Databases for Researching Natural Resources:

Natural Resources in Peace Agreements

  • The PA-X Peace Agreement Database - The PA-X Peace Agreement Database is a database and repository of peace agreements from 1990 to date hosted by the University of Edinburgh. It can be searched for peace agreements that contain provisions related to natural resources. PA-X provides a comprehensive dataset of peace agreements from 1990 to the end of 2018, capable of underpinning both quantitative and qualitative research. PA-X also publishes reports on various themes related to peace negotiations, agreements, and post-conflict peace building.

  • Peace Accords Matrix - The Peace Accords Matrix hosts a database of peace agreements from 1989 to the present and the largest existing collection of data on the implementation of peace agreements. Each peace agreement in the database has a dozen or more content pages that sort the relevant provisions into topics areas such as “natural resource management” and provide a detailed timeline of the implementation of those provisions.

International Environmental Laws and Agreements

  • ECOLEX - ECOLEX is an information service on environmental law. Its purpose is to build capacity worldwide by providing the most comprehensive possible global source of information on environmental law. This database combines the environmental law information holdings of FAO, IUCN and UNEP, including information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature. Users have direct access to the abstracts and indexing information about each document, as well as to the full text of most of the information provided. ECOLEX provides a brief tutorial for new users on how to use each function of the database.

  • International Environmental Agreements Database - The International Environmental Agreements Database database aims to create a systematic and comprehensive catalog of all intergovernmental environmental agreements, providing environmental negotiators, treaty secretariats, scholars, students, and interested citizens with a reliable list of all historic and current International Environmental Agreements.

  • UN iLibrary - UN iLibrary is the comprehensive global search, discovery, and viewing source for digital content created by the United Nations. It can be searched for material related to the natural resources in conflict and natural resources in peace processes.

Extractive Resource Databases

  • ResourceContracts.org - ResourceContracts.org is a repository of publicly available investment contracts for oil, gas and mining projects. It features plain language summaries of key provisions and provides tools for searching and comparing contracts.

  • The Extractives Data Ecosystem: In this portal, users will find links to websites and data portals with extractives data relevant to resource governance. The portals are tagged by the relevant country or region, the subject matter, and in what format the data is accessible (whether as structured data, geospatial shapefiles or quantitative indices).

  • National Oil Company Database - National oil companies (NOCs) play large roles in their home-country economies and are critical players in global oil and gas markets. This open database compiles information on the production, revenues and performance of 71 NOCs. Data has been drawn from official public documents and assembled using a consistent methodology to facilitate cross-cutting analysis and benchmarking of companies. The database can be searched by country and by company. It can also be searched by indicators that include exploration and production, expenditure, revenue, and transfers to government.

  • Extract-A-Fact is a project of Publish What You Pay - United States. Extract-A-Fact provides training modules detailing useful and creative ways to find, analyze, and visualize extractives data, as well as blog posts on how to dig deeper into oil, gas, and mining sector data to answer questions critical to communities impacted by natural resources.

  • World Mine Tailings Database - This database records all failures and significant adverse events in all components involved in the deposition and storage of mineral tailings, including post-extraction downstream-generated tailings, e.g., at smelters or refineries. The original impetus for its creation was an increasing frequency of high-consequence tailings failure events post-1990. The purpose of the database is  to provide a meaningful resource of factual authoritative data for analysis of trends, causes, and consequences, with a view to the changes that will result in effective loss prevention related to tailings management. 

Water Databases

  • Waterlex Legal Database - The Waterlex Legal database and research provided by Waterlex includes water law and policy frameworks for human rights compliance and sustainability.

  • International Water Law Project (IWLP) - Created and directed by Gabriel Eckstein, the mission of the International Water Law Project (IWLP) is to serve as the premier resource on the Internet for international water law and policy issues. Its purpose is to educate and provide relevant resources to the public and to facilitate cooperation over the world’s fresh water resources. As the subject evolves and develops, the IWLP will continue to update its pages and databases.

Forestry Databases

  • Global Forest Watch - Global Forest Watch is an interactive online platform that offers a variety of data and tools to for monitoring forests. GFW allows anyone to access near real-time information about where and how forests are changing around the world.

Conflict and the Environment Databases

  • The Atlas of Environmental Justice - The Atlas of Environmental Justice is a practical and intuitive online platform that allows searching and filtering across 100 fields, as well as browsing by commodity, company, and type of conflict. The atlas serves as a database, aiming to cover ecological distribution conflicts around the world and serving as a communication tool among Environmental Justice Organizations and scientists working on related issues.