The World Conservation Monitoring Centre has recently launched a revamped web site to reflect its new status as part of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The UNEP-WCMC site ( http://www.unep-wcmc.org) includes many useful pages on the conservation status of the world's species and ecosystems. Among these is an extensive set of pages dealing with forest ecosystems and issues, which presents several new data sets, including the newly derived Global Maps of Mountains and Mountain Forests ( http://www.unep-wcmc.org/habitats/mountains).
The mountains map, which was developed with support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to support the mountain agenda at the CSD, is the first global map at 1 km to use consistent objective definitions of mountain classes based on altitude, slope, and local relief. It clearly portrays both the large mountains of the world that are usually mapped and the smaller and older mountains that are difficult to identify using objective criteria. At the same time, it avoids the inclusion of midelevation plateaus. The mountains map has been used to identify the world's mountain forests from UNEP-WCMC's global forest cover data set.
Both maps are presented on the web site in regional subsets with statistics on both mountain and mountain forest areas. The important role of mountain forests is discussed. Anticipated developments include an analysis of gaps in the global protection of mountain forests.
A related section ( http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/cloudforest/english/homepage.htm) presents the Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Initiative, a joint effort including UNEP-WCMC, IUCN, WWF, and the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme. The Initiative seeks to make connections and share knowledge among researchers and resource managers working in these important forests. The web site includes a rolling timeline of recent developments in cloud forest research and conservation, maps of cloud forests on a regional basis, and minutes of meetings of the initiative's steering group.
