UNITED NATIONSECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (ESCAP)STATISTICAL INSTITUTE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (SIAP)
Training Programme on Environment Statistics and the System ofEnvironmental-Economic Accounting for SDGs
2-6 September 2019
Chiba Japan
Concept Note
Development of evidence-based sustainable development strategies and policies relies onavailable and reliable statistics. Mainstreaming the measurement of environmental concerns
as part of the regular data collection programs of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) would
give policy makers the means to make balanced policy choices for sustainable development.
It will also assist with monitoring national and international sustainable development
initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Statistical approaches tomeasuring such measurements include the Framework for the Development of Environment
Statistics (FDES) and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).
The FDES provides information about the state and changes of environmental conditions, thequality and availability/use of environmental resources, the impact of human activities on theenvironment and the impact of changing environmental conditions on human lives andlivelihoods. It also provides information about the social actions and economic measures thatsocieties take to avoid or mitigate these impacts and to restore and maintain the capacity ofthe environment to provide the services that are essential for life and human well-being.
The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its 44th session endorsed the FDES 2013 as
the framework for strengthening environment statistics programmes in countries, andrecognized it as a useful tool in the context of SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda.
The FDES 2013 organizes environment statistics into six components and each of them isbroken down into subcomponents and statistical topics.
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is a framework that integrates
economic and environmental data to provide a more comprehensive and multipurpose viewof the interrelationships between the economy and the environment, the stocks and changes
in stocks of environmental assets as they bring benefits to humanity, as well as residuals
generated by human activities to the environment. It contains the internationally agreed
standard concepts, definitions, classifications, accounting rules and tables for producing
internationally comparable statistics and accounts. The SEEA framework follows a similaraccounting structure as the System of National Accounts (SNA). The framework uses
concepts, definitions and classifications consistent with the SNA in order to facilitate theintegration of environmental and economic statistics. The SEEA is a multi-purpose systemthat generates a wide range of statistics, accounts and indicators with many different potential
analytical applications. It is a flexible system that can be adapted to countries' priorities andpolicy needs while at the same time providing a common framework, concepts, terms anddefinitions.
The SEEA Central Framework allows for the measurement and a better understanding ofenvironmental-economic interactions. The SEEA has also been identified as a usefulframework for monitoring and reporting for the 2030 sustainable development agenda insupport of inclusive sustainable development.
Together, the FDES and the SEEA support a wide range of the SDGs including, but notlimited to, Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation, Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy, Goal
12: Responsible consumption and production, Goal 13: Climate action, Goal 14: Life
below water and Goal 15: Life on land.
The training programme will provide the opportunity for participants to learn basic concepts
and frameworks, with hands-on sessions, of the FDES and the SEEA, with the overall aim tostrengthen capacity to produce a set of statistics and indicators to inform environment-related
policy decisions at the national and international levels.
Objectives
The main objectives of the workshop include:• Improve understanding of basic concepts and frameworks on environment statistics
including the FDES and the SEEA;• Produce selected indicators using their national data, and acquire basic knowledge
and skills on the accounting principles and identify basic data needs for compilingenvironmental-economic accounts;• Facilitate experience sharing among participating countries, and to understandcountry plans, and identify opportunities for collaboration; and• Promote the use of environment statistics in policy formulation and monitoring.
Expected outputs• Enhanced training capacity in participating countries to produce environment
statistics, and understand basic concepts and applications of the SEEA Central
Framework, as well as, data requirements for basic accounts; and• Recommendations for a regular ESCAP training programme on environment statistics.
Topics
The workshop will broadly cover the following:• Overview of environment statistics, FDES, SEEA and SDG context in relation toenvironment statistics;• Indicators: data sources, approaches, calculation and reporting;• Natural disaster indicators and sources;• Refresher on SEEA (data sources, compilation methods, approaches): Physical flow,Water, Solid Waste, and Land;• Applying the SEEA diagnostic tool and connecting with policy makers and users; and• Individual/group research on national data sources, and application issues.

Provisional Schedule of Training Programme on Environment Statistics and the System ofEnvironmental-Economic Accounting for SDGs is attached
Participants
Target audience will include one middle-level technical staff from the NSO, and one middlelevel officer from the Ministry of Environment which uses or provides environmental
information for policy formulation.
The following countries are invited to this course: Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, Maldives, Micronesia (Federal States of), Myanmar, Sri Lanka,Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vanuatu.
The training programme will be held over five days and in English.
All sessions for this training programme will be jointly delivered to participants of anothertraining programme on Theory and Practices in Official Statistics for Monitoring SDGs
together.
Pre-workshop requirements
Participants are expected to be familiar with the followings.
• FDES: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ENVIRONMENT/fdes.htm• SEEA: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seea.asp