Terms of Service - WRI Data Platforms

Effective Date: April 16, 2024

World Resources Institute
10 G Street NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002

Welcome to the WRI family of environmental data platforms. This document sets out the terms that apply to your (“You”, “Your”) use of our websites, applications and related services.

The services available through Resource Watch, Global Forest Watch, Global Forest Watch Pro, Forest Watcher, and The Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness, and their associated websites, content, and applications, resourcewatch.org, globalforestwatch.org, pro.globalforestwatch.org, forestwatcher.globalforestwatch.org and prepdata.org, (collectively referred to as the “Services”) are owned and operated by the World Resources Institute (“WRI,” “We,” “Our” or “Us”). By using the Services, You confirm that You accept and agree to comply with these Terms of Service and any future updates (collectively, the “Terms”). Please note that additional Terms may apply depending on the specific Services You choose. If You do not agree to these Terms, You must not use Our Services. We recommend that You print a copy of these Terms for future reference. In addition to the Terms, see also Our Privacy Notice.

DISPUTES AND ARBITRATION NOTICE: YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND US WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE MANNER SET OUT BELOW.  

1. PURPOSE AND MISSION:  WRI is offering Services substantially related to the WRI charitable mission.  WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations (“Purpose”). 
2. USAGE
   We provide You with access to these Services in order to achieve the Purpose.
   1. You agree to use Our Services for the Purpose. We expect and require You to use the Services in a manner that is not contrary to the Purpose.
   2. Please don’t misuse Our Services. You agree to use the Services, only for lawful purposes. You shall not use the Services to defame, harass or threaten anyone or to make available any discriminatory (including, but not limited to, racial, religious, or ethnic), obscene, pornographic or offensive material. You may not use the Services in any manner that could damage or overburden the Services or interfere with any other party’s use of the Services.
   3. Except as otherwise provided, Your use of the Services does not give You any ownership rights in the intellectual property in the Services or in its contents including any and all data and information contained therein.
   4. We are constantly trying to improve Our Services. We may change the features and functions of the Services, including APIs, over time. It is Your responsibility to ensure that Your use of the Services is compatible with the current version.
   5. Except as otherwise provided herein or expressly authorized by Us, You shall not attempt to de-compile, reverse compile, disassemble, reverse engineer or otherwise reduce to human-perceivable form all or any part of the platforms or access all or any part of the Services in order to build a product or service which competes with the Services.
3. ACCOUNTS AND API USAGE
   1. In order to use many of the Services, You must register for an account. When opening an account, You will be asked to accept these Terms and any additional terms, such as a license agreement, that may apply to the specific Services chosen. WRI reserves the right to reject any account registration request, in its sole discretion.
   2. When You use Our application program interfaces (“API(s)”), each request to an API must include one of Your account’s unique API keys. Sharing credentials with another party outside of Your organization to reduce the number of discrete users is not permitted. Creating credentials for a party not employed by You to enable shared access to the Services is not permitted. We reserve the right to cancel or suspend Your account if We believe these conditions have been breached.
   3. Please protect the security of Your account and keep passwords safe and secure. You are responsible for Your use of the Services and all activities that occur under Your account, including any use of Your account’s API keys. You agree to notify Us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of Your account or other security breaches for which You become aware. The security breach notice shall include (i) a general description of what occurred, (ii) the date and time, if known, of the incident and its duration (or an estimate), (iii) the date and time when the incident was detected and (iv) any other information You think necessary to notify Us. Security breach notices must be sent to DPC@wri.org.
   4. If You use Our APIs in Your own products, You must credit Us. You agree to attribute Our APIs in line with Our Attribution Requirements, available at https://resourcewatch.org/api-attribution-requirements.
   5. We may cancel or suspend Your access to the Services at any time and for any reason, without notice, including if in Our reasonable opinion You have failed to comply with any of the provisions in these Terms or have breached or are likely to breach any applicable laws. Upon cancellation or suspension, Your right to use the Services will end. You will have the right to access Your Content stored on the Services for a period of fifteen (15) days following cancellation or suspension; thereafter You may not have access to Your Content stored on the Services. Where You have a paid for account, You shall be liable for payment of any applicable fees pursuant to the separate license agreement and associated orders entered into by You and Us. 
4. THIRD PARTY CONTENT
   1. The Services incorporate content, data, and information from others, including You. While We may review any content, and remove it if We determine it violates the law or Our policies, We do not commit to review all content, and You should not rely on Us to do so.
   2. Open data is important to Us and We make considerable effort to make many of the datasets available without restriction through the Services. Nonetheless, each dataset carries its own license and restrictions. You may view or access further information on these license terms and restrictions by clicking on the information link or legend for each dataset on Our Services interface and in any license agreement You enter with Us. We do not have control over the contents of those third-party sites or resources. It is Your responsibility to review the dataset’s source information (or metadata if available) to understand and ensure Your compliance with these restrictions including where these restrict Your use of the datasets for commercial purposes.
   3. You must comply with the licenses of Our datasets. All content displayed on or accessible through the Services is protected by United States copyright laws or their equivalents in other countries. All such rights are reserved.
   4. You are required to make attribution in accordance with the attribution requirements, when required for a particular dataset, or as may be provided in any license agreement for special Services.
5. HOW WE HANDLE YOUR CONTENT
   1. Most of Our Services are designed to help You share or publish Your content. In using Our Services, You may submit data, information, or other content to the Services (“Your Content”). You retain ownership of Your Content.
   2. Unless otherwise provided in any additional terms specific to particular Services, You grant Us and Our successors and assignees, a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, fully paid-up, transferable right and license (with right to sublicense), to use, copy, display, distribute, modify, create derivative works, run analytics and store Your Content for the purposes of: (i) providing and enabling Your use of the Services, (ii) providing You with customer support and maintaining Your account with Us; and (iii) ensuring compliance with applicable laws. 
   3. We may also collect, use, and disclose, aggregated and deidentified data derived from Your use of Our Services. Data extraction from Your use of Our Services is an automated process. All data collected, used and disclosed will be in aggregate and deidentified form only and will not identify You or any third parties. You hereby agree and acknowledge that save as otherwise granted herein, We retain all rights, titles, and interests in and to such aggregated data, and may use and disclose such aggregated data in any manner (and share with third parties), including without limitation to: (i) improve and to develop new Services, (ii) understand how users interact with Our Services to inform decision making; (iii) provide and enhance features that summarize benchmarking statistics; (iv) enable users to compare their compliance with peer companies; (v) report to and inform sponsors or funders of the impact of their investment in Us; and (vi) and to support Us and other university research and peer-reviewed periodical publications.
   4. Some of the Services may include functionality to share Your Content with either (i) other business-to-business connections with which You share lists and content or (ii) third parties, including those within Your organization. If You use the share function, We are not responsible for any disclosure of Your Content resulting from Your use of the share function.
6. DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS
   1. YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES AND ITS CONTENT IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SERVICES AND CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, STATUTORY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. ACTUAL CONDITIONS MAY DIFFER FROM MAPS AND INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE SERVICES. WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, THAT THE CONTENT OR SERVICES WILL BE ERROR FREE, ACCURATE OR WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.
   2. WHEN USING THE SERVICES YOU MAY BE EXPOSED TO USER SUBMISSIONS AND OTHER THIRD-PARTY CONTENT (“NON-WRI CONTENT”) WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO THEIR RESPECTIVE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, AND SOME OF THIS CONTENT MAY BE INACCURATE, OFFENSIVE, INDECENT, OR OTHERWISE OBJECTIONABLE. WE DO NOT ENDORSE ANY NON-WRI CONTENT. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WRI BE LIABLE FOR OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE NON-WRI CONTENT, INCLUDING FOR ANY INACCURACIES, ERRORS, OR OMISSIONS IN ANY NON-WRI CONTENT, ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT WITH REGARD TO ANY NON-WRI CONTENT, OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY NON-WRI CONTENT.
   3. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR USE OR COST OF COVER) RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR THEIR CONTENTS, EVEN IF WE WERE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL WE HAVE ANY LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY AND ALL CLAIMS OR DAMAGES FOR ANY REASON IN EXCESS OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100 USD). CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY, AND THEREFORE SOME OR ALL OF THE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS SEEKS TO LIMIT EITHER PARTY’S LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY RESULTING FROM NEGLIGENCE, FRAUD OR FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION, OR FOR ANY OTHER LIABILITIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED BY LAW. 
7. DMCA COMPLIANCE
   1. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, WRI has adopted the following policy toward copyright infringement. We reserve the right to (i) block access to or remove material that We believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our advertisers, affiliates, content providers, members or users and (ii) remove and discontinue Services to repeat offenders.
      1. Procedure for Reporting Copyright Infringements. If you believe that material or content residing on or accessible through the Services infringes your copyright (or the copyright of someone whom you are authorized to act on behalf of), please send a notice of copyright infringement (“Notice of Copyright Infringement”) containing the following information to WRI's designated agent (“Designated Agent,” whose contact details are listed below):
         1. a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that has been allegedly infringed;
         2. identification of works or materials being infringed;
         3. identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing including information regarding the location of the infringing material that the copyright owner seeks to have it removed, with sufficient detail so that WRI is capable of locating and verifying its existence;
         4. contact information about the notifier including address, telephone number and, if available, email address;
         5. a statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material identified in Clause 7.A(1)(c) of these Terms is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
         6. a statement that the information provided is accurate and under penalty of perjury that the notifier is authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
      2. Upon receipt of a proper Notice of Copyright Infringement by the Designated Agent, We reserve the right to:
         1. remove or disable access to the infringing material;
         2. notify the content provider who is accused of infringement that We have removed or disabled access to the applicable material; and
         3. terminate such content provider's access to the Services if the content provider is a repeat offender.
      3. Procedure to Supply a Counter-Notice to the Designated Agent. If the content provider believes that the material that was removed (or to which access was disabled) is not infringing, or the content provider believes that it has the right to post and use such material from the copyright owner, the copyright owner's agent, or, pursuant to the law, the content provider may send a counter-notice (“Counter-Notice”) containing the following information to the Designated Agent:
         1. a physical or electronic signature of the content provider;
         2. identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or disabled;
         3. a statement under penalty of perjury that the content provider has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material; and
         4. the content provider's name, address, telephone number, and, if available, email address, and a statement that such person or entity consents to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the content provider’s address is located, or, if the content provider's address is located outside the United States, for any judicial district in which WRI is located, and that such person or entity will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement or an agent of such person.
      4. Upon receipt of the Counter-Notice by the Designated Agent, WRI may, in its discretion, send a copy of the Counter-Notice to the original complaining party informing that person that WRI may replace the removed material or cease disabling it in 10 business days. Unless the copyright owner files an action seeking a court order against the content provider accused of committing infringement, the removed material may be replaced or access to it restored in 10 to 14 business days after receipt of the Counter-Notice, at WRI’s discretion.
   2. Please contact WRI’s Designated Agent at the following address and/or email:
      Address:
      World Resources Institute
      Attn: DMCA Designated Agent/LEGAL
      10 G Street, NW Suite 800
      Washington, DC 20002 Email: Legal@WRI.org 
8. DISPUTES AND ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
   The laws of the State of Delaware, U.S.A., excluding New York's conflict of laws provisions, apply to any dispute about the Services, their content or these Terms. The U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods doesn't apply. If You have a disagreement with Us related to these Terms, or Your or Our performance under them cannot be mutually resolved, then You and We agree to have them finally resolved in arbitration using either (i) the International Arbitration Rules of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution of the American Arbitration Association, if You are located outside of the United States, or (ii) the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, if You are located in the United States. You and We agree to follow this paragraph if it differs from those rules. There will be only one arbitrator if the disagreement involves less than $250,000 USD. If Your and Our disagreement involves more than $250,000 USD, then each of You and Us shall appoint one arbitrator, and those two arbitrators choose a third. You agree with Us that the arbitrators will not have the power to award either of You or Us any damages that are not consistent with Section 6 (Disclaimers and Limitations) of these Terms. The arbitration will be in Washington, DC, USA, and will be conducted in English. Unless You and We agree or one of You and Us shows it is essential, there will not be any formal discovery in such arbitration. The arbitrators can award costs and attorney’s fees against one of You and Us, or divide them between You and Us. You and We understand that any court with jurisdiction will enforce the decisions from the arbitration and enter judgment on them. To the extent permitted under applicable laws, nothing herein limits Our rights to enforce these Terms or take any action against You to protect the intellectual property rights or seek remedies for actions You take or fail to take that cause harms under any theory of law, including but not limited to contracts and torts, that may be brought by Us in any court of jurisdiction, seeking remedies, including, but not limited to, direct damages and equitable relief on behalf of Ourselves or any third parties.
9. ADDITIONAL TERMS
   1. Depending on Your intended use of Our Services, We may have a separate agreement with You governing Your use and/or license to Our Services. If We have entered into a separate agreement with You, the terms of the separate agreement including any exhibits and attachments shall prevail over these Terms to the extent such separate agreement conflicts with these Terms.
   2. We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time, and changes are effective immediately upon posting on the Resource Watch website. You should review these Terms regularly for changes. Your continued use of the Services after any such changes constitutes Your binding acceptance of the updated Terms.
   3. If We do not promptly enforce the Terms, We have not given up any other rights or the right to enforce them or other Terms in the future. If any particular provision of these Terms is not enforceable, that doesn't affect the enforceability of any other provision of the Terms. These Terms are between You and Us.  You can have no other person or party enforce them on your behalf.  Third Party Content owners waive no right in law, contract, tort, or equity with regard to their enforcement rights for violations of permissible uses.
   4. These Terms, together with any additional terms and the documents referenced herein, are the entire statement of the agreement between You and Us regarding the Services and their contents. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between the English version of these Terms and any terms provided in any other language(s), the English version shall prevail.
10. ADDITIONAL TERMS FOR GLOBAL FOREST WATCH PRO
    1. This section applies if You have a Global Forest Watch Pro account with Us. The purpose of Global Forest Watch Pro is to offer the latest data, technology, and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests for the sole purpose of directly advancing the WRI Mission and is included in the Purpose. Please note that this section is deemed to be incorporated by reference into the Terms.
    2. When You register for a Global Forest Watch Pro account, We require that You accept a separate license agreement that specifies free and fee-based usage options. If We have entered into a license agreement with You, the terms of that separate license agreement including any exhibits and attachments thereof shall prevail over these Terms to the extent of any inconsistency.
    3. You may only use the Global Forest Watch Pro application (pro.globalforestwatch.org) as an authorized user on behalf of a registered account by a legal entity. When You request to open an account in Global Forest Watch Pro, the following conditions must be met: (1) You are applying on behalf of a legal entity that works with and is actively involved in commodity supply chains and/or their financing or as otherwise acceptable to WRI in its sole discretion; (2) You are authorized to act on behalf of such entity; (3) the application is sent from a valid email address from such entity; and (4) no other application or registration for this legal entity or its affiliates exists. WRI may request additional information in order to confirm these conditions are met.
    4. You acknowledge that We own and shall retain all copyrights and other intellectual property rights to and in Global Forest Watch Pro map-based visualizations, geospatial analytics, calculated metrics and statistics, downloadable reports, exports of calculated values, and other outputs (collectively “GFW Pro Content”). Subject to the terms and conditions of a license agreement, the legal entity will be granted a license for use of GFW Pro Content on the GFW Platform under terms provided therein that may include a certain amount of free use as well as rights to share directly with government authorities for compliance reporting with regulatory requirements and directly with governing nonprofit organizations for reporting progress against voluntary environmental and supply chain commitments. More information about the license can be obtained by emailing gfwprosales@wri.org.
    5. When providing attribution for use of GFW Pro Content, you may not in any way assert or imply that We endorse You or Your and Your entity’s use of our content. The attribution requirements for GFW Pro Content and third-party sources of proprietary content will be provided to enterprise account holders.