Department of Biology The Department of Biology is one of the largest Departments on the campus, with 37 members of academic staff, of whom some 14 have research groups undertaking basic and applied biomedical research.
Department of Economics and Related Studies Economics and Related Studies is a large teaching and research department offering a number of undergraduate degrees (single honours, joint and combined with other departments). It has a thriving graduate school and also has links with a number of associated Research Centres.
Collaborating research institutes
The Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics The Beijer Institute is an international research institute under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Since 1991, the Beijer Institute has been an institute of ecological economics. The major objectives of the institute are to carry out research and to stimulate cooperation between scientists, university departments, and institutes that are working at the interface of natural and human systems. Cooperation efforts include research and training, both nationally as well as internationally.
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) CSERGE is located at the twin sites of University of East Anglia (UEA) and University College London (UCL). The main purpose of the centre is to undertake research on the impacts of global environmental change (climate change, loss of biological diversity and habitat, trans-national pollution) and to feed the results of this work into the policy making process.
Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) CRES is an interdisciplinary research and postgraduate training centre focussing on resource and environmental issues at local, national and global scales.
The World Conservation Union The Mission of the World Conservation Union is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
Research councils
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is one of the seven UK Research Councils which fund and manage research in the UK. NERC is the leading body in the UK for research, survey, monitoring and training in the environmental sciences. NERC supports research and training in universities and in its own Centres, Surveys and Units.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) The Economic and Social Research Council is UK's leading funding agency for research and training into social and economic issues. They fund high quality research and training by awarding over £58 million of grants to researchers and postgraduate students throughout the UK.
Economic organisations
The World Bank Group The World Bank Group includes IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development); IDA (International Development Agency); IFC (International Finance Corporation); MIGA (Multilateral Guarantee Agency); and ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes). See also the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Section.
Resources for the Future (RFF) Resources for the Future is a non-profit and non-partisan organization based in Washington DC that conducts independent research - rooted primarily in economics and other social sciences -- on environmental and natural resource issues.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) The IMF is neither a development bank, nor a world central bank, nor an agency that can or wishes to coerce its members to do very much of anything. It is rather a cooperative institution that 182 countries have voluntarily joined because they see the advantage of consulting with one another in this forum to maintain a stable system of buying and selling their currencies so that payments in foreign money can take place between countries smoothly and without delay.
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) IISD's mission is to promote sustainable development in decision making internationally and within Canada. They contribute new knowledge and concepts, analyze policies, identify and disseminate information about best practices, demonstrate how to measure progress, and build partnerships to amplify these messages.
International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) The International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) actively encourages the integration of the study of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household" (economy) through education, events, research, and outreach to address these issues and more. Ecological Economics goes beyond conventional conceptions of scientific disciplines and attempts to integrate and synthesize many different disciplinary perspectives in order to achieve an ecologically and economically sustainable world. ISEE is a not-for-profit organization established in 1988, and is now housed at the University of Maryland's Solomons campus near Washington, DC, USA.
Environmental organisations
The Yorkshire and Humber Regional Environment Forum (YHREF) The Yorkshire & Humber Regional Environment Forum (YHREF) coordinates and represents the views of a wide range of organisations. Our key interest is the enhancement of environmental conditions in the Yorkshire and Humber Region and the social and economic value of those conditions.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) WWF's mission is to conserve nature and ecological processes by: preserving genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity; ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable now and in the longer term, for the benefit of all life on Earth; and promoting actions to reduce to a minimum pollution and the wasteful exploitation and consumption of resources and energy. WWF's ultimate goal is to stop, and eventually reverse, the accelerating degradation of our planet's natural environment, and to help build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) The World Conservation Monitoring Centre provides information services on conservation and sustainable use of the world's living resources, and helps others to develop information systems of their own.
World Health Organisation (WHO) The objective of WHO is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health, as defined in the WHO Constitution, is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
The Club of Rome The Club of Rome, founded in 1968 in Rome, is a group of scientists, economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, Heads of State and former Heads of State from the 5 continents, who are convinced that the future of humankind is not determined once and for all and that each human being can contribute to the improvement of our societies.
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity. Therefore Greenpeace seeks to: Protect biodiversity in all its forms; Prevent pollution and abuse of the earth's ocean, land, air and fresh water; End all nuclear threats; Promote peace, global disarmament and non-violence.
Friends of the Earth International Friends of the Earth International is a federation of autonomous environmental organisations from all over the world. Their members, in more than 50 countries, campaign on the most urgent environmental and social issues of our day, while simultaneously catalysing a shift toward sustainable societies.
Stockholm Environment Institute at York (SEI) The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is an independent, international research organisation committed to the implementation of practices supportive of global sustainable development. SEI conducts a comprehensive research, consulting and training programme that focuses on the links between ecological, social and economic systems at global, regional, national and local levels.
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) IIED's Environmental Economics Programme aims to conduct policy-relevant analysis on the economics of sustainable development. This information is then disseminated in the form of books, papers, and journals, the majority of which are available free for download from the Programme's website.
European Forest Institute (EFI) The European Forest Institute - EFI - is an independent and non-governmental research body, conducting problem-oriented and multi-disciplinary forest research at the European level in order to serve the needs of policy-making and decision-making bodies in Europe.
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) CGIAR's mission is to contribute to food security and poverty eradication in developing countries through research, partnership, capacity building, and policy support. The CGIAR promotes sustainable agricultural development based on the environmentally sound management of natural resources. The CGIAR, established in 1971, is an informal association of fifty-eight public and private sector members that supports a network of sixteen international agricultural research centres.
World Resources Institute (WRI) The World Resources Institute is an independent centre for policy research and technical assistance on global environmental and development issues. Created in 1982, WRI is dedicated to helping governments and private organizations of all types cope with environmental, resource, and development challenges of global significance. The mission of WRI is to move human society to live in ways that protect the Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.
Journals and magazines
Ambio Ambio - a journal of the human environment. It is a nonprofit publication of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. AMBIO addresses the scientific, social, economic, and cultural factors that influence the condition of the human environment. It is widely recognized as an important international forum for debate on these issues. Among the environmental subjects covered are: ecology, environmental economics, geology, geochemistry, geophysics, paleontology, hydrology, water resources, oceanography, earth sciences, meteorology, and physical geography.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management The Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is devoted to the publication of theoretical and empirical papers concerned with the linkage between economic systems and environmental and natural resources systems. Generally regarded as the top journal in natural resources and environmental economics, it concentrates on the management and/or social control of the economy in its relationship with the management and use of natural resources and the natural environment. Providing worldwide coverage of the field, the Journal includes articles by economists as well as interdisciplinary papers by researchers in other fields of interest to resource and environmental economists.
Environment and Development Economics This journal, firmly positioned at the intersection of economics, environment and development, publishes original papers addressed equally to the research and to the policy communities, and is designed to be accessible to a broad readership. The journal is divided into two main sections, Theory and Applications and Policy Options, and also includes book reviews and review essays. Articles include research on theoretical and applied aspects of sustainable development, on the valuation of environmental resources in low-income countries, on the 'greening' of national income accounts, on the environmental implications of institutional change, and on specific issues such as biodiversity loss. The Editor of the journal is Anastasios Xepapadeas.
Conservation Ecology Conservation Ecology is an electronic, peer-reviewed, scientific journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research. Content of the journal ranges from the applied to the theoretical. Topics covered include the ecological bases for: the conservation of ecosystems, landscapes, species, populations, and genetic diversity; the restoration of ecosystems and habitats; and the management of resources.
The Economist Established in 1843 to campaign on one of the great political issues of the day, The Economist remains, in the second half of its second century, true to the principles of its founder. James Wilson, a hat maker from the small Scottish town of Hawick, believed in free trade, internationalism and minimum interference by government, especially in the affairs of the market. Though the protectionist Corn Laws which inspired Wilson to start The Economist were repealed in 1846, the newspaper has lived on, never abandoning its commitment to the classical 19th-century Liberal ideas of its founder. The site requires registration (but it's free).
New Scientist New Scientist appears weekly and is updated on the WWW on Thursday each week. It features new and developing advances in the world of science, encompassing everything from engineering through pure sciences to applied sciences in a straightforward style. It is also a valuable resource for employment opportunities. The publication appeals to everyone, young and old, professional scientist to the man in the street.
Nature Nature appears weekly and publishes papers from any area of science that have the greatest possible impact, often extending well beyond the discipline concerned. (Nature's "impact factor", measured by the independent organization the Institute of Scientific Information in Philadelphia, is higher than any other interdisciplinary scientific journal.) Nature also publishes a broad range of informal material in the form of opinion articles, News stories, Briefings and Recruitment features, and contributed material as follows: Correspondence, Commentary, News and Views, Scientific Correspondence, book, software and product reviews, Reviews, Progress.
Permaculture Institute Actively working at ground level on many international and domestic projects, the Permaculture Institute is a non-profit organisation devoted to the promotion and support of the sustainability of human culture and settlements. Our work is based on permaculture, a design system for creating sustainable human environments in balance and harmony with nature.
United Nations organisations
United Nations UN and its family of organizations work together and individually to protect human rights; promote the protection of the environment; help the advancement of women and the rights of children; fight epidemics, famine, poverty. Throughout the world, the UN and its agencies assist refugees and help improve telecommunication; deliver food aid and protect consumers; combat disease and help expand food production; make loans to developing countries and help stabilize financial markets. UN agencies define the standards for safe and efficient transport by air and sea, work to ensure respect for intellectual property rights and coordinate allocation of radio frequencies.
United Nations - Department of Economic and Social Affairs The Department of Economic and Social Affairs was created as the result of the consolidation of the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, the Department for Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis and the Department for Development Support and Management Services. The main objective of the Department's programme is to promote broad-based and sustainable development through a multidimensional and integrated approach to economic, social, environmental, population and gender related aspects of development.
Agenda 21 Earth Summit +5 United Nations' Special Session of the General Assembly to Review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21. New York, 23-27 June 1997.
UN Commission on Sustainable Development In 1992, more than 100 heads of state met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The Earth Summit was convened to address urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development. The assembled leaders signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity; endorsed the Rio Declaration and the Forest Principles; and adopted Agenda 21, a 300-page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of UNCED; to monitor and report on implementation of the Earth Summit agreements at the local, national, regional and international levels. The CSD is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), with 53 members.
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in October 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations. Today, FAO is the largest autonomous agency within the United Nations system with 174 Member Nations plus the EC (Member Organization) and more than 1 500 professional staff. The Organization's 1996-97 biennial budget is set at $650 million and FAO-assisted projects attract more than $3000 million per year from donor agencies and governments for investment in agricultural and rural development projects.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP is built on a heritage of service to the environment. As one of the productive consequences of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, UNEP provides an integrative and interactive mechanism through which a large number of separate efforts by intergovernmental, non-governmental, national and regional bodies in the service of the environment are reinforced and interrelated. UNEP was established as the environmental conscience of the United Nations system, and has been creating a basis for comprehensive consideration and coordinated action within the UN on the problems of the human environment.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Through a unique network of 134 country offices, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps people in 174 countries and territories to help themselves, focusing on poverty elimination, environmental regeneration, job creation and the advancement of women. In support of these goals, UNDP is frequently asked to assist in promoting sound governance and market development and to support rebuilding societies in the aftermath of war and humanitarian emergencies. UNDP's overarching mission is to help countries build national capacity to achieve sustainable, human development, giving top priority to eliminating poverty and building equity.
Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) Known as CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, entered into force on 1 July 1975 and now has a membership of 143 countries. These countries act by banning commercial international trade in an agreed list of endangered species and by regulating and monitoring trade in others that might become endangered. CITES' aims are major components of Caring for the Earth, a Strategy for Sustainable Living, launched in 1991 by UNEP - the United Nations Environment Programme, IUCN - The World Conservation Union and WWF - the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The Office for National Statistics The Office of National Statistics is a UK Government Agency created in April 1996 by the merger of Central Statistical Office and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. The ONS produce and disseminate social, health, economic, demographic, labour market and business statistics.
Environmental Data Services Ltd (ENDS) ENDS have a European environmental news service, ENDS Environment Daily. The site also allows free access to Environmental Consultants Directory, and includes listings of environmental jobs, web sites and events. They also have a monthly publication, The ENDS Report.
The Data Archive at the University of Essex The Data Archive is a specialist national resource containing the largest collection of accessible computer-readable data in the social sciences and humanities in the United Kingdom. Through these web pages it is also possible to search the catalogues of other national archives for computer readable data and to use the services of the Data Archive to acquire these data on your behalf.
The African Elephant Database The African Elephant Database is a collaborative effort of IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group and the United Nations Environment Programme. It provides the most complete source of continental information on the numbers and distribution of the African elephant.
Sustainable Development - The World Wide Web Virtual Library A comprehensive list of internet sites dealing with sustainable development, including organisations, projects and activities, electronic journals, libraries, references and documents, databases, directories or metadatabases. This page is maintained by the Center for Economic and Social Studies on the Environment, located at Université Libre de Bruxelles.
NASA - Humid Tropical Forest Inventory Project The Landsat Pathfinder Project is demonstrating the use of large amounts of Landsat data for global change research. It is a project of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth Program (MTPE), and part of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOS-DIS). This World Wide Web site describes the largest component of the Landsat Pathfinder project, the Humid Tropical Forest Inventory Project. Their immediate goal is the global mapping of deforestation in the tropical forests using high resolution satellite data collected over the last twenty years at ground stations all over the world. Results will be used for a range of research and global monitoring objectives, including global carbon modelling, greenhouse gas emission inventories, regional environment and development assessments, and forest resource management.
Sustainable Development in Indonesia Sustainable Development Networking Programme was initiated by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It's aim is to help developing countries in implementing Agenda 21 by providing access to Sustainable Development information.
Helsinki Commission Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission The first Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area was signed in 1974 by the coastal states of the Baltic Sea at that time. In 1992, a new Convention was signed by all the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea and by the European Economic Community. The governing body of the Convention is the Helsinki Commission - Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission - also known as HELCOM. The present contracting parties to HELCOM are Denmark, Estonia, European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.
The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) ICLEI is an international environmental agency for local governments. It was established in 1990 through a partnership of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), and the Center for Innovative Diplomacy. ICLEI maintains a formal association with IULA.
Species 2000 Species 2000 has the objective of enumerating all known species of plants, animals, fungi and microbes on Earth as the baseline dataset for studies of global biodiversity. Users worldwide will be able to verify the scientific name, status and classification of any known species via the Species Locator on this homepage. The Species Locator provides access to species checklist data drawn from an array of participating databases.
EnviroLink Homepage EnviroLink is a non-profit organization... a grassroots online community that unites hundreds of organizations and volunteers around the world with over 375,000 users daily in more than 150 countries. EnviroLink is dedicated to providing you with the most comprehensive, up-to-date environmental resources available. The EnviroLink Network was created in 1991 by Josh Knauer, while he was a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University. Since that time, EnviroLink has grown from a simple mailing list of 20 student activists to become one of the world's largest environmental information clearing houses.
