ABSTRACT
In addition to the environmental data that will be needed for global environmental monitoring, socio-economic data will also play a key role. Such information is useful for environmental studies, for example, in estimating the degree to which population and urbanisation may affect a particular habitat. Socio-economic data is also likely to play an important role in the security aspect of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), and provide the necessary demographic information useful for directing aid as well as investigating infrastructure and amenities for disaster relief. A large amount of socio-economic data is produced and disseminated by national statistical agencies of individual countries, plus international agencies such as Eurostat, the UN and the World Trade Organization (WTO). A selection of the themes relevant to global environmental monitoring is discussed in this chapter, namely agricultural productivity, health, tourism, trade and transport. A separate section deals with population census data.
