SES Datasets

This page provides a list of commonly-used datasets, which may be relevant to SES methods

SES Foundations

SES Methods

CONTRIBUTE

This page provides a summary of existing datasets commonly used in SES research, and the platforms where they can be sourced.

As with other choices in SES research, the way in which SES researchers engage with data will depend on the purpose of their research, the motivation of the researchers, the theories and frameworks they employ, their guiding methodology and the available funding. Please let us know if you would like to suggest a key dataset you think should be included here. We encourage globally relevant databases, rather than local datasets.

TYPE

NAME

DESCRIPTION

SOURCE

Biodiversity data

IUCN Red list of Species and Ecosystems

Spatial distribution, ecological and threat data on species and ecosystems


Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (Predicts)

A collaborative project aiming to use a meta-analytic approach to investigate how local biodiversity typically responds to human pressures such as land-use change, pollution, invasive species and infrastructure, and ultimately improve our ability to predict future biodiversity changes

Living Planet

The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of the state of global biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from around the world

Map of life

Occurrence records & expert range maps for more than 800,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects & plants

Nature Map Explorer

Nature Map Explorer provides a set of integrated global maps on biodiversity and ecosystems services based on the best available scientific data

Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Species Occurrence records for amphibians, birds, mammals & reptiles (>400 million records)

Case study

databases

Social and Ecological Meta-Analysis Database (SESMAD)

SES Case studies. The goal of the SESMAD database is to enable highly comparable case analyses of a diversity of social-ecological systems

SES Library

The SES Library contains descriptions of social-ecological systems (SES) and coupled infrastructure systems (CIS) from around the world

Regime Shift Database

The Regime Shifts DataBase provides examples of different types of regime shifts that have been documented in social-ecological systems. The database focuses specifically on regime shifts that have large impacts on ecosystem services, and therefore on human well-being

Engage2020 Action Catalogue

Methods for leading research participatory activities

Thresholds Database

Thresholds and Regime Shifts in Ecological and Social-Ecological Systems. A Resilience Alliance & Santa Fe Institute database

Digital Library of the commons

Free and open-access to full-text articles, papers and dissertations

Biosphere Futures

Database of social-ecological scenarios

Climate

Climate Variability and predictability database (CLIVAR)

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) facilitates analysis and prediction of Earth system change for use in a range of practical applications of direct relevance, benefit and value to society

ISeeChange

Participatory database on climate change impacts

Development

and livelihood data

World Bank

Global Development Data

Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

Several databases spanning many development and biophysical topics (e.g. agriculture, fisheries and forestry production; gender and land rights; commodities prices) with a focus on agriculture, water and health

CIFOR's Poverty and Environment Network (PEN) global dataset

The PEN network was launched in September 2004 by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) with the aim of collecting uniform socio-economic and environmental data at household and village levels in rural areas of developing countries

USAID demographic and health surveys (DHS)

The USAID’s demographic and health survey (DHS) has collected, analysed and disseminated accurate and representative data on population, health, HIV and nutrition through more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries

USAID Development Data Library

Data used in strategic planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of USAID’s programs. It includes data related to democracy, human rights and governance, economic growth, education and social services, health, humanitarian assistance, peace and security and program development and oversight.

FLARE network (Forests & Livelihoods: Assessment, Research, and Engagement) Databases

The International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Network is a collective of research partners at 12 universities or non-governmental organizations in 11 countries around the world that focus on how institutions and governance arrangements shape forest use and management outcomes. Their webpage includes governance and livelihoods data

World Resource Institute data platforms and datasets

Datasets and databases focused on climate, energy, food, forests, water, cities and the ocean

Comtrade

UN Comtrade is a repository of official international trade statistics and relevant analytical tables. All data is accessible through API.

On the Lab page there are links to circa 20  other organizations (e.g. MIT, Chatham House) that analyse many types of resource flows data (e.g illicit financial flows, energy in the Asian Pacific): https://comtrade.un.org/labs/

Global-AEZ

Global Agro-Ecological Zones Project assesses natural resources to find suitable land utilisation options

Human impact

Global Human Footprint

The Global Human Footprint Index represents the relative human influence in each terrestrial biome, expressed as a percentage and topographic basemap

JRC global human settlement layers

The Global Human Settlement (GHS) framework produces global spatial information about the human presence on the planet over time. This in the form of built up maps, population density maps and settlement maps

Global Human Modification Map

The global Human Modification map (HM) provides a cumulative measure of human modification of terrestrial lands across the globe at a 1-km resolution. It is a continuous 0-1 metric that reflects the proportion of a landscape modified based on modeling the physical extents of 13 anthropogenic stressors and their estimated impacts using spatially-explicit global datasets

Hyde database

History database of the Global Environment which creates historical trends of various indicators, for the past 12,000 years

Anthropogenic Biomes

Classification of globally significant ecological patterns created by humans

Models and

methods

Engage2020 Action Catalogue

An online decision-support tool for methods

Bayesian Network Models

Models used for Netica Bayesian Networks

COMSES (Netlogo)

models

A collection of computational models from the social and ecological sciences with many social-ecological models  

Other

Dataset Search

Google’s search engine for datasets

Protected areas

Protected Planet

Datasource of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures

Protected Area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD)

Global data on legal changes to protected areas

Remotely

sensed data

and global spatial data

NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Centre

A Data Center in NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Includes several social, ecological and economic datasets and indices

Microsoft AI for Earth

Remotely-sensed and biophysical global datasets

Marine Spatial Data

Raster based marine data

World Resource Institute

Collection of datasets on themes such as climate, energy, forests, agriculture, biodiversity

Water

Water Footprint Network

Statistics on green, blue and grey water footprints of crops, derived crop products, biofuels, livestock products, and industrial products. All data are available at national and sub-national level.

The FAO has a database too – Aquastat PIK - LpJ

GWP IWRM ToolBox

Tools, case studies and reference about integrated water management

TYPE

NAME

DESCRIPTION

SOURCE

Biodiversity data

IUCN Red list of Species and Ecosystems

Spatial distribution, ecological and threat data on species and ecosystems.

Biodiversity data

Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (Predicts)

A collaborative project aiming to use a meta-analytic approach to investigate how local biodiversity typically responds to human pressures such as land-use change, pollution, invasive species and infrastructure, and ultimately improve our ability to predict future biodiversity changes

Biodiversity data

Living Planet

The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of the state of global biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from around the world

Biodiversity data

Map of life

Occurrence records & expert range maps for more than 800,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects & plants

Biodiversity data

Nature Map Explorer

Nature Map Explorer provides a set of integrated global maps on biodiversity and ecosystems services based on the best available scientific data

Biodiversity data

Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Species Occurrence records for amphibians, birds, mammals & reptiles (>400 million records)

Case study

databases

Social and Ecological Meta-Analysis Database (SESMAD)

SES Case studies. The goal of the SESMAD database is to enable highly comparable case analyses of a diversity of social-ecological systems

Case study

databases

SES Library

The SES Library contains descriptions of social-ecological systems (SES) and coupled infrastructure systems (CIS) from around the world.

Case study

databases

Regime Shift Database

The Regime Shifts DataBase provides examples of different types of regime shifts that have been documented in social-ecological systems. The database focuses specifically on regime shifts that have large impacts on ecosystem services, and therefore on human well-being

Case study

databases

Engage2020 Action Catalogue

Methods for leading research participatory activities

Case study

databases

Thresholds Database

Thresholds and Regime Shifts in Ecological and Social-Ecological Systems. A Resilience Alliance & Santa Fe Institute database

Case study

databases

Digital Library of the commons

Free and open-access to full-text articles, papers and dissertations

Case study

databases

Biosphere Futures

Database of social-ecological scenarios

Climate

Climate Variability and predictability database (CLIVAR)

The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) facilitates analysis and prediction of Earth system change for use in a range of practical applications of direct relevance, benefit and value to society

Climate

ISeeChange

Participatory database on climate change impacts

Development

and livelihood data

World Bank

Global Development Data

Development

and livelihood data

Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

Several databases spanning many development and biophysical topics (e.g. agriculture, fisheries and forestry production; gender and land rights; commodities prices) with a focus on agriculture, water and health

Development

and livelihood data

CIFOR's Poverty and Environment Network (PEN) global dataset

The PEN network was launched in September 2004 by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) with the aim of collecting uniform socio-economic and environmental data at household and village levels in rural areas of developing countries

Development

and livelihood data

USAID demographic and health surveys (DHS)

The USAID’s demographic and health survey (DHS) has collected, analysed and disseminated accurate and representative data on population, health, HIV and nutrition through more than 300 surveys in over 90 countries

Development

and livelihood data

USAID Development Data Library

Data used in strategic planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of USAID’s programs. It includes data related to democracy, human rights and governance, economic growth, education and social services, health, humanitarian assistance, peace and security and program development and oversight 

Development

and livelihood data

FLARE network (Forests & Livelihoods: Assessment, Research, and Engagement) Databases

The International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Network is a collective of research partners at 12 universities or non-governmental organizations in 11 countries around the world that focus on how institutions and governance arrangements shape forest use and management outcomes.Their webpage includes governance and livelihoods data

Development

and livelihood data

World Resource Institute data platforms and datasets

Datasets and databases focused on climate, energy, food, forests, water, cities and the ocean

Development

and livelihood data

Comtrade

UN Comtrade is a repository of official international trade statistics and relevant analytical tables. All data is accessible through API.

On the Lab page there are links to circa 20  other organizations (e.g. MIT, Chatham House) that analyse many types of resource flows data (e.g illicit financial flows, energy in the Asian Pacific): https://comtrade.un.org/labs/

Development

and livelihood data

Global-AEZ

Global Agro-Ecological Zones Project assesses natural resources to find suitable land utilisation options

Human impact

Global Human Footprint

The Global Human Footprint Index represents the relative human influence in each terrestrial biome, expressed as a percentage and topographic basemap

Human impact

JRC global human settlement layers

The Global Human Settlement (GHS) framework produces global spatial information about the human presence on the planet over time. This in the form of built up maps, population density maps and settlement maps

Human impact

Global Human Modification Map

The global Human Modification map (HM) provides a cumulative measure of human modification of terrestrial lands across the globe at a 1-km resolution. It is a continuous 0-1 metric that reflects the proportion of a landscape modified based on modeling the physical extents of 13 anthropogenic stressors and their estimated impacts using spatially-explicit global datasets

Human impact

Hyde database

History database of the Global Environment which creates historical trends of various indicators, for the past 12,000 years

Human impact

Anthropogenic Biomes

Classification of globally significant ecological patterns created by humans

Models and

methods

Engage2020 Action Catalogue

An online decision-support tool for methods

Models and

methods

Bayesian Network Models

Models used for Netica Bayesian Networks

Models and

methods

COMSES (Netlogo)

models

A collection of computational models from the social and ecological sciences with many social-ecological models  

Other

Dataset Search

Google’s search engine for datasets

Protected areas

Protected Planet

Datasource of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures

Protected areas

Protected Area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD)

Global data on legal changes to protected areas

Remotely

sensed data

and global spatial data

NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Centre

A Data Center in NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Includes several social, ecological and economic datasets and indices

Remotely

sensed data

and global spatial data

Microsoft AI for Earth

Remotely-sensed and biophysical global datasets

Remotely

sensed data

and global spatial data

Marine Spatial Data

Raster based marine data

Remotely

sensed data

and global spatial data

World Resource Institute

Collection of datasets on themes such as climate, energy, forests, agriculture, biodiversity

Water

Water Footprint Network

Statistics on green, blue and grey water footprints of crops, derived crop products, biofuels, livestock products, and industrial products. All data are available at national and sub-national level.

The FAO has a database too – Aquastat PIK - LpJ

Water

GWP IWRM ToolBox

Tools, case studies and reference about integrated water management