Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)

Overview

From the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment web site (https://www.millenniumassessment.org/): "The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably."

Several data sets were used across the MA as frameworks, benchmarks, and markers of conditions and trends.  Following the completion of the MA, these data were disseminated for a time by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), through the National Biological Information Infrastructure.  When USGS stopped distributing MA data, SEDAC was approached and asked to take over the data distribution task as a rescue operation.

SEDAC leadership evaluated the request and decided to proceed, based on the widespread use of the MA publications in the literature and in public policy functions, the fact that the MA methodology continues to serve as a model for characterizing conditions and trends in ecosystem services, the absence of any other source of MA data, the precedence with previous SEDAC assessment data rescue efforts, and the fit with the SEDAC mission.

The MA collection has been organized into six groups of data sets:  MA Ecosystems, MA Climate and Land Cover, MA Rapid Land Cover Change, MA Population, MA Biodiversity, MA Scenarios.

As a data rescue effort, minimal documentation and support are provided. The goal is to make the original data sets used in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) available to users who may wish to examine the data or replicate results.  The MA reports are available online for download:

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis (Island Press, Washington, DC). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Synthesis.html

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends (Island Press, Washington, DC). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Condition.html

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Scenarios (Island Press, Washington, DC). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Scenarios.html

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Policy Responses (Island Press, Washington, DC). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Responses.html

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Multiscale Assessments (Island Press, Washington, DC). https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Multiscale.html