Selected Resources for ENVS 377WR/POLS 385WR (International Environmental Policy)
Spring 2008
Emory's Electronic Data Center
General Social Science Data Resources
Data Resources on Environmental Conditions and Endangered Species
Data Resources on Population and Demographics
Data Resources on Climate Change
Data Resources on Development and International Aid
Data Resources on Political Institutions and Public Opinion
Emory's Electronic Data Center (217 Woodruff Library)
http://einstein.library.emory.edu - The Data Center home page
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/links.shtml - The Data Freeway, a thematically-organized collection of links to on-line data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/help_index.shtml - Help Pages for databases and data management
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/citation_guide.html - Guide for citation of electronic data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/contact.shtml - Data Center contact information and hours
GENERAL SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA RESOURCES
ICPSR (Inter-University
Consortium for Political and Social Research)
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
The ICPSR is the largest collection of Social Science Data in the world. Topics included in the archive
include: economics, government, health care, crime, education, etc. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. The Data Center
also maintains an archive of ready-to-use ICPSR datasets which are accessible via the search engine on the Data
Center home page.
World Bank Statistical Capacity Building
Project
http://go.worldbank.org/6NPVI562M0
The World Bank's Statistical Capacity Building Project "provides resources to help ... develop better statistical capacity that
advances the national and international monitoring of development policies and goals." The project is in part an outgrowth of
"outcomes-based" approaches to development that place greater emphasis on attemping to actually measure development and the
impact of national and international policies intended to promote it. The resources here include various reports on the
quality of gathering of data/statistics in individual countries, as well as a database of "statistical capacity indicator"
scores.
DATA RESOURCES ON ENVIRONMENT AND ENDANGERED SPECIES
Environmental Conditions:
EarthTrends - the Environmental Information Portal
http://earthtrends.wri.org/index.php
EarthTrends is sponsored by a collection of national and international agencies and contains statistics on a wide range of
environmental and non-environmental topics. Each topic along the top of the EarthTrends site contains a searchable database of
quantitative indicators that users can access.
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)
http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/es/esi/
The ESI is a quantitative measure of the ability of countries to provide long-term protection of the environment. The index
is constructed from data on factors such as pollution levels, resource endowments, and environmental policy. Both reports and
data are available from this site.
Environmental Treaties and Resources Indicators - ENTRI
http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/
ENTRI is a searchable database of environmental treaties that allows users to create profiles of particular countries with
regard to environmental treaties and agreements. Users can also search for treaties by topic of coverage and search through
or browse full texts of treaties.
Endangered Species:
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of
Endangered Species
http://www.iucnredlist.org/
The IUCN's Red List of Endangered Species allows users to create lists and summaries of endangered or threatened species by
taxonomy, extent of threat, and/or geography (e.g. countries, maritime regions).
United Nations Environmental Programme GEO Data Portal
http://geodata.grid.unep.ch/
To quote the website, "[the] GEO Data Portal is the authoritative source for data sets used by
UNEP and its partners in the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report and
other integrated environment assessments. Its online database holds more than 450 different variables at national, subregional,
regional and global data or as geospatial datasets (maps). The data here cover a wide range of themes and topics, including
biodiversity and threatened species.
DATA RESOURCES ON POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS
International Data Base
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/
The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic and socio-economic
data for 227 countries and areas/regions of the world. The data available here cover topics such as fertility and birth rates,
population breakdowns by sex and age, and migration. Historical data and projections out to 2025 or later are available.
World Population Prospects
http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp
This database is produced by the United Nations' Population Division and contains cross-national data on basic population
demographics and vital statistics (e.g. birth and death rates, maternal mortality, population by age and gender and
urban/rural areas, median age of population). Data are available in five-year increments back to 1950 and with projections
up to 2050.
DATA RESOURCES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
British Petroleum Statistical Review of World Energy
http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6848&contentId=7033471
The Statistical Review of World Energy is a very good source for international time-series data on energy production and
consumption, with
a collection of
downloadable data here.
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CIDAC)
http://cdiac.ornl.gov/
The CDIAC is an excellent source for comprehensive data on climate change and related matters. Users may be especially
interested in Trends Online, which includes much
historical data on CO2 emissions as well as
historical data on average temperatures.
Department of Energy Energy Information Administration (EIA)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/environment.html
The Energy Information Administration produces much data on energy-related carbon emissions from different sources of
energy, both for the United States and internationally. In addition to its collection of emissions data, the EIA also has
much data on production, consumption, and
prices of different sources of energy.
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
http://www.pewclimate.org/
The Pew Foundation's Center on Global Climate Change provides a very wide range of reports and analysis of climate change, from
introductions to the topic to discussions of the economics and environmental impacts of global warming to policy reports
covering the U.S. and many other countries.
DATA RESOURCES ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AID
Center for Global Development Net Aid Transfers Data Set
http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/5492
The Center for Global Development is a think tank that focuses on international
poverty and inequality and how the policies of developed countries might address those problems. In addition to the center's
various research publications and reports, it also hosts various datasets such as
such as this one on net aid transfers to individual
countries.
OECD Statistics Portal: Development
http://www.oecd.org/topicstatsportal/0,3398,en_2825_495602_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
The statistics portal of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) includes a collection of data on development-related activities of OECD members, including very
detailed and extensive data on foreign aid.
United Nations Human Development Reports
http://hdr.undp.org/
The HDR is an annual report from the United Nations that scores and rank countries on various indicators of "development"
broadly defined. Data tables from the HDR are available as .pdf files and, for the most recent report, in Excel. Data from
some earlier reports are available via Carleton University's
Country Indicators for Foreign Policy site.
United Nations Millennium Development Goals Indicators
http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx
This site contains data for the various indicators used to measure progress towards achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals, which include objectives such as
eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, promoting gender equality, reducing infant mortality, and encouraging environmental
sustainability. In addition to this MDG site hosted by the United Nations,
data and reports on the Millennium Development
Goals are also available from the World Bank.
World Development Indicators (World Bank)
http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/
The World Development Indicators Website provides convenient access to over 700 indicators on over 200 countries and regions.
Data coverage extends back to 1960, varying by country and topic. The indicators cover a broadly-defined conception of
"development" that extends from basic macroeconomic data to measures of health and well-being to environmental measures such as
pollution and energy depletion. This resource is also available
via Databases at Emory. There is
also a CD version of the WDI available in the Data Center.
DATA RESOURCES ON POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC OPINION
CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
The CIA World Factbook is an excellent source of general data on all countries in the world. There are data on numerous subjects including demographics, social/political indicators, economics/political economy and geography.
Database of Political Institutions
http://go.worldbank.org/2EAGGLRZ40
This database was put together in part by Phillip Keefer at the World Bank and provides data on the political institutions
and structures of different countries in the world from 1975 to 2006. Additional documentation are also available
here. Please note the authors' preferred format for citing
their data.
Political Risk Services (PRS) Group Data
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/Risk-Data.html
The Data Center's holdings include data resources from the
PRS Group and other sources that measure "risk" in the form of
political (in)stability and institutional quality (e.g. levels of corruption and democratic accountability).
Polling the Nations
http://poll.orspub.com
This website allows you to search a large database of results from surveys and opinion polls conducted throughout the world.
The geographic scope of the database is global, and the topical coverage is very wide-ranging and includes subjects such as
global warming and environmental conditions.
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