Session 1a: Environment Statistics Activities in ECA

1. Session 1a: Environment Statistics Activities in ECA Workshop on Environment Statistics and Accounts 7 – 11 March 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2. Outline of Presentation I. Introduction II. Environment statistics at ECA III. Capacity building activities undertaken IV. Way forward

3. I. Introduction First United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm, Sweden from 5 to 16 June 1972 • UNCHE focused on human activities in relation to the environment • It laid the foundation for environmental action at an international level • It recommended the gathering of data on specific environment variables • United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) was launched • UNCHEgave the impetus to the development of environment statistics as a new field of official statistics The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 2-14, 1992 The Declaration recognized: • To have long-term social and economic progress there is a need to link it with environmental protection • To establish equitable global partnerships between governments, civil society and the business sector in environment protection

4. I. Introduction (cont’d) The first initiatives pertaining to the development of environment statistics at the international level stemmed from two meetings of ECE in 1973 • The need for developing international recommendations for a system of environment statistics as a long-term objective recognized • A draft programme of international work in environment statistics submitted to the Statistical Commission of the United Nations at its eighteenth session in 1974

5. II. Environment statistics at ECA ECA has been involved in Environmental Statistics since the late 1980s Environmental Statistics Unit established in the then Statistics Division The work of the unit culminated in the first “African Compendium of Environment Statistics 1991” The Compendium covered: • Total surface area • Population • Land use • Area irrigated • Total production of roundwood, fuelwood and charcoal, and industrial roundwood • Agroclimatological condtions • Summary of disasters in Africa, etc.

6. II. Environment statistics at ECA (cont’d) The sources of data for the compendium were from: • NSOs • Meteorological organizations • UN Population Division • Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), etc. The environment indicators not included in the African Statistical Yearbook of the Division. Since 2007 the African Statistical Yearbook has included: • Carbon dioxide emissions per capita in metric tons • Percentage of protected area to total surface area • Proportion of the population using improved sanitation facilities The main data sources (UNSD): • MDG database • Environment Statistics Section Database

7. II. Environment statistics at ECA (cont’d) ACS undertook a few missions on environment statistics data and information collection. The main objectives of the missions were: • To discuss the status of the collection and dissemination of environment statistics with NSOs and line ministries • To establish a mechanism of collection of data and information between the ACS and the relevant institutions • To assess whether or not the sector strategy for environment statistics is properly covered in the NSDS • To discuss with the officials of regional STCs about their training activities in the area of environment statistics, their future plans including curriculum development • To discuss the activities of RECs in statistics in general and environment statistics in particular

8. III. Capacity building activities undertaken a) Environment Statistics Since 2005 four workshops were organized in Africa in the area of environment statistics The workshops were mainly organized by UNSD in collaboration with UNEP, ECA, ECOWAS etc. The objectives of the workshops were: • To train participants from NSOs and ministries/agencies responsible for environment on basic concepts, methods and best practices in environment statistics • To provide a forum for exchange of information on the status of national environment statistics • To establish a network of environmental statisticians in the region • To agree on a core set of environmental indicators and statistics for national and regional reporting

9. III. Capacity building activities undertaken (cont’d) In total about 125 participants attended the indicated environmental statistics workshops • Thirty-five member States of ECA represented • Participants were from the NSOs, ministries related to environment, and regional statistical training centres • The countries that were represented in the workshops were mainly from West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa sub-regions • The participation of the Central Africa and North Africa sub-regions of ECA in the workshops was minimal

10. III. Capacity building activities undertaken (cont’d) b) Biodiversity Indicators The BICS in Africa is a two-year project designed to build on the existing work on biodiversity indicators in East and Southern Africa, assisting countries to develop biodiversity indicators of their choice on a sustainable basis • The project is funded by the UN Development Account and implemented by UNEP and the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) • The project organized workshops for East African and Southern African countries • The participants were from wildlife authorities, national environmental agencies, national statistical offices, conservation NGOs, etc. C) Pre-ADF VII expert group meeting on measurement of climate change was organized in collaboration with InWEnt capacity building and ACPC

11. IV. Way forward ACS plans to undertake the following activities in the area of environment statistics and accounts • To create a unit within the ACS and strengthen the unit in terms of resources, both human and financial • To continue undertaking technical assistance missions to member States • To collaborate with UNSD, UNEP, AUC and AfDB to include more relevant environment indicators and improve data availability • To work together with the NEPAD Secretariat and the RECs in order to update the core list of environment indicators • To introduce the core list of environmental indicators to member States • To continue organizing capacity building workshops • To cooperate with the ACPC and Environment and Sustainable Development Section of the FSSDD • To be involved in the collection of environment statistics in collaboration with UNSD and UNEP • To produce Compendium of Environment Statistics in Africa

12. Thank you