desalinated water. Total freshwater withdrawal is in general calculated as being the sum of total water withdrawal by sector minus direct use of wastewater, direct use of agricultural drainage water and use of desalinated water.

Total renewable freshwater resources are expressed as the sum of internal and external renewable water resources. The terms “water resources” and “water withdrawal” are understood here as freshwater resources and freshwater withdrawal. Internal renewable water resources are defined as the long-term average annual flow of rivers and recharge of groundwater for a given country generated from endogenous precipitation. External renewable water resources refer to the flows of water entering the country, taking into consideration the quantity of flows reserved to upstream and downstream countries through agreements or treaties.

Environmental water requirements (Env.) are the quantities of water required to sustain freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. Water quality and also the resulting ecosystem services are excluded from this formulation which is confined to water volumes. This does not imply that quality and the support to societies which are dependent on environmental flows are not important and should not be taken care of. Methods of computation of Env. are extremely variable and range from global estimates to comprehensive assessments for river reaches. Water volumes can be expressed in the same units as the total freshwater withdrawal, and then as percentages of the available water resources.


Developmentrelevance:
While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectorial planning and integration.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiography, and climatic characteristics. It is estimated that in the coming decades the most intensive growth of water withdrawal is expected to occur in Africa and South America (increasing by 1.5-1.6 times), while the smallest growth will take place in Europe and North America (1.2 times).

IndicatorName: Annual freshwater withdrawals, total (billion cubic meters)

Longdefinition: Annual freshwater withdrawals refer to total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where there is significant water reuse. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including withdrawals for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes. Data are for the most recent year available for 1987-2002.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Annual freshwater withdrawals are total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Water withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes.


Developmentrelevance:
While some countries have an abundant supply of fresh water, others do not have as much. UN estimates that many areas of the world are already experiencing stress on water availability. Due to the accelerated pace of population growth and an increase in the amount of water a single person uses, it is expected that this situation will continue to get worse. The ability of developing countries to make more water available for domestic, agricultural, industrial and environmental uses will depend on better management of water resources and more cross-sectorial planning and integration. According to World Water Council, by 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40 percent, and 17 percent more water will be required for food production to meet the needs of the growing population. The three major factors causing increasing water demand over the past century are population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture.

There is now ample evidence that increased hydrologic variability and change in climate has and will continue to have a profound impact on the water sector through the hydrologic cycle, water availability, water demand, and water allocation at the global, regional, basin, and local levels. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. A shortage of water in the future would be detrimental to the human population as it would affect everything from sanitation, to overall health and the production of grain.

Freshwater use by continents is partly based on several socio-economic development factors, including population, physiography, and climatic characteristics. It is estimated that in the coming decades the most intensive growth of water withdrawal is expected to occur in Africa and South America (increasing by 1.5-1.6 times), while the smallest growth will take place in Europe and North America (1.2 times).

IndicatorName: Annual freshwater withdrawals, total (% of internal resources)

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Annual freshwater withdrawals are total water withdrawals, not counting evaporation losses from storage basins. Withdrawals also include water from desalination plants in countries where they are a significant source. Withdrawals can exceed 100 percent of total renewable resources where extraction from nonrenewable aquifers or desalination plants is considerable or where water reuse is significant. Withdrawals for agriculture and industry are total withdrawals for irrigation and livestock production and for direct industrial use (including for cooling thermoelectric plants). Withdrawals for domestic uses include drinking water, municipal use or supply, and use for public services, commercial establishments, and homes.


IndicatorName: Renewable internal freshwater resources, total (billion cubic meters)

Longdefinition: Renewable internal freshwater resources flows refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The data on freshwater resources are based on estimates of runoff into rivers and recharge of groundwater. Renewable water resources (internal and external) include average annual flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated from endogenous precipitation, and those water resources that are not generated in the country, such as inflows from upstream countries (groundwater and surface water), and part of the water of border lakes and/or rivers. Non-renewable water includes groundwater bodies (deep aquifers) that have a negligible rate of recharge on the human time-scale. While renewable water resources are expressed in flows, non-renewable water resources have to be expressed in quantity (stock). Runoff from glaciers where the mass balance is negative is considered non-renewable.

Total actual renewable water resources correspond to the maximum theoretical yearly amount of water actually available for a country at a given moment. The unit of calculation is km3/year or 109 m3/year. Calculation Criteria is [Water resources: total renewable (actual)] = [Surface water: total renewable (actual)] + [Groundwater: total renewable (actual)] - [Overlap between surface water and groundwater].*

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface. It is a renewable but limited natural resource. Fresh water can only be renewed through the process of the water cycle, where water from seas, lakes, forests, land, rivers, and dams evaporates, forms clouds, and returns as precipitation. However, if more fresh water is consumed through human activities than is restored by nature, the result is that the quantity of fresh water available in lakes, rivers, dams and underground waters can be reduced which can cause serious damage to the surrounding environment.

* http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/glossary/search.html?termId=4188&submitBtn=s&cls=yes


IndicatorName: Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters)

Longdefinition: Renewable internal freshwater resources flows refer to internal renewable resources (internal river flows and groundwater from rainfall) in the country. Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita are calculated using the World Bank's population estimates.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Renewable water resources (internal and external) include average annual flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated from endogenous precipitation, and those water resources that are not generated in the country, such as inflows from upstream countries (groundwater and surface water), and part of the water of border lakes and/or rivers. Non-renewable water includes groundwater bodies (deep aquifers) that have a negligible rate of recharge on the human time-scale. While renewable water resources are expressed in flows, non-renewable water resources have to be expressed in quantity (stock). Runoff from glaciers where the mass balance is negative is considered non-renewable. Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita are calculated using the World Bank's population estimates. The unit of calculation is m3/year per inhabitant. Internal renewable freshwater resources per capita are calculated using the World Bank's population estimates.

Total actual renewable water resources correspond to the maximum theoretical yearly amount of water actually available for a country at a given moment. The unit of calculation is km3/year or 109 m3/year. Calculation Criteria is [Water resources: total renewable (actual)] = [Surface water: total renewable (actual)] + [Groundwater: total renewable (actual)] - [Overlap between surface water and groundwater].*

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface. It is a renewable but limited natural resource. Fresh water can only be renewed through the process of the water cycle, where water from seas, lakes, forests, land, rivers, and dams evaporates, forms clouds, and returns as precipitation. However, if more fresh water is consumed through human activities than is restored by nature, the result is that the quantity of fresh water available in lakes, rivers, dams and underground waters can be reduced which can cause serious damage to the surrounding environment.

* http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/glossary/search.html?termId=4188&submitBtn=s&cls=yes


Developmentrelevance:
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as "a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values."

Terrestrial protected areas are totally or partially protected areas of at least 1,000 hectares that are designated by national authorities as scientific reserves with limited public access, national parks, natural monuments, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, and areas managed mainly for sustainable use. Nationally protected terrestrial are terrestrial areas as a percentage of total territorial area, where all nationally designated protected areas with known location and extent are included.

As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. Deforestation is a major cause of loss of biodiversity, and habitat conservation is vital for stemming this loss. Conservation efforts have focused on protecting areas of high biodiversity. Increasing the proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected helps defend vulnerable plant and animal species and safeguard biodiversity.

Protected areas remain the fundamental building blocks of virtually all national and international conservation strategies, supported by governments and international institutions. They provide the core of efforts to protect the world's threatened species and are increasingly recognized as essential providers of ecosystem services and biological resources. Some sites are owned and managed by governments, others by private individuals, companies, communities and faith groups.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address concerns common to all economies. In recognition of the vulnerability of animal and plant species, SDGs include targets 14 and 15 to highlight the importance of marine and terrestorial protected areas. Increasing the proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected helps defend vulnerable plant and animal species and safeguard biodiversity.

Generalcomments: Restricted use: Please contact the Protected Planet for third-party use of these data.

IndicatorName: Terrestrial protected areas (% of total land area)

License_Type: Use and distribution of these data are subject to Protected Planet terms and conditions.

Limitationsandexceptions:
The data source for this indicator is the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), the most comprehensive global dataset on marine and terrestrial protected areas available.

The extent to which the land areas, including inland waters, and territorial waters of a country/territory are protected is useful for planning purpose to protect biodiversity. However, it is neither an indication of how well managed the terrestrial and marine protected areas are, nor confirmation that protection measures are effectively enforced. Further, the indicator does not provide information on non-designated or internationally designated protected areas that may also be important for conserving biodiversity. There are known data and knowledge gaps for some countries/regions due to difficulties in reporting national protected area data to the WDPA and/or determining whether a site conforms to the IUCN definition of a protected area.

Gaps and/or time lags in reporting national protected area data to the WDPA can however result in discrepancies, which are resolved in communication with data providers. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) compiles data on protected areas, numbers of certain species, and numbers of those species under threat from various sources. Because of differences in definitions, reporting practices, and reporting periods, cross-country comparability is limited.

Due to variations in consistency and methods of collection, data quality is highly variable across countries. Some countries update their information more frequently than others, some have more accurate data on extent of coverage, and many underreport the number or extent of protected areas.

Longdefinition: Terrestrial protected areas are totally or partially protected areas of at least 1,000 hectares that are designated by national authorities as scientific reserves with limited public access, national parks, natural monuments, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries, protected landscapes, and areas managed mainly for sustainable use. Marine areas, unclassified areas, littoral (intertidal) areas, and sites protected under local or provincial law are excluded.

Source: World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) where the compilation and management is carried out by United Nations Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) in collaboration with governments, non-governmental organizations, academia and industry. The data is available online through the Protected Planet website (https://www.protectedplanet.net/).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
This indicator is calculated using all the nationally designated protected areas recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) whose location and extent is known. The WDPA database is stored within a Geographic Information System (GIS) that stores information about protected areas such as their name, type and date of designation, documented area, geographic location (point) and/or boundary (polygon).

Designating an area as protected does not mean that protection is in force. And for small countries that have only protected areas smaller than 1,000 hectares, the size limit in the definition leads to an underestimate of protected areas. Nationally protected areas are defined using the six IUCN management categories for areas of at least 1,000 hectares: scientific reserves and strict nature reserves with limited public access; national parks of national or international significance and not materially affected by human activity; natural monuments and natural landscapes with unique aspects; managed nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries; protected landscapes (which may include cultural landscapes); and areas managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural systems to ensure long-term protection and maintenance of biological diversity.

A GIS analysis is used to calculate terrestrial and marine protection. For this a global protected area layer is created by combining the polygons and points recorded in the WDPA. Circular buffers are created around points based on the known extent of protected areas for which no polygon is available. Annual protected area layers are created by dissolving the global protected area layer by the known year of establishment of protected areas recorded in the WDPA. The annual protected area layers are overlaid with country/territory boundaries, coastlines and buffered coastlines (delineating the territorial waters) to obtain the absolute coverage (in square kilometers) of protected areas by country/territory. The total area of a country's/territory's terrestrial protected areas and marine protected areas in territorial waters is divided by the total area of its land areas (including inland waters) and territorial waters to obtain the relative coverage (percentage) of protected areas.


Developmentrelevance:
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines a protected area as "a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values."

Marine protected areas are areas of intertidal or subtidal terrain - and overlying water and associated flora and fauna and historical and cultural features - that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or the entire enclosed environment. Sites protected under local or provincial law are excluded.

As threats to biodiversity mount, the international community is increasingly focusing on conserving diversity. Deforestation is a major cause of loss of biodiversity, and habitat conservation is vital for stemming this loss. Conservation efforts have focused on protecting areas of high biodiversity. Increasing the proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected helps defend vulnerable plant and animal species and safeguard biodiversity.

Protected areas remain the fundamental building blocks of virtually all national and international conservation strategies, supported by governments and international institutions. They provide the core of efforts to protect the world's threatened species and are increasingly recognized as essential providers of ecosystem services and biological resources. Some sites are owned and managed by governments, others by private individuals, companies, communities and faith groups.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) address concerns common to all economies. In recognition of the vulnerability of animal and plant species, SDGs include targets 14 and 15 to highlight the importance of marine and terrestorial protected areas. Increasing the proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected helps defend vulnerable plant and animal species and safeguard biodiversity.

IndicatorName: Marine protected areas (% of territorial waters)

Longdefinition: Marine protected areas are areas of intertidal or subtidal terrain--and overlying water and associated flora and fauna and historical and cultural features--that have been reserved by law or other effective means to protect part or all of the enclosed environment.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
This indicator is calculated using all the nationally designated protected areas recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) whose location and extent is known. The WDPA database is stored within a Geographic Information System (GIS) that stores information about protected areas such as their name, type and date of designation, documented area, geographic location (point) and/or boundary (polygon).

Designating an area as protected does not mean that protection is in force. And for small countries that have only protected areas smaller than 1,000 hectares, the size limit in the definition leads to an underestimate of protected areas. Nationally protected areas are defined using the six IUCN management categories for areas of at least 1,000 hectares: scientific reserves and strict nature reserves with limited public access; national parks of national or international significance and not materially affected by human activity; natural monuments and natural landscapes with unique aspects; managed nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries; protected landscapes (which may include cultural landscapes); and areas managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural systems to ensure long-term protection and maintenance of biological diversity.

A GIS analysis is used to calculate terrestrial and marine protection. For this a global protected area layer is created by combining the polygons and points recorded in the WDPA. Circular buffers are created around points based on the known extent of protected areas for which no polygon is available. Annual protected area layers are created by dissolving the global protected area layer by the known year of establishment of protected areas recorded in the WDPA. The annual protected area layers are overlaid with country/territory boundaries, coastlines and buffered coastlines (delineating the territorial waters) to obtain the absolute coverage (in square kilometers) of protected areas by country/territory per year from 1990 to present. The total area of a country's/territory's terrestrial protected areas and marine protected areas in territorial waters is divided by the total area of its land areas (including inland waters) and territorial waters to obtain the relative coverage (percentage) of protected areas.