About GLOBIO

GLOBIO (Global Methodology for Mapping Human Impacts on the Biosphere) was initiated to provide an inexpensive, simple scientifically based communication tool for mapping, at large scale, the likelihood of human impacts on the biosphere resulting from increasing growth in resource utilization. GLOBIO is intended to bring scientific evidence on human impacts into a format suitable for policymaking.

Conventional assessments of environmental impacts have usually been made through studies focused on specific ecosystems or species. Due to the complexity of the world’s ecosystems and the ecology of the Earth’s 10-30 million species, the conventional approach has led to the undertaking of a considerable number of case studies at various scales. Such a large number of studies render long-term planning and decision-making very difficult, as the latter would require the appraisal of all relevant studies at once in order to assess cumulative impacts. The different scales at which studies were undertaken compound this difficulty. Furthermore, most models require unrealistic amounts of input data in order to be effective, and are not practical in national, industrial, or social planning procedures.