MFA Visualisation Tool

The MFA visualisation tool illustrates the domestic extraction of aggregated natural resource groups by colouring them according to resource type and amount of extraction. In the upper part of the tool you can define the data you want to have illustrated in the world map.

"Domestic Extraction": Choose the type of extraction (used/unused/total)

"Reference Value": Select between absolute extraction numbers and values divided by population, GDP, or land area

"Resource Group": Define the resource group you are interested in (Note: select "all" for the aggregated value)

"Resource Sub-Group": Choose a specific sub-group (Note: select "all" for the aggregated value)

"Year": Select a certain year

Finally, click on the “Create Map” button to load and illustrate the data.

The individual countries are coloured following the different intervals of extraction amounts. Countries with white colouration either do not have any extraction of the specific resource group in the specific year, or have not reported on it. The borders of the other five intervals are calculated using the following algorithm:

- The mean of the particular distribution of values and its standard deviation are added up, and the sum divided by four.

- This value, its double, triple, and its quadruple are the borders of the intervals 2-5.

- The sixth interval includes all the values above. This approach supposes that all higher values are outliers and avoids that, due to an extreme outlier, the majority of the countries is to be found in the smallest interval.

Move the mouse cursor over a country to view the exact value of extraction. Doing a left-click you can zoom into the map. Moving the cursor to the map’s border allows you to move within the map in the zoom-mode. To zoom out, click in an area without land coverage or do a right-click and choose 'zoom out!'.

» Jump now to the new MFA visualisation tool

» Download Technical Report on Data Compilation

MFA Data Download

The download section uses the same specifications as set for the visualisation of the world maps, but allows you to exactly define what year (or time series) you want to retrieve.

"Year"/"Time Period": Choose the year or time period

"Country Group": Select a country group out of which you want to chose specific countries

"Country": Select one or more countries (Note: With "select all" you can select all the countries of a group)

Finally, use "Download Data" to receive the data sheet in Excel-format.

The link "Download Prefabricated Maps" leads you to a section where you can retrieve the main world maps of resource extraction in jpeg-format.

» Jump now to the new MFA visualisation tool

» Download the Technical Report on the data compilation

Data Sources

The MFA data base at www.materialflows.net contains resource extraction data for almost 200 countries in a time period from 1980 to 2005. The main data sources for SERI’s data base on global resource extraction data are:

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations): for data on agricultre, forestry and fishery

IEA (International Energy Agency): for data on fossil fuels

BGS (British Geological Survey)*: for mining data

WMD (World Mining Data - Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour): for mining data

* World Mineral Statistics contributed by permission of the British Geological Survey. IPR/94-08C; special acknowledgements to the International Fertiliser Association (IFA) for providing the sulphur data used as basis for the BGS sulphur tables