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Drawing from the best data available, this is an unprecedented guide to the state of the planet and the most pressing resource and environmental issues. Top scientists at The Nature Conservancy, the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and water, have joined forces to create this extraordinary reference.

The book features over 100 richly-detailed, full-colour maps and other graphics paired with an informative discussion of major trends across the world's terrestrial, marine and freshwater environments. Interspersed throughout, essays by noted international authorities point the way forward in confronting some of the greatest conservation challenges.

Readers can take measure of their own place in the world, not only by longitude and latitude but also by the types of habitats surrounding them, by the species that flourish at home but not elsewhere, and by the amount of conservation that has been done - or could be.

The atlas breaks critical new ground in global mapping, for the first time delineating specific freshwater and marine systems such as salt marshes and kelp forests. It also includes first-ever maps of where high concentrations of freshwater birds, seabirds and marine mammals occur.

"For the first time, all this science is in one place," says lead author Jennifer Molnar. "We are putting global information in the hands of scientists and readers, to analyze and combine in new ways." And although the atlas documents widespread destruction of natural areas, it also highlights where the diversity of life continues to thrive. Perhaps most importantly, the atlas offers readers a chance to assess the natural world without the filter of someone else's opinion about what is or is not important. "You can see and judge the facts for yourself," says Jonathan Hoekstra. "This is it - take a look at your world."