OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Development of environmental performance and sustainable development indicators in Mexico Salvador Sánchez-Colón Director General for Environmental Information and Statistics, Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Review major advancements/achievements in the development of environmental indicators and sustainable development indicators in Mexico Examine lessons learned Explore ways for better advancing these efforts Objectives

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Background First landmark: Report on the state of the environment in Mexico (Ministry of Urban Development and Ecology, Mexico, 1986) UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) - Agenda 21, Chapter 40 th : Information for decision making UN Commission for Sustainable Development: Sustainable Development Indicators Program 1995 Mexicos entry to the OECD 1994: Involvement in OECDs environmental information initiatives (Environmental Data Compendium, Core set of environmental indicators, Environmental Performance reviews)

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Background Objectives Fulfil international obligations (e.g. OECD, UN-CSD, etc.) Evaluate progress towards sustainable development Support for policy and decision making Inform society

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Types of indicators Environmental indicators.- Describe the behaviour of separate components of the environment (e.g., air quality, water pollution, etc.) Sustainable development indicators.- Indicators systems aimed to describe the economic, social, environmental and institutional aspects of development. Aggregation approaches: Indices.- linear combination of weighted variables and indicators Environmental accounts, based on the monetary valuation of environmental components and services

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Environmental indicators Indicators for the assessment of environmental performance (SEMARNAP, 1997, 2000) Purpose: Disseminating information about the state of the environment, making effective the people's right to access to environmental information Scheme: OECDs Pressure-State-Response

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Subject themes 1997 edition Air Hazardous waste Municipal solid waste Wildlife Stratosppheric Ozone depletion Climate change Added in 2000 edition Water resources Forests Soils Fisheries Environmental indicators

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Basic Indicators of Mexicos environmental performance (SEMARNAT, 20005) Subject themes Air quality and atmosphere (GHG, ODS) Water (Quality and supply) Waste (municipal and hazrdous) Soils Biodiversity (freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems) Fisheries Forest resources OECDs PSR scheme Environmental indicators

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Mexicos Sustainable development indicators (SEMARNAP-INEGI, 2000) UN Comission for Sustainable Development pilot project 22 countries participating (six from LA & C) 113 indicators compiled (out of 134) Sustainable development indicators

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Sustainable development indicators Mexicos Sustainable development indicators (SEMARNAP-INEGI, 2000) Arranged by SD dimensions Following PSR scheme Related to the Agenda 21 chapters

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Mexicos Environmental Sustainability Index Adaptation of the World Economic Forum & Yale and Columbia Universitiess Environmental Sustainability Index Interpretation and adaptations specific for México. State-level analysis to account for the high environmental and socio-economic heterogeneity of the country Aggregated approaches

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Mexicos Environmental Sustainability Index Aggregated approaches

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Aggregated approaches Mexicos Environmentally Adjusted Net Domestic Product (INEGI, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) Depletion of natural resources: Oil, forests, soils and ground water Environmental degradation: air, water, and soils

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Aggregated approaches Mexicos Environmentally Adjusted Net Domestic Product (INEGI, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Lessons learned General issues Unequal progress in Latin-American and Caribbean countries Differences between LA & C countries and OECD countries –LA & C countries: Biodiversity, Use and management of natural resources –OECD and developed countries: Pollution, energy use, material flows, etc. Limited use in policy and decision-making –Indicators developed following international initiatives –Disaggregated data not available –Inadequate data timeliness Right to access to environmental information

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Lessons learned Environmental indicators Limited or poor data availability. High costs of developing/maintaining environmental indicators/information systems against limited budgets and capabilities. Sustainable development indicators Little success in integrating social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects. Aggregated approaches Indices: Great communicational power, but open to methodological criticisms (arbitrary selection and weighing of variables, multicolineality and redundancy of variables included, arbitrary scaling, etc.), loss of credibility. Environmentally adjusted Net Domestic Product: Incomplete consideration of environmental components, assumptions in the valuation of environmental degradation/depletion, results open to criticisms

OECD World Forum Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, Palermo, November Desirable future developments OECDs role: PSR scheme, Core set of environmental indicators Data/indicator systems hierarchically arranged: Municipality- level, State-level, Country-level, Region-wide level, Global level OECDs expanded cooperation: –Non-OECD countries –International agencies (e.g., UNEP, ILAC, CCAD, etc.)