UV Index Worldmap
The Global Solar UV Index (UVI) is a simple measurement of the UV radiation level at the Earth's surface. It has been designed to indicate the potential for adverse health effects and to encourage people to protect themselves. The higher the Index value, the greater the potential for damage to the skin and eye, and the less time it takes for harm to occur.
In countries close to the equator, the UVI can be as much as 20. Summertime values in nort...
02 Nov 2009 - by Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
World ODS Banks by Sector
‘Banks’ are the total amount of substances contained in existing equipment, chemical stockpiles, foams and other products not yet released to the atmosphere or destroyed in destruction facilities.
01 Oct 2009 - by Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Ozone Depletion and Climate Change
Ozone depletion and climate change are two distinct problems but as they both modify global Earth cycles, they cannot be totally separated. There are still many uncertainties concerning the relations between the two processes.
02 Nov 2009 - by Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Global sea-level rise
According to the 2007 IPCC report, global average sea
level rise will vary from 18 cm to 59 cm by 2100. The
IPCC models did not account for the accelerated melting
of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Some of the
latest research, however, estimates a global sea level rise
of between 0.6 and 1.2 metres by 2100.
01 Oct 2010 - by Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
MSV Partners around the World
Partners include policy and research organisations, non-governmental organisations, indigenous people organisations and communities, multinational bodies and governmental supporters in over 20 Arctic and SIDS (Small Island Developing States) states.
03 Feb 2010 - by Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Mean annual coastal erosion in arctic Alaska (Beaufort Sea shoreline)
In the Arctic, impacts of climate change will include
increased coastal erosion. For Arctic human
communities impacts are projected to be mixed, with
detrimental impacts expected on infrastructure and
traditional indigenous ways of life in these regions. Food
security for some subsistence systems will be threatened through changes in natural ecosystems.
03 Feb 2010 - by Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Regional CO2 emissions
World carbon dioxide emissions by region, 1950-2006.
Under the terms of the 1992 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries that have contributed the most greenhouse gas emissions have a responsibility to dramatically cut emissions and to assist the most vulnerable peoples and regions to adapt.
03 Feb 2010 - by Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Arctic ice cover extent
The greatest reduction in
Arctic summer sea ice extent since satellite observations
began occurred in 2007, with the following two years
experiencing the second and third biggest reductions.
The Greenland ice sheet is currently
losing more than 250 cubic km a year – faster than can
be explained by natural melting.
03 Feb 2010 - by Riccardo Pravettoni, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
