SNAPP Western Amazon Group - Amazon Aquatic Ecosystem Spatial Framework

Despite large-scale infrastructure development, deforestation, mining and petroleum exploration in the Amazon Basin, relatively little attention has been given to the protection of wetlands, fisheries and other aspects of aquatic ecosystems, except in few localized areas. This is due, in part, to the enormous size, multinational composition and interconnected nature of the Amazon River system, but also to the absence of an adequate spatial model for integrating data across the entire Amazon Basin. In this data article we present a spatially uniform multi-scale GIS Framework that was developed especially for the analysis, management and monitoring of various aspects of aquatic systems in the Amazon Basin.