A global overview of forest conservation including GIS digital files of forests and protected areas : version 2. CD-ROM

A major analysis of the protection status of the world's forests. This has produced an unprecedented amount of data on forest location, by type, and the amount of each forest type protected in each region of the world. Contains all the GIS spatial data files on forests, protected areas and ecological zones that went into the analysis. It also contains a copy of the statistical analysis with tables, figures, maps and discussions (also available on the WCMC web site : http://www.wcmc.org.uk/forest). The forest maps used in the regional forest coverages on the CD-ROM came from many different sources, all of which are acknowledged in the text. The many varying resolutions and different forest classification systems used were harmonised by WCMC for this study, into 25 distinct types, including tropical and non-tropical systems. The protected areas datasets have been drawn from the WCMC databank compiled over many years and continually updated for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and United Nations List of Protected Areas. All records for areas designated within the IUCN categories I-VI were used in the study and are presented in GIS form on the CD. In addition to the forest and protected areas GIS files, ecological zones files are included on the CD-ROM. These spatial data cover all the regions of the globe, the FAO ecofloristic zones for tropical regions and the Holdridge zones for elsewhere