REPORT OF THE MEETING
Bangkok, 26-29 November 1996

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

I. ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING

1. The Regional Consultative Meeting on Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development Indicators was organized by ESCAP at Bangkok, in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development and financial support of the Government of Netherlands, from 26 to 29 November 1996.

A. Attendance

2. The Meeting was attended by representatives from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, The Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand.

3. The United Nations bodies, specialized agencies and related organizations represented included the Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD), United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP).

B. Opening session

4. The Meeting was opened by the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, who warmly welcomed the participants to the Meeting and the one-day workshop which was being organized to accelerate the process of development of indicators of sustainable development and to contribute to the global efforts being put forth by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The Executive Secretary commended CSD for the leadership and motivation provided in coordinating global efforts towards producing a list of universally acceptable indicators of sustainable development.

5. Since the Meeting was to review and examine the list of indicators and its applicability and relevance to the Asian and Pacific region, he requested the participants to provide guidance on these matters including the procedures and programmes for field testing the indicators in countries of the region. The Executive Secretary expressed his deep appreciation to the Government of the Netherlands for providing the financial support towards the organization of this important Meeting.

6. The statement from Mr. Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD) was read by the Assistant Director, Human Development, Institutions and Technology Branch of DPCSD. It expressed appreciation for ESCAP's activities in promoting the CSD Work Programme on Indicators of Sustainable Development in the Asian and Pacific region. It was noted that field testing of indicators of sustainable development in the countries of the Asian and Pacific region was an important step in guiding the process towards sustainable development in the region.

C. Election of officers

7. The Meeting elected Mr. A. Aziz Qureshi (Pakistan) as Chairperson, Ms. Sharada Bajracharya (Nepal) as Vice-Chairperson and Mr. Ruisheng Yue (China) as Rapporteur.

D. Adoption of the agenda

8. The Meeting adopted the following agenda:

1. Opening of the Meeting.
2. Adoption of the agenda.
3. Integrated environmental planning, including the use of environmental indicators: the pioneering experience of the Netherlands.
4. Global efforts at indicator development: work programme of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
5. Core set of indicators for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific: review of methodologies.
6. Experiences of countries and agencies in indicator development.
7. Work programme and procedures for pilot testing of indicators for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.
8. Other matters.
9. Adoption of the report.

II. INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING, INCLUDING THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS:

THE PIONEERING EXPERIENCE OF THE NETHERLANDS

(Item 3 of the agenda)

9. The presentation of the representative of Netherlands provided a context for understanding how indicators could be used and be useful in charting a course toward sustainable development. The indicator development process took practical shape with the initiation of the first National Environmental Policy Plan (NEPP). This plan was driven by both a "credible story" and "optimism". The main assumption in the plan was that economic growth could be combined with a substantial reduction in emissions.

10. It was emphasized that target setting and use of indicators played a major role in the Dutch environmental policy plans. Agreement on targets was accomplished through a national discussion and consensus on environmental problems involving all stakeholders. It enabled the country to focus on environmental outcomes and decision-making. Adoption of the life-cycle approach helped in defining problems at their source and identifying actors and organizations responsible for action. Based on this approach, themes (environmental problems) and target groups (economic sectors) were identified, leading to integrated and focussed efforts for environmental protection.

11. Eight themes identified included climate change, acidification, eutrophication, toxic and hazardous pollutants, waste disposal, disturbance, groundwater depletion and squandering. The responsible actors or target groups contributing to these themes included agriculture, industry, energy, retail trade, consumers, construction industry, waste disposal industry, drinking water supply industry, sewage and waste water treatment plants and research institutes. Using highly-aggregated indicators, performance towards these targets was assessed on an yearly basis and presented to the Parliament.

12. In the subsequent discussion, many participants showed interest in the replicability of the Dutch planning methodology in the Asian and Pacific region. The Netherlands representative informed that a few case studies would be conducted in selected countries of the region and a regional workshop would be organized in collaboration with ESCAP in 1997 to review the experience of planning for sustainable development.

III. GLOBAL EFFORTS AT INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT: WORK PROGRAMME OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

(Item 4 of the agenda)

13. The representative of the United Nations Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD) in his statement gave a brief description of the activities leading up to the 1997 Special Session of the General Assembly which will review the progress since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). He then provided an overview of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development's programme of work on indicators of sustainable development, its origin and evolution. He emphasized that indicators are not an end in themselves, but only a tool to help measure progress or give a picture of where things stand at a particular moment in time. Note was made of the gradual realization among countries that traditional economic measures of progress such as GDP do not provide a complete picture of societal well-being and that in recent years emphasis has been given to finding other ways to measure development that take into account the social, economic and environmental dimensions.

14. The importance of having good information available for decision-makers was stressed while noting the paradoxical situation that although information and information sources are proliferating at an astounding rate, decision-makers often find it difficult to obtain the right kind of information that aids in decision-making. Indicators provide a means to help bridge the information gap. Although indicators have many advantages in terms of providing concise and aggregated information, they also have various pitfalls that needed to be kept in mind while using them.

15. The criteria used in selecting the core set of CSD indicators and the process of consensus building that was used in selecting them was also described. The Driving Force-State-Response (DSR) framework was explained as a means of organizing the indicator and providing an appropriate analytical framework. The CSD Work Programme on indicators was explained, pointing to the current status of its implementation, including completion of the methodology sheets for each indicator that was contained in the publication "Indicators of Sustainable Development: Framework and Methodologies". The various elements of the methodology sheets were also described in a concise manner.

16. The efforts of ESCAP and the interest of the participants in the work programme on indicators was greatly appreciated and it was mentioned that only through efforts such as field testing at the country level it would be possible to implement the programme and see the wider use of sustainable development indicators.

17. In the subsequent discussions it was noted that the CSD work programme provided a useful background and reference material which could help countries substantially in their field testing procedure.

IV. EXPERIENCES OF COUNTRIES AND AGENCIES IN INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT

(Item 5 of the agenda)

18. Under this agenda items, the representatives of participating countries and agencies provided a brief review of their efforts towards sustainable development planning (see annex 1).

V. CORE SET OF INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC: REVIEW OF METHODOLOGIES

(Item 6 of the agenda)

19. The meeting had before it the document ENR/RCESSD/2, "Core set of Indicators for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific: Review of Methodologies". The document, as presented, covered the main aspects of the process of indicator development as well as, the major efforts in indicator development and proposed a methodology for the selection of a menu of indicators which could be used for testing in the selected countries of the region. It was stated that the process of indicator development was complex, iterative and cyclical. The various steps required to be taken in the selection of indicators were identified drawing from the experiences of UN-DPCSD, OECD, ADB and Netherlands. The importance of clearly identifying uses and audiences of the indicators was emphasized. That a conceptual framework should be adopted to form the basis of the whole exercise was stressed.

20. Strong emphasis was placed on the actual selection of a core set of indicators. The difficulties in selecting issues, use, and in obtaining supporting data were explained. The document proposed a menu of possible indicators suitable for the Asian and Pacific region. The menu took into account the Regional Action Programme approved by the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development held in 1995 and reflected the regional priority issues.

21. The meeting noted that the paper presented a good review of methodological options available to countries in initiating their own indicator development programmes and found that it had useful information on the selection of priority issues.

22. Following the above presentation and discussions, the Meeting decided to continue its deliberations in three working groups. The working groups considered the following items for discussions.

1. Selection of priority issues and related indicators;
2. Review of related methodology sheets;

The outcome of the deliberation on these items in the working groups were presented to the Meeting which felt that this exercise in working groups was a very fruitful simulation of methodology that could be adopted at national level. It could be replicated at national level through a national inter-agency institutional coordinating mechanism (a group of experts representing concerned agencies/institutions) for selection of priority indicators and developing their methodology sheets. The recommendations of the meeting on prioritization of indicators and development of their methodology sheets are reflected in the conclusion and recommendations part of this report.

VI. WORK PROGRAMME AND PROCEDURE FOR PILOT TESTING OF INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

(Item 7 of the agenda)

23.The meeting had before it the document ENR/RCESSD/1. It was pointed out that the testing of the indicators of sustainable development would include organization, implementation, assessment, institutional support and capacity building as well as reporting.

24.The organizational aspect would involve setting up of a national coordination mechanism and a focal point while implementation would include selection of priority issues, matching these with indicators, assessing data availability for priority indicators, establishing necessary arrangements to collect the missing data, where possible, and collecting and compiling data for the indicators selected.

25. The assessment would cover technical, decision making and institutional support or capacity building issues. The technical issues primarily pertain to methodology sheets for describing each indicator, the source, continuity in delivery and reliability of data as well as the data product through which analytical information is conveyed to the decision makers. The decision making issues involve the usefulness of the indicators to national decision makers and their application to the decision making process. Institutional support and capacity building issues basically relate to the provision of technical assistance and support for data collection, compilation and analysis as well as for other training and capacity building needs for the development of a national indicator programme.

26. The reporting aspect is another very important aspect of field testing procedure as it could enable exchange of information and help in assessing the usefulness of indicators in different situations. It could also assist in evaluating and alleviating constraints. Accordingly, the structure of the report after a brief introduction, should highlight, the identification and selection of indicators, their usefulness, as well as problems and challenges faced in their use. Appropriate recommendations may also be included in the report (Annex 2).

27. Subsequent to the presentation and discussion, the meeting divided itself into three working groups to deliberate on various issues related to this agenda item. The working group reports were presented to the plenary and the conclusions and recommendations on the agenda item are reflected in the next section of this report.

VII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

28. The participants in general found the meeting and the working group sessions to be extremely useful for understanding the relationship between priority setting and measurement in charting a course to sustainable development. The background information provided, particularly the framework methodology sheets and the Core Set of Indicator for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific: Review of Methodologies, were seen as a useful basis for establishing national indicator programmes. Despite some problems that were identified during the discussion, participants felt that the framework and methodologies could also form an excellent basis for monitoring progress towards sustainable development along social, economic, environmental and institutional lines.

29. The process of having small group discussions was found to be very productive aspect of the Regional Meeting which provided a positive mechanism for initiating national testing. The working group sessions were a realistic way to simulate what the countries would have to go through at the national level in establishing priorities. The background materials provided during the Meeting were considered as useful tools in starting a programme on the development of indicators.

30. Delegates recognized that developing and using indicators would take time, effort, resources and commitment over the long term. It was considered to be a difficult process, being complex and multidimensional. It was necessary to be practical, pragmatic and flexible, building on the particular strengths that countries already had, whether it was well-organized data base, national environmental action plan or a well-organized planning mechanism.

31. It was noted that, in many instances, information and data were already being collected for several indicators at the national level. It was agreed that, where appropriate, existing data and indicators should be fully utilized as the basis for a balanced set of indicators which represented the maximum possible range of sustainable development concerns. There was a need to focus more on aggregated indicators of sustainable development in addition to individual indicators. There was also a general consensus that more work was needed to be done on institutional indicators.

32. For the indicators programme to be successful at the national level, the need for follow-up and support from UN agencies and bilateral donors was emphasized. Sharing of information, capacity building, and initiation of activities to exchange experiences among the testing countries were identified as particularly important.

33. With regard to testing at the national level, participants felt that mechanisms for coordination would have to be country specific given the variety of different governmental structures. However, the idea of having a national inter-agency coordination mechanism that could bring together various stakeholders was broadly endorsed. Normally, such a mechanism should include key decision making bodies such as finance, planning, national councils or committees on environmental protection, national councils of sustainable development, statistical offices, environmental and sectoral ministries, where appropriate, with the focal point agency left to government discretion. A Technical Task Force might also be needed to handle some of the more detailed issues requiring study.

34. Testing countries may wish to consider preparing a written action plan to cover their indicators development programme.

35. While participants did not believe that a large commitment of resources would be needed to initiate a national programme on indicators, the need for some capacity enhancement efforts at the country level to get the process started was identified. Additional country or regional level workshops to brief working level staff on indicators could be useful. In addition, countries might require some technical assistance in the early stages of the programme.

36. Twinning arrangements were endorsed, but it was recognized that such arrangements need not necessarily involve a developed and a developing country, but might include countries at different levels of indicator use and development. It was also felt that assistance might be needed in facilitating arrangements between countries, and ESCAP and DPCSD, could serve as catalyst in this regard.

37. The Meeting noted with appreciation the offer of the Government of Netherlands for conducting case/feasibility studies in selected countries of the region in collaboration with ESCAP and supporting a regional meeting to be organized by ESCAP in 1997 to review the studies and approaches to planning for sustainable development.

VIII. OTHER MATTERS

(Item 8 of the agenda)

38. The Meeting expressed its sincere gratitude to the Government of the Netherlands for providing both the financial and technical inputs necessary for the Meeting and appreciated the efforts of ESCAP and UNDPCSD in organizing the Meeting and the Workshop.

IX. ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

(Item 9 of the agenda)

39. The report was unanimously adopted by the Meeting on 29 November 1996.


ANNEXES: 

ANNEX 1:  Statement of countries and agencies

ANNEX 2:  Reporting

ANNEX 1:  Statement of countries and agencies

A. Bangladesh

1. Bangladesh has prepared action plan for implementing the Agenda 21 which reflects the strong commitment of the country towards promoting environmental management and sustainable development.

2. Priority Areas of Concern in Bangladesh are: (1) Natural Disaster; (2) Deforestation, including mangrove loss; (3) Biodiversity Losses; 4) Water Pollution; 5) Land Degradation and (6) Air Pollution.

3. The National Environmental Management Action Plan (NEMAP) identifies the key environmental issues and the actions required to halt or reduce the rate of environmental degradation, improve the natural and man-made environment, conserve habitats and biodiversity, promote sustainable development and improve quality of human life.

4. A National Environment Committee with the Head of the Government as its chairperson has also been set up to ensure effective environmental management and achieve integration of development and environment at the national level.

5. Bangladesh has developed Draft Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for the following: (1) water pollution; (2) air pollution; (3) noise pollution; (4) sewage pollution; and (5) industrial pollution. On approval of the EQS by the Government, Compliance will be ensured through monitoring which will also need indicator development.

6.Bangladesh has undertaken inventories of its forest and biological diversity in both dryland and wetlands. Reliable and quality data are expected to be available on completion of these inventories. Bangladesh would then be able to develop indicators for sustainable management of these resources in the light of the indicators developed by DPCSD. For development and testing of indicators of sustainable development, Bangladesh would also need financial and technical support for other inventories data and information collection.

B. China

7.As early as 1993, China adopted the principle of concurrent planning, implementation and development, which emphasized the coordinated development of economy and the environment. China's Agenda 21 which was formulated by 52 ministries, departments and organizations in 1994, stressed that sustainable development was the only choice for development in the future. By monitoring its indicators of economic growth, societal progress, natural resources and the environment the Chinese government makes it clear that development will not be sustainable unless it improves the present natural resources and environmental situation.

8.Sustainable development is clearly regarded as an important development policy in the Ninth Five-year Plan for the National Economy and Social Development and in the Vision Guidelines for 2010 of the People s Republic of China which was promulgated in 1996. The Ninth Five-year Plan for the nation s environmental protection has also been ratified. The environmental protection goals aim basically at the control of environmental pollution and eco-degradation by the year 2000, and improvement of the environmental quality in some regions of the country. By the year 2010, the situation of eco-environment degradation will be changed and the rural and urban environment will be greatly improved. In order to achieve these goals, China is implementing Trans-century Green Engineering Plan and Nation-wide Total Pollution Load Controlling Plan. These efforts clearly show the Chinese Government's commitment towards the promotion of a sustainable development strategy.

9.In order to indicate and evaluate the general pattern of China s sustainable development, it is necessary to set up a system of indicators and related evaluation methods to measure how far the goals of sustainable development have been realized. Moreover, it is also important to gradually incorporate the environmental considerations into the accounting and statistical system of the national economy. The establishment of the system of indicators would provide important benchmark in the transformation of the present mode of economic growth to sustainability and in assuring that the principles and action plans defined and proposed by China s Agenda 21 are operationalized.

10. Development of indicators of sustainable development and related evaluation methods constitute one of the projects in the Priority Program for China s Agenda 21. This project aims at setting up the indicators which reflect and measure China s general situation in regard to sustainable development in terms of economy, society, resources and environment of the country, so that the government and the public have a clear understanding of the situation. It is expected that this project will serve as a basis for the development of comprehensive regulatory mechanisms that will strengthen the pace and effectiveness of China s progress toward sustainable development.

11. There has already been some use of environment related indicators in national programs in China which, among others, included (1) natural resource accounting, (2) quantitative examination of comprehensive pollution treatment and control of urban environment and (3) estimation of economic losses caused by environmental pollution. However, these indicators were not the same as those given in the publication "The indicators of Sustainable Development: Framework and Methodologies".

12. It is the national need of China to participate actively in the testing of sustainable development indicators programme sponsored by UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The elements of the preliminary concept for the testing are as follows: (1) establishing a study of China s sustainable development indicators; (2) establishing the coordinating organizations; (3) formulating the working procedures and contents; and (4) setting up international cooperation.

13. The work program for indicators of sustainable development in China is presently at the initial stage and needs to be developed further through analysis and comparison of current international and domestic statistical methods and existing sustainable development indicator systems. Moreover, the applicability of indicator system needs to be tested in selected areas to evaluate the utility of the whole system. Methods, approaches and policies for the gradual incorporation of the indicator system into national accounting system also need to be considered. As for the long-term objective, China is to set up an effective and applicable indicator system and related method for sustainable development, which will be integrated into national accounting system and gradually harmonized with international standards after they have been subjected to necessary testing.

14. Principles for designing indicator system are that it should: (1) relate to China s own conditions; (2) operable in the real world; (3) recognize the multiple nature of the indicators (single and aggregated, static and dynamic, and quality and quantity indicators); (4) have as few number of indicators as possible.

15. As mentioned above, the sustainable development indicators project has been listed in the Priority Program for China s Agenda 21. A project group consisting of government departments and research institutions has been formed. A specific workshop was held in June this year. It was sponsored by State Planning Commission and State Science and Technology Commission, and organized by the Administrative Center for China s Agenda 21 and the Academy of Sciences in order to enhance awareness on sustainable development enhance research activities on sustainability theory and strengthen the international cooperation, which were considered to be the existing constraints and needed to be overcome in the process of indicator development.

C. India

16. Sustainable development indicators as a test in the planning process and decision making are not being used presently in India. However, several indicators in sectoral planning already exist and are being used regularly and their utility is well recognized.

17. Priorities for action in the field of environment were identified in 1993. However, with the generation of new data, such priorities may change in time and new ones may be identified in due course. In any case, the Environment Action Plan 1993 forms only one part of setting priorities for sustainable development and has not taken into account the social and economic indicators.

18. The Ministry of Environment and Forests in India, has recently embarked upon a highly ambitious programme for developing indicators of sustainable development with a large outlay of IDA credit under the "Capacity Building and Institution Strengthening Project". A large quantity of environmental and economic data are being generated regularly in India and these, when analyzed and aggregated, would assist in the development and use of environmental indicators and indices based on policy needs.

19. It is proposed to develop these indicators both at the national level (to be monitored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests) and at the state level (taking the State of Gujarat as the model, which is the fastest growing state industrially). The indicators developed for Gujarat could also be used in other states.

20. A pressure-state-response framework would be used to identify critical issues and related indicators. The indicator-design activity will be undertaken in close collaboration with government institutions and NGOs and utilize the services of a consultant with expertise in the area. After selection, the proposed indicators could be field tested both at central and state level (Gujarat) and fine-tuned.

21. Identification, development and testing of such indicators would essentially require networking of information at many levels. The field team for each of the areas would be linked with the appropriate regional offices which, in turn, would be linked with the Center. Information and data regarding indicators will be disseminated through a proposed ENVIS (Environment Information System) Center to be set up in the Madras School of Economics. A strong link would be maintained with Environmental Economics Center, proposed to be set up in the leading universities and institutions of the country. Development of region specific indicators would help the Regional Environmental Offices in monitoring the environmental projects falling within their jurisdiction.

22. Cross-sectoral linkages/interface would be established through interaction with Ministries of Urban Affairs, Department of Ocean Development, Central Pollution Control Board and Center for Mining Environment to develop appropriate indices for urban environment, coastal and marine pollution, air quality and mining impacts among others.

D. Indonesia

23. Indonesia has developed a long-term development plan to the year 2019. Its stipulated objectives and principles identify basic capital for development, outline commitment to the national resilience and archipelago concepts, include normative provisions of guidance, and identify general and five year development targets for each field and region. The latest Five Year Development Plan which is currently being implemented covers the period 1994-1999. The plan envisages a balanced and harmonious relationship between man and the environment.

24. The two main sources of published environmental data in Indonesia are Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). MOE publishes an annual report of data submitted by provincial environment bureaus (BLH) which include wide ranging information on pollution characteristics and trends, socio-economic activities, as well as some data on other environmental conditions and trends.

25. Since 1982, CBS has produced an annual report on environment-related statistics which include data on population trends, health conditions, water supply and sanitation, and other socio-economic variables. CBS data, however, is limited to information which can be collected by questionnaire survey, supplemented by information obtained from sectoral agencies. Other sources of data include the sectoral ministries.

26. The development of indicators of sustainable development is a good idea, but the process would not be easy in Indonesia. With limited resources to devote to such an effort, it should be confined to the most important issues, focused on policy-related concerns, and designed to improve accountability in both the public and private sector. Most indicators would fall into one of the two categories i.e. the management of natural resources, and the control of environmental pollution.

27. In the area of natural resources management, MOE has been working for several years on "Natural resources accounting", to make appropriate adjustments in Indonesia's national income accounts. The intention is to adjust the estimated growth of GDP to reflect reductions in the stock of natural resources (forest and energy) which should not be counted as "income". It may be useful to extend this effort to include measures of efficiency in the use of key natural resources, through changes in pricing policy and other incentives. This could enhance energy efficiency in manufacturing; efficiency of water use in irrigation; efficiency of timber utilization in the wood-processing industry, etc. The methodologies could be used by the relevant sectoral agencies for setting reasonable targets for improvement. By making the results public, it could also stimulate accountability in achieving the targets.

28. In the area of environmental pollution besides natural resource accounting, three types of indices would be useful. The first relates to public sector efforts on environmental protection, particularly in urban areas, and could include such issues as access to safe water and sanitation, amounts of solid waste collected and recycled, and measures of public transport availability and use. The second would involve pollution control efforts in urban and industrial sectors, and could focus on a combination of aggregate (reported and/or estimated) emissions of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes (including vehicle emissions), and measures of compliance with Government of Indonesia's emission standards. The third would focus on actual conditions and trends in the ambient quality of surface and ground water, and of air quality in selected urban centres. The development of such indicators would contribute to the strengthening of national and local efforts on environmental protection through consensus.

E. Malaysia

29. Economic, social and environmental indicators have been developed and used in Malaysia for many years. However, they have been used sectorally and no attempt has been made until recently, to develop sustainability indicators that reconcile economic, social and environmental imperatives. There is an increasing awareness in some high level government circles of the need for indicators of sustainable development as an important tool to provide policy and decision makers, the public, business and industry and the international community with tools to measure changes and trends in the sustainability of development process in Malaysia. Malaysia has participated in meetings and workshops at the international level to enhance local capacity to establish and organize data that will contribute to the development of indicators of sustainable development. These include participation in the Asian Development Bank Consultation on environmental indicators and the Workshop on Institutional Strengthening and Collection of Environmental Statistics in Selected Developing Member Countries, in Manila in 1995. Malaysia also participated in the Expert Workshop on Methodologies for Indicators of Sustainable Development in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York organized by the DPCSD in February 1996.

30. Currently discussions are under way in the country to hold a national level consultative meeting on indicators early next year. This will involve all relevant government agencies, business and industry groups and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, a survey on the availability of environmental data was recently completed and a report should become available next year. Work on improving the basis for calculating national accounts (to enable sustainability of development to be predicted with greater accuracy and in consonance with emerging concepts) is in progress.

31. Work in the area of institutional coordination is conducted by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department. The EPU has designated the Department of Statistics and the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI) of University Kebangsaan Malaysia as lead agencies in future work on indicators of sustainable development in Malaysia.

32. Good data are currently available for the construction of economic and social well being indicators. On the environment, data on key air and water pollution concerns are also available along with the data on environmental resources. However, data on levels of production of hazardous wastes, toxic chemicals and associated environmental management issues such as use of clean technologies, are relatively poor. Moreover, there are other constraints for database formulation as follows: (1) data may be sparse in critical areas of recent concern; (2) financial resources for initiating and sustaining indicator development work may be limited; (3) number of skilled human resources in key areas related to data collection and processing may be limited; and (4) there is a general lack of understanding on the nature of indicators of sustainable development.

33. Emerging priorities are as follows: (1) building consensus on the utility of indicators of sustainable development at the local and national level; (2) increasing awareness and understanding of indicators of sustainable development; (3) developing local capacity in the development of indicators of sustainable development; (4) setting priorities on a suitable basket of indicators for sustainable development at the local and national level; and (5) establishing mechanisms for field testing of prospective indicators of sustainable development.

F. Maldives

34. Development planning and environmental management in the Maldives has been hampered by lack of sufficient economic, social and environmental data. The absence of detailed national accounts has made the monitoring and formulation of macro economic policy difficult. The approach to environmental management in the National Environment Action Plan is guided by the continuous assessment of the state of the environment within the country, including the impacts of human activities on the environment and the effect of these activities on the quality of life. However, there is a lack of environmental baseline data to facilitate assessment of trends.

35. Indicators represent a very useful tool in evaluating the progress and direction of development against the policy targets. Though sustainable development indicators, in the advocated formal sense, have not been used in the Maldives as yet, the time is now ripe to do so. At present plans are in hand to prepare the second Environmental Action Plan and a National Agenda 21. The National Agenda 21 is intended to determine the national priorities and provide a clear sense of purpose and direction. The Second Environment Action Plan would include the short term and long term policies and management systems as well as programmes to achieve the objectives set out in the National Agenda 21.

36. There is ample scope for the utilization of selected indicators of sustainable development in Maldives which is a small island developing state consisting of low lying islands threatened by sea level rise, having a vulnerable economy and dependent on a narrow resource base. The major areas to be addressed for sustainable development include: coastal and marine resources; tourism resources; freshwater resources; human resource development; management of wastes; land resources; energy resources; biodiversity resources; transport and communication; science and technology; climate change and sea level rise; and enhancement of institutional and administrative capacity.

37. The audience of indicators would consist primarily of planners and decision makers at the national level and the international partners who facilitate and assist in development. The indicators developed by CSD have relevance in the national context of the Maldives. The data required for most indicators in the social, economic and institutional categories are available. However, the complete absence of some environmental information presents a major challenge, not only in evaluating resources and their state but also in assessing their vulnerability. For example, assessing the sustainability of freshwater resources in northern atolls is difficult in the absence of data on recharge rates as there is no long-term rainfall data for the country north of Male.

38. The absence of baseline data, or lack of a suitable data set for synthetic application is characteristic of most islands in the Maldives. Hydrographic surveys of lagoons are incomplete, topographic maps of islands are few; vegetation, soil and land use maps are generally lacking, inventories of existing marine biological resources have not been undertaken and the state of the environment has been assessed only on a preliminary basis.

39. There would also be difficulties in utilizing existing environmental information efficiently. Though a number of studies have been undertaken to investigate certain problems, no synthesis of such problems have been undertaken and no archive of all studies exist for referral. Sectoral division of responsibilities among institutions also often leads to frequent duplication of efforts in some areas and a failure to consider the others. At present no monitoring of the freshwater aquifers in islands and coastal water pollution is undertaken.

40. In areas such as freshwater resources, management of chemicals, protection of the oceans and management of sewage related issues, there is a need to train personnel to use indicators effectively for promoting sustainable development.

41. The Maldives regularly presents national development indicators to international agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. Though the sustainable development framework has not been applied yet, there is significant scope for the effective use of selected indicators of sustainable development in the Maldives.

G. Nepal

42. Nepal is a predominantly mountainous and economically poor as well as environmentally fragile country where the promotion of environmentally sound and sustainable development is a formidable task. For the past few years, both physical and cultural heritage of the country has undergone deterioration and its flora and fauna have been adversely affected, mainly due to unsustainable practices. The major environmental problems that are apparent at present are land degradation, deforestation, loss of biological diversity and deterioration of quality of air, water and soil.

43. Conservation and management of environmental resources are challenging problems in a country where the mountainous terrain is characterized with steep slopes and weak geology. High human and livestock population densities further aggravate the environmental problems. The country needs to undertake its development activities keeping in view both economic as well as ecological aspects. Realizing this, His Majesty's Government of Nepal has incorporated environmental components in the development policies and programmes and given priority to environmental management in the five-year plans.

44. Thus the Eighth Plan (1992-97) has incorporated a number of policy statements relating to environment and land-use, forest and soil conservation and watershed management. It has also given priority to fulfilling the basic needs of the people and to maintaining natural resources for sustainable development. Environmental management and monitoring will be guided by the following considerations: Indicators relating to pollution in different areas will be developed and used; detailed legal provisions, which place priority on sustainability, will be prepared and enforced to facilitate environmental management; on-site inspection and monitoring will be undertaken to determine the causes of pollution in affected areas; project-specific reporting forms and indicators for monitoring and evaluation will be developed for reporting on a regular basis and an effective and institutionalized monitoring and evaluation system will be promoted. A major programme of the Eighth Plan concerns the information collection and data bank establishment to develop indicators for deriving standards and promoting monitoring and evaluation. Other activities include formulation and endorsement of the National Conservation Strategy, Forest Master Plan and Nepal Environmental Policy and Action Plan; Preparation and Implementation of EIA Guidelines; Establishment of Environment Protection Council as well as Ministry of Population and Environment.

45. Since environmental indicator development activities are multi-dimensional various institutions are being involved in Nepal in the development of indicators and related activities. Thus, the Central Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the National Planning Commission developed important parameters and formats for monitoring and evaluation in macro-economic and social situation. The Department of Standards conducted substantial work related to indicators of water pollution and other effluents. The Ministry of Population and Environment implemented various programmes on environmental indicator development, standard setting and the development of monitoring guidelines. However, lack of management skill, limited financial resources, inadequate databank and information system were some of the major constraints encountered in the development of indicators.

46. Emerging priorities are capacity-building and institutional strengthening for the development of indicators of sustainable development, field testing for utilization of these indicators; development of database and establishment of information network.

H. Pakistan

47. Pakistan faces enormous and complex environmental and social problems that constrain its efforts in promoting sustainable development. Being conscious of the fact the Government adopted the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) in 1992. The NCS has three objectives (i) maintenance of essential ecological processes, (ii) preservation of biodiversity and (iii) sustainable utilization of ecosystem and species. A total of 68 specific programmes have been identified in 14-core areas each with short, medium and long term objectives in the strategy. An environmental Action Plan has been prepared on the basis of NCS. Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance (PEPO), a framework environmental legislation has been promulgated. National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) has been established and adopted.

48. The NCS has been a useful tool in raising the public concern over the environmental problems. There has been an increasing trend in the measurement of environmental performance and evaluating the success of environmental projects and policies. The emerging monitoring and evaluation trends would set out the line of action towards the sustainable future in the short, medium and long term.

49. Following the NCS, several institutional improvements were also made. Among them are the establishment of an NCS Implementation Unit in the Ministry of Environment; creation of Environment Section in the Planning Commission, mandated to integrate environmental concerns in economic development planning; and setting up the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) to provide economic and policy analysis for sustainable economic development. Further, most of the provinces have created environmental cells in their Planning and Development Departments to integrate environmental consideration into development planning.

50. In the wake of growing population and increased economic activities the level of industrial pollutants emitted is growing at a rapid pace in Pakistan. The adverse health and productivity impacts are significant. Indiscriminate discharge of industrial waste water is causing serious environmental problems such as contamination of fresh as well as sea water affecting human health and aquatic life. No comprehensive current data exists either on total industrial pollution loads or pollution intensities on the level of industrial pollutants released such as toxics heavy metals, BOD, COD, suspended solid waste, particulates, sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants. In line with the National Environmental Quality Standards, samples are being collected to mitigate the problem of pollution through effluent controls and disposal of solid waste into land fills or through incinerators.

51. Although the use of economic, environmental and social indicators like literacy rate, unemployment, health care and availability of drinking water and sanitation facilities etc. are common in the preparation of annual and Five Year Development Plans of the country, yet concept of indicators of sustainable development is rather new in Pakistan. The country is planning to develop these indicators to assess its environmental, social and economic development. Necessary work in this area has already been started both at governmental and non-governmental levels.

52. Major problems in the development of such indicators in Pakistan are non-availability of accurate base line data and information. The international donor agencies and NGOs can play an important role by providing technical and financial assistance in developing such databases and methodologies which could lead to the development of indicators of sustainable development. This would be very useful for the country which is committed to achieve sustainable development by integrating environmental concerns in economic development.

H. Philippines

53. Indicators have been an integral part of the development planning process in the Philippines. At present, the indicators used in the country consist of the usual economic indicators such as GNP, GDP, savings and investments, monetary aggregates, external/balance of payments, industry and investments, export and import targets, production targets, among others. These are complemented by human development and social indicators such as those on health and population, education and manpower development, housing, social welfare and community development indicators. Environmental indicators, while they exist and are used by certain sectors for specific purposes, are not yet sufficiently integrated in the planning and development system.

54. The Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) and the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) organized under the Integrated Environmental Management for Sustainable Development (IEMSD) Programme are two mechanisms through which current efforts at developing environmentally sound and sustainable development indicators are coordinated.

55. The PCSD is a multistakeholder body created in 1992 by President of the Philippines in response to the recommendation made at the Earth Summit for governments to establish national coordinating mechanisms for sustainable development. It also manifests the country's firm resolve to fulfill its commitments in the said Summit. The primary mandate of the Council is to review and monitor the implementation of the Philippine commitments at the Earth Summit as well as set the overall policy direction for charting a course towards sustainable development in the country.

56. The importance of indicators can be more clearly seen in the context of the priority programmes and activities of the Council. Two years ago, the Council embarked on a capacity-building programme for sustainable development. The programme has four main components, namely: (1) formulation of the Philippine Agenda 21; (2) human resource/institutional development; (3) information, education and communication advocacy; and (4) pilot action programmes.

57. At the macro level, various initiatives have been undertaken in the Philippines to establish indicators. For example, in collaboration with USAID, the Philippines has embarked on an Environment and Natural Resources Accounting Project (ENRAP) to take physical stock of environmental and natural resources assets with a view to integrating them in measures of estimating economic performance. Over the last three years, the project was instrumental in providing information which led to important policy decisions such as raising the forest charges, establishing benchmark costs for pollution charges, and in identifying major contributors of important pollutants across various sectors of the economy.

58. In order to institutionalize ENRA and utilize it as a macro indicator of the country's performance, the work is currently ongoing within the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) to utilize the UN System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) in arriving at environmentally adjusted GDP. With the assistance from UNDP, this effort has enabled the country to complete the physical and monetary accounts for three major resources -forestry, fisheries and mining.

59. One other major use of the framework for macro indicator development was in the formulation of the long-term Philippine Development Plan (ITPDP). The plan reflects the 30-year vision for the Philippines, and identifies targets to be achieved over that period. The Pressure-State- Response (PSR) model is used as the framework for analysis, which focuses on environmental issues considered important in the Philippines.

60. To promote and coordinate the efforts at the formulation of indicator of sustainable development the country is now undertaking a comprehensive review of available frameworks and methodologies, with a view to selecting one that best suits the Philippine context and can be adopted by the government. The background documents made available by ESCAP and DPCSD and the participation of the Philippines in this meeting would surely contribute substantially to the national efforts. Indeed, the current ongoing study on indicators of sustainable development in the country could provide a good opportunity for field testing of CSD indicators through collaborative arrangements with ESCAP and DPCSD.

61. At the micro level, the indicator development, at present, is guided by the Operational Framework for Sustainable Development (OFSD) which provides for six tests of sustainability:

• Economic viability
• Ecological viability
• Technological viability
• Political viability
• Cultural viability
• Institutional viability.

62. Using this framework, a study is now in progress under which the literature review of all indicators that have been developed so far and are applicable in the Philippines has been completed. In the next stage the study is to define a core set of indicators and subject it to field testing and validation.

63. The major constraints to the development of indicators of sustainable development in the Philippines are data constraints, lack of technical capacities and financial resources.

I. Republic of Korea

64. The Republic of Korea has experienced dramatic economic transformation over the past three decades despite its relatively poor endowment of natural resources. The measurement of the level of social development, in the past, was based on economic performance and not on the sustainability of development. However, environmental degradation and growing public concern on sustainable development in the 1990's have led the government to develop policy tools and environmental indicators that can integrate environment and development in the decision-making process.

65. Environmental preservation and economic development should not conflict with each other and proceed hand in hand. Reflecting Korean people's understanding of the relationship between economy and the environment, in the Presidential Vision declared on March 21, 1996, the principle of "integration of environment and economy" was introduced as the second of the five basic principles for promoting community participation in environmental management.

66. The efforts to develop the indicators of sustainable development in Korea involve the following three aspects:(1)measuring physical dimensions; (2) measuring social and economic dimensions; and (3) measuring integration of environment and economy. For, measuring the physical dimensions the Korean government has emphasized taking into account the resource stock. Most of the stocks and flows of natural resources have thus been surveyed annually by governmental bodies. The main purpose of these efforts has been the efficient management of natural resources. However, the stocks and flows (depletion) of some natural resources, such as marine fisheries, underground water and wild biota, have not been systematically surveyed.

67. In regard to environmental dimension, the indices for air and water quality and wastes produced and disposed off have been developed and used since 1970s. The main objectives of developing environmental indices in Korea are to promote the public awareness of environmental situation and use these for policy implementation as well as establishing the environmental information system. In 1995, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) and the Korea Environmental Technology Research Institute (KETRI) launched a project which aims at assessing the environmental quality of the national land and providing an integrated plan to harmonize environmental policies and national land development policies. In this project, which is still in progress, the individual indices for different environmental media are being developed.

68. Indicators for social and economic dimensions, which measure people's life styles, their values and the changes in them, have been developed and published since 1979 by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Among these are indicators for population, income and consumption, employment, health, housing and environment, life style and social participation, etc. which provide the basic information for the related national policy setting. Efforts to develop indicators of the Quality of Life have also been initiated since 1970. One of the most distinguished works in this respect has been accomplished by the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (KHRIS) under the former Ministry of Construction. KHRIS developed 54 sectoral indices for 234 cities. The sectors covered were education and culture, social welfare, construction, transportation, medicals, etc.

69. The Republic of Korea has also developed national accounts and economic statistics. For example, the National Wealth Survey is carried out every 10 years by NSO which provides national asset balances.

70. In 1994, a regional UNDP project was initiated to introduce the concept of Green GDP or environmental accounting into the national accounts. This pilot compilation of environmental accounts is based on the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) suggested by the UN in 1993. The pilot accounts for SEEA have been compiled for the specific period 1985-1992. The results of this pilot compilation will provide direction and details required in the official compilation of SEEA in the future. Apart from this, MOE and KETRI have assessed the sustainability of development process in 15 provinces by grading their environmental performance in 1993 and 1994.

71. Finally, although there have been several efforts to develop and apply the indicators of sustainable development in Korea, their uses are not common as yet for two reasons: (1) the purpose of developing indicators of sustainable development is not yet clearly defined and (2) sufficient work on data collection for use in indicator development has not been done.

72. Republic of Korea, however has recognized that user-driven, policy-relevant and highly-aggregated indicators of sustainable development are needed to effectively and efficiently measure the sustainability of development process in the country. The methodology sheets and other documents prepared by the Commission on Sustainable Development and ESCAP for the Regional Consultative Meeting on Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development Indicators and Workshop on Field Testing will be very helpful in developing and applying the indicators in Korea.

J. Thailand

73. Thailand has made an impressive progress in achieving very high ecohtml> progress in economic growth occurred during the implementation of first 3 five-year National Economic and Social Development plans. Many indicators for the measurement of economic development, in which the growth in per capita GDP was the principle one, were used during this period. At that time, the concept of development was that economic growth would create widespread prosperity by creating more jobs, goods and services. The measurement of social conditions was conducted in parallel with the economic measurement.

74. By the mid 1970s it was recognized that the development was not balanced and that the economic growth, not only, did not help the poor but also caused natural resource depletion. Therefore, the government agencies started compiling data on various natural resources and environmental condition for preparing the groundwork for natural resource planning and management. Most of the data related to the quantity of natural resource and the quality of the environment was designed to give an overview of the state or the environment in the country and its change over time. However, the environmental data has not been utilized interactively with overall social and economic dimensions. The economic, social and environmental data were mostly used for planning and management and reporting the situation (the state) in terms of individual sector performance.

75. In 1994, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment was provided a grant by United State Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a project for establishing the monitoring, analysis and evaluation system for provincial and local environmental planning. Under this project, the existing information obtained from central and local government agencies were compiled and tabulated to establish a set of baseline data against which the impacts of development could be measured in future.

76. The environmental baseline data tabulated for all the 75 provinces of Thailand will be used to monitor and evaluate the success of provincial environmental plans. However, since environmental indicators are based on conventional environmental data they may not capture many issues that are relevant to sustainable development. Thus, there is a need to cater for more indicators and for more highly aggregated indices on various aspects of sustainable development.

77. Indicators of sustainable development are still in the early stages of development in Thailand, although as stated earlier some socio-economic and environmental indicators have been generally used as a key component of the reporting system on the state of the environment, as a guideline to monitor policy/project development and as a tool for integrating environmental concerns into sectoral policies.

78. The 8th National Economic and Social Development Plan, which focuses on people at the center of all development, calls for designing and development of various new indicators to promote sustainable development. It also proposes to use indicators to measure the overall results of the plan as well as the performances in various sectors.

79. Five-types of indicators for 5 levels of evaluation of the plan have been envisaged including: (1) final result indicators; (2) sectoral development indicators; (3) strategy indicators; (4) agencies performance indicators; and (5) supplementary or basic indicators.

80. The plan is divided into six main strategies and has a clear objective of raising the well-being of the Thai people. The well-being, however, is a complex concept. Unlike economic growth, it is not easily measurable. Even defining well-being is problematic. The indicators of well-being show changes only in the long run. In 1996, the National Economic and Social Development Board, therefore, conducted a study on the establishment of the Key Indicators System for Monitoring and Evaluation the 8th Plan with the main objectives of:

1. Setting a key indicators system for measuring the development of the 8th Plan with emphasis on strategy indicators, sectoral development indicators, and final results indicator;
2. Using the indicators for monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the Eighth Plan and making improvement in the Plan during its implementation.
3. The study is expected to be completed in December 1996.

K. International Organizations

81. The representatives of UN bodies and agencies as well as intergovernmental organizations also highlighted their efforts at the development of sectoral indicators in their respective fields of expertise. Reports were presented by WHO, UNCHS, UNEP, UNIDO and IAEA. The agencies expressed their willingness to assist the governments in the region in further elaboration of sectoral indicators. The representative of SACEP pointed out that although SACEP was not specifically developing indicators of sustainable development, the organization was supporting such efforts through capacity-building on data and information systems.

ANNEX 2:  REPORTING

Structure of report:

1. Introduction
   1. Background and objectives
   2. Identification of the users and relevance to national decision-making
   3. Institutional, organizational and resource arrangements for the testing
   4. Experience with twinning, as applicable
2. Identification and selection of the indicators
   Description of the process through which the indicators were chosen, and the criteria for selection, including reference to:
   1. National strategies, targets and priorities
   2. Existing indicators and indicator programmes
   3. Data availability
   4. Other parameters
3. Usefulness of the indicators
   1. Usefulness of the methodology sheets
   2. Relevance of the data product
   3. Development of interlinkages among the indicators, of national indicator frameworks and of aggregated indicators
   4. Comments and suggestions on changes and improvements
4. Challenges
   1. Problems encountered in data availability, reliability and delivery
   2. Strengthening and training of human resources
   3. Other capacity-building needs
   4. Other
5. Recommendations