Monitoring the Environment

1. Monitoring the Environment The South African case study J de Beer

2. Mandate and context • Statistics Act, 6 of 1999 • Purpose of the Act • Advance planning, production, analysis, documentation, storage, dissemination and use of official and other statistics • Provide for coordination with other organs of state (section 5, 7 & 14) • Provide for cooperation between producers of official statistics • Role players in the Act • Minister in the Presidency responsible for National Planning: Approval of plans • Statistician-General: Producer, Coordinator and Certification • Statistics Council: Advisory • Heads of Organs of State: Producer • Vision: Your leading partner in quality statistics • Mission: To lead and partner in statistical production systems for evidence based decisions

3. Statistical production system required • To raise the profile of statistics in policy formulation, planning, monitoring and evaluation • To address gaps in the statistical production process • Information gap • Quality gap • Capacity gap • To guide and govern statistical production in the country

4. Stats SA core areas • Economic statistics • Employment • National Accounts (including Environmental Economic Accounts) • Business cycle • Government statistics • Price statistics • Social and Population statistics • Household surveys • Service delivery • Population Census • Scattered environment statistics • By chance • Module approach to existing surveys

5. Current work programme • Partnerships • Memorandum of Understanding with The Presidency; Dept of Environmental Affairs; Energy; Mineral resources; Water Affairs; Agriculture, water and fisheries • Inter departmental working groups • Stats SA publications – updated annually • EEA: Water Accounts for South Africa: 2000 • EEA: Energy Accounts for South Africa, 2002 to 2006 • EEA: Minerals Accounts for South Africa, 1980 to 2008 • EEA: Fisheries Accounts for South Africa, 1990 to 2008 • International participation • Opportunities for development, relevance, quality improvement • UNCEEA, London group, Oslo group • SADC workshops (UNSD support) • UNECA

6. Importance of environmental info • Environmental information is becoming increasingly important as an assessment tool for: • Main drivers of change; • Identifying trends; and • Responses. • Environmental information informs: • Public debate; • Policy development; and • Decision-making.

7. South Africa Importance of environmental info South Africa’s ecological footprint is higher than global average.

8. ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS (EEA) – PHYSICAL ACCOUNTS Stocks and inventory statistics Opening and closing stocks State Activity statistics: resource extraction / harvesting Extraction, harvest, discoveries, natural growth Impact Impact statistics: emissions / contamination Residual flow account Pressure INTEGRATED PHYSICAL AND MONETARY ACCOUNTS Response statistics Response Opening and closing stocks; depletion, accumulation, degradation; production and income Source: Statistics South Africa, 2009 Linkages Partners in statistics – Line Ministries Stats SA

9. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths: • Formalized agreements; • Expert knowledge in line ministries; and • Existing informal networks. • Weaknesses: • Limited budget allocations; • Environmental statistics not mainstream priority; • Framework Development for Environmental Statistics (FDES) not established within Stats SA; • No resources in Stats SA to collect environmental data; and • Institutionalization lengthy process preventing publishing official reports. We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.  ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

10. Thank you Joe de Beer DDG: Economic statistics joedb@statssa.gov.za