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Global trade has made it easier to buy things. But our consumption habits often fuel threats to biodiversity - such as deforestation, overhunting and overfishing - thousands of miles away. Now, scientists have mapped how major consuming countries drive threats to endangered species elsewhere. Such maps could be useful for finding the most efficient ways to protect critical areas important for biodiversity, the researchers suggest in a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. For example, the maps show that commodities used in the United States and the European Union exert several threats on marine species in Southeast Asia, mainly due to overfishing, pollution and aquaculture. The U.S. also exerts pressure on hotspots off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and at the mouth of the Orinoco around Trinidad and Tobago. European Union's impacts extend to the islands around Madagascar: Réunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The maps also revealed some unexpected linkages. For instance, the impact of U.S. consumption in Brazil appears to be much greater in southern Brazil (in the Brazilian Highlands where agriculture and grazing are extensive) than inside the Amazon basin, which receives a larger chunk of the attention. The U.S. also has high biodiversity footprint in southern Spain and Portugal, due to their impacts on threatened fish and bird species. These countries are rarely perceived as threat hotspots.

Greenpeace launched an interactive web-based map that allows users to monitor deforestation and fires across Indonesia in near real time.

The map shows the world's carbon emissions from 1997 to 2010, say the scientists who made it. The data came from satellite measurements and reported emissions rates from factories and power plants, among other sources.

A new Google-powered tool called Google Earth Engine is helping environmental groups and researchers to keep tabs on problems including Amazonian deforestation, overfishing, sea-ice melt and the spread of diseases. The tool's real-time data trove and mapping features make it easier to stay on top of the wealth of data now available, researchers say. "When you visualize it, you can get it at the gut level. ... You can see it happening," says Randy Sargent of Carnegie Mellon University.

Can't imagine what your city would look like with a sea-level rise? These maps show endangered coastlines and landmarks. 

New York City's Department of Parks & Recreation has launched a Street Tree Map that allows users to not only learn about the city's different tree species, but also about the ecological and economic benefits they offer to the city. Using figures laid out by the U.S. Forest Service, the city, along with a team of 2,300 volunteers, completed a citywide tree census and used the data to calculate the estimated annual benefit in dollars trees provide to New York City.

Washington-based research team RESOLVE, in collaboration with Globaïa Foundation and Universidade Federal de Viçosa, are teaming up to map a global "safety net" for the planet that would protect and connect 50% of the world's land area.

A major initiative has been launched this week under the banner Global Forest Watch, promising to use advanced satellite and analytics technology to lead a new crackdown on illegal deforestation.

"Toxics Across America" (Environmental Defense Fund) analyzes the production, consumption, and trade of 120 hazardous chemicals in the United States-complete with an interactive map showcasing the findings. The report finds that 14 chemicals are produced or imported in quantities exceeding one billion pounds per year, and that 8 chemicals are used in children's products.

From deforestation to irrigation to species loss, the expanding human population has been dramatically re-shaping the face of the Earth. These interactive maps bring together a wealth of satellite imagery and other data sets to create an atlas of humanity's influence on the planet.

Wilmar International Ltd. , the world's largest palm oil processor, opened its supply chains to outside scrutiny on Thursday in what environmentalists called an unprecedented step to help safeguard tropical forests. Singapore-based Wilmar said it would give outsiders, from customers to environmentalists worried about deforestation, access to online maps showing where it buys palm oil at more than 800 mills in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Today, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the U.S. and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) in China launched the IPE Green Supply Chain Map, the only tool in the world to openly link leading multinational corporations to their suppliers' environmental performance.

Supply chain data gaps have inspired numerous industry-led initiatives dedicated to massive supply chain data-gathering and sharing projects, such as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), and it has inspired dozens of cloud services specializing in traceability, ranging from EcoVadis to SourceMap. And barely one month into 2018, several of these tools are attaining new levels of maturity and transparency.

Fashionistas now, for the first time, can see beyond clothing labels with the Fair Trace Tool developed by my company, fair trade fashion retailer INDIGENOUS along with Worldways Social Media. This new tool, a QR code on hang-tags, offers transparency throughout the garment's supply chain, including a glimpse of the artisans who actually made it and insight into the product's social impact. The content is delivered in text, video and animated map format.

China is starting to get serious about tackling pollution and climate issues, and the fate of the rest of the world could depend on how good a job Beijing can do at mapping out a sustainable course for the future. "We need more of everything," says Chinese sustainability leader Peggy Liu. "Wind, solar, a modernized grid. We need to leapfrog over the past and into a clean-energy future."

PepsiCo launched a new supply chain land policy characterized by zero tolerance for illegal activities and landowner displacements. The policy commits the company to negotiating land acquisitions in accordance with international standards and mapping its agricultural supply chain.

Danone pledged to develop a fully traceable palm oil supply chain with no links to deforestation. The company will work with the Forest Trust to map its entire palm oil supply chain by the end of 2015.

U.S. Drought Monitor shows other regions of the country parched and longing for more water. The organization releases weekly maps tracking the extent of drought in the U.S., ranking regions on five levels: "abnormally dry," "moderate drought," "severe drought," "extreme drought" and "exceptional drought."

Sodexo, the food services and facilities management company, Deloitte consulting, Mission Point Capital Partners impact investment firm and the Closed Loop Fund have taken it upon themselves to study the economics and data points of food waste in the U.S. and develop a road map for action.

Mondelez International, Inc. is further pushing for its goal of 100 percent sustainability and complete transparency in its palm oil supply chain, challenging suppliers to commit to concession mapping and act faster to eliminate deforestation, according to the CPG company.