UN DESA’s Statistics Division will lead a mission to Hanoi on 6-10 April as part of the project Advancing the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) in Vietnam.

As part of the project “Advancing the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in pilot countries”, UN DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Convention of Biological Diversity Secretariat, are working in close collaboration with the General Statistics Office of Vietnam to develop a National Plan for advancing environmental-economic accounting in Vietnam.

The objective is to strengthen the national statistical system in support of developing an information system for sustainable development through the development of comparable environmental-economic accounts, including ecosystem accounts to support policy decisions.

A mission led by the Statistics Division will be in Vietnam to hold bilateral consultations and a high-level segment with Vietnamese officials, representatives of international organizations and other relevant stakeholders, with the objective to obtain high-level endorsement of the National Programme of Work. A national training workshop will also be held to increase capacity for the implementation of environmental economic accounts in various ministries in Vietnam.

For more information: Calendar of Events of UN DESA’s Statistics Division

A Regional Training Workshop will be organized in Santiago on the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in Latin America and the Caribbean on 13-16 April.

Representatives from National Statistical Offices, Ministries of Environment and/or other line ministries dealing with forests, biodiversity or other environment-related issues, that have or plan to have programmes on the implementation of the SEEA in countries from Latin America and the Caribbean will meet in Santiago to attend the regional training workshop on the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting.

Participants from some other pilot countries involved in the project “Advancing the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in pilot countries”, as well as staff from ECLAC and other international agencies will also attend.

The objective of the workshop is to improve the capacity of participants in the implementation of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting. The workshop aims (i) to help participants acquire knowledge and skills to deepen their understanding of the accounting principles and basic data needs for SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting; (ii) to facilitate experience sharing among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean; and (iii) to support countries to set up a strategy and work plan for the implementation of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting.

The workshop is organized by UN DESA’s Statistics Division as part of the project on “Advancing the SEEA in Pilot Countries” and will be hosted at ECLAC.

For more information: Calendar of Events of UN DESA’s Statistics Division

UN DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct a mission to Jakarta on 13-17 April as part of the project Advancing the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) in Indonesia.

As part of the project “Advancing the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in pilot countries”, UN DESA’s Statistics Division in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme and Convention of Biological Diversity is working in close collaboration with the National Statistical Office of Indonesia to develop a National Plan for advancing environmental-economic accounting in Indonesia.

The objective is to strengthen the national statistical system in support of developing an information system for sustainable development through the development of comparable environmental-economic accounts, including ecosystem accounts to support policy decisions in Indonesia.

The Statistics Division will visit Indonesia to participate in a series of high-level bilateral meetings as well as a high-level general meeting with Chilean officials and other relevant stakeholders, with the objective to obtain high-level endorsement of the National Plan and begin to foster institutional arrangements to implement the SEEA with the active involvement of all relevant agencies.

For more information: Calendar of Events of UN DESA’s Statistics Division

UN DESA’s Statistics Division will conduct a mission to Santiago on 13-17 April as part of the project Advancing the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) in Chile.

As part of the project “Advancing the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in pilot countries”, the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme and Convention of Biological Diversity is working in close collaboration with the National Statistical Office and Ministry of Environment of Chile to develop a National Plan for advancing environmental-economic accounting in Chile.

The objective is to strengthen the national statistical system in support of developing an information system for sustainable development through the development of comparable environmental-economic accounts, including ecosystem accounts to support policy decisions in Chile.

The Statistics Division will visit Chile on 13-17 April to participate in a series of high-level bilateral meetings as well as a high-level general meeting with Chilean officials and other relevant stakeholders, with the objective to obtain high-level endorsement of the National Plan and begin to foster institutional arrangements to implement the SEEA with the active involvement of all relevant agencies.

For more information: Calendar of Events of UN DESA’s Statistics Division

A training workshop on the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting will take place in Jakarta on 14-17 April.

Representatives from national statistical offices, Ministry of Environment or other line ministries dealing with forests, biodiversity or other environment-related issues, and staff from regional commission and international agencies that have or plan to have programmes on the implementation of the SEEA from Asia Pacific countries will meet in Jakarta to attend the regional training workshop on the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting.

The objective of the workshop is to improve the capacity of participants in the implementation of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting in Asia Pacific. The workshop aims (i) to help participants acquire knowledge and skills to deepen their understanding of the accounting principles and basic data needs for SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting; (ii) to facilitate experience sharing among countries in Asia Pacific; and (iii) to support countries to set up a strategy and work plan for the implementation of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting. The workshop by UN DESA’s Statistics Division is organized as part of the project on “Advancing the SEEA in Pilot Countries”.

For more information: Calendar of Events of UN DESA’s Statistics Division

UN DESA’s Statistics Division is organizing the second regional workshop within the UN Development Account project “Supporting Developing Countries Measure Progress Towards Achieving a Green Economy” in cooperation with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on 21-24 April.

The workshop will take place in Lima, Peru, and is co-organized by the statistical office of Peru – INEI. It will primarily be a technical workshop that covers topics identified as needing attention and guidance in the first part of the project.

Recognizing the importance of high quality statistics and their effective use in promoting evidence-based socio-economic policies and achieving internationally agreed goals, the project aims to enhance the national statistical systems’ capacity of its pilot countries to produce good quality, timely and reliable statistics and indicators to inform about progress towards achieving a green economy in the context of sustainable development.

Key elements of the workshop will cover four main statistical domains, namely environment, agriculture, energy statistics, and statistics on new themes related to green economy (e.g. environmental goods and services, green jobs). The contents of each of the fields cover the following: general introduction to the theme; main frameworks and international recommendations covering these fields; internationally agreed definitions and metadata for selected statistics underlying green economy indicators; and detailed description and compilation methods for selected indicators from the reference green economy indicators list of the project. The workshop will also finalize the discussion on the direct technical assistance to the pilot countries that will take place in the months following this workshop.

A similar workshop will take place in May 2015, for the Asia Pacific region in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

For more information:

Supporting developing countries measure progress towards achieving a Green Economy 

UN DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) organized a two-day workshop at the United Nations in New York in support of the proposed sustainable development goal on water which seeks to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

The workshop, held from 24 to 25 February, enhanced the capacity of selected developing countries with integrating water and sustainable development into their national development strategies.

“One of the biggest challenges will be communicating the post-2015 development agenda to those that are in a better position of realizing this agenda,” said Mr. Nikhil Seth, Director of DSD, in his opening remarks. “We look to you to help us disseminate this more widely, ratchet up on national political agendas, create more partnerships and communicate the importance of this new agenda especially in the area of water.”

Selected policymakers and national practitioners from 20 developing countries and countries in transition from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean worked with UN-system partners to increase their understanding of the proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets. Participants identified major entry points for how the water SDG and its targets can be mainstreamed into policies and strategies at the national level. These entry points included creating national awareness, enhancing the lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for transitioning into the proposed SDGs and identifying gaps in policy and implementation.

Unlike the MDG on environmental sustainability, where the water target focused on access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, the water goal will cover six target areas and is not confined to only one proposed sustainable development goal. “Among the 17 sustainable development goals, water is a livelihood resource. The most significant long-term risk worldwide in terms of impact is water security. Water is now the top issue for posing a risk to various development initiatives,” said Mr. Jong-Soo Yoon, Head of the UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) in Incheon, which was a partner in the workshop.

The workshop provided an opportunity for the participants to share their knowledge and best practises on integrated water resources management with research institutions, academia and regional organizations active in the water sector. The participants identified three key challenges for implementing the SDGs: financial and budget allocations, institutional mandates on who will be responsible and how will they monitor and review the targets, and human resources development.

“We need up-to-date information, which is a challenge in Zambia,” said Mr. Michael Mutale, a senior water expert from Zambia and former official of the Zambian River Commission. “With the focus traditionally put on hydrological data, more focus has to be placed on collecting economic, social and environmental data as well. The implementation of SDG six would require national resources for monitoring and reviewing.”

A key follow-up action was to establish partnerships and a network of experts that will continue to promote an active dialogue on the water goal, cross-sectoral integration, and the nexus approach to enhance the efficiency of different sectors such as the water-energy-food security nexus or the water-climate change nexus.

“The water SDG needs to be seen as the goal where interrelationships can be built,” said Ms. Ndey-Isatou Njie, Chief of the Water, Energy and Capacity Development Branch in DSD. “In moving forward, let us look at how the water sector will have linkages to other sectors where water has an impact.”

The workshop included a special session for the launching of the report ‘Water in the World We Want’ by UNU-Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). The report provided insights such as how the intensity of water-related disaster events and its negative effects are most reflected in the poorest population and the most vulnerable. It made recommendations for water to be integrated into national-level planning, where actions taken have to be oriented to help those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

UN DESA’s Statistical Division, the UN Economic Regional Commissions, UN-Water, UNU-INWEH, UNICEF, UNEP, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University contributed to the workshop presentations.

For more information:

Capacity Development Workshop in Advancing Water and Sustainable Development

To support the post-2015 development agenda, the Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) in partnership with UN DESA’s Statistics Division, UN-Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, organized a workshop on capacity development for “Mainstreaming Energy Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Targets and Indicators into Statistical Programmes of Selected Latin American Countries.”

The three-day workshop took place at the UN Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama City, Panama from 4 to 6 February. Participating countries were Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama. There were 34 workshop participants, including 16 women. The country representatives learned about the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda, the proposal for a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and corresponding targets on energy and the leading international efforts on energy statistics and indicators.

The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss the status of national statistical programmes and the challenges and advantages for adopting and adapting the global energy SDGs, targets and indicators at the national level. The participants made national presentations and discussed strengths and common challenges they face in the collection of data and in the implementation of national and international statistical commitments and programmes.

At the conclusion, many participants expressed their appreciation for this capacity development event which provided a valuable setting for the exchange of statistical knowledge and lessons learned at the global, regional and national level.

Many participants also asked for future international support and more capacity building activities on collecting and processing data for energy statistics and for building better information systems. DSD is planning the implementation of similar capacity development workshops for developing countries in Asia and Africa.

For more information:

Workshop on Capacity Development for Mainstreaming Energy Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Targets and Indicators into Statistical Programmes in Selected Latin American Countries