Natural Resource Management Index (NRMI)

The NRMI is computed as a standardized proximity-to-target for each of the four measures.  For Access to Adequate Sanitation and Access to Improved Water, the proximity-to-target measure is equal to the reported percentage.  For example, if a country has 84% of its population with access to adequate sanitation, it is considered to have a proximity-to-target score of 84.  For child mortality, we compute the ratio of the measured probability of dying to the highest observed probability of dying, which is 0.141, and multiply that by 100 to make it comparable to the 0-100 scale used in the other measures. The proximity-to-target measure is this number, which ranges from 0-100, subtracted from 100. For example, a country whose children in the 1-5 age group have a probability of dying of 0.004 would have a proximity-to-target score of 97.2 (0.004/0.1414=0.028; 0.028 x100=2.8; 100-2.8=97.2). For eco-region protection the proximity-to-target score is 10 times the weighted average of the biome protection scores, which are capped at 10% to correspond to the target.  For example, a country with an ecoregion protection score of 7 would have a proximity-to-target score of 70.  The 10% target was established by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in decision VII/30 as target 1.1 of the 2010 Targets, " At least 10% of each of the world's ecological regions effectively conserved." 

The NRMI is the simple average of these four proximity-to-target scores.  If a country is missing any of the data points an NRMI is not calculated for it.

For a more in-depth description see: Eco-Region Protection: Methods & Data (PDF, 189KB)

Users wishing to obtain the country level data for biome area and protected area by biome should contact SEDAC User Services.