To provide a database with observed responses to climate change for multidisciplinary studies.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide estimates of urban and rural populations and land areas for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010; and projections to the year 2100 for 202 countries with contiguous coastal elevations in the following categories: less than or equal to 1m, 3m, 5m, 7m, 9m, 10m, 12m, or 20m; as well as national totals.

To provide a preliminary assessment of coastal Ramsar Sites that are at risk to inundation as a consequence of sea level rise.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide information on the status of country participation in international environmental agreements.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide tabular data on the trends of chlorophyll-a concentration on a pixel by pixel basis for identifying areas with improving, declining, and stable coastal water quality that can provide guidance for decision making in the context of coastal management.

To provide a database with observed responses to climate change for multidisciplinary studies.

To provide quantitative metrics for evaluating a country's environmental performance in different policy categories relative to clearly defined targets.

To provide estimates of urban and rural populations and land areas in the low elevation coastal zone.

To make the acquisition, comparison and analysis of sustainability indicators easier by compiling them in a single database, incorporating multiple country codes, and condensing the indicator descriptions into short methodological summaries in an accompanying data dictionary.

To preserve access to the original ecosystems data used by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and other related research.

To provide data that address the key issues of sustainability by combining indicators of human wellbeing with those of environmental sustainability to generate a more comprehensive picture of the state of the world.