African Centre for Statistics United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Session 1: Need for environment statistics and Indicators Workshop on Environment Statistics and Accounts 7 – 11 March 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

African Centre for Statistics Outline of Presentation I. Introduction II. Regional and International environmental conventions III. Thematic/topical international data collections IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections

African Centre for Statistics I. Introduction Environment statistics and indicators are required at national, sub- regional, regional and global levels: To monitor progress in national environmental policies To meet main types of regional / international requirements To follow up on global conferences (CSD, MDGs) To report to international and regional conventions To respond to thematic/topical international data collections To respond to comprehensive international environment statistics data collections

African Centre for Statistics I. Introduction (cont’d) The main regional and global conferences related to environment o Millennium Summit o Conference on Sustainable Development (CSD) o NEPAD Environment Initiative o Other Development related conference Need of environment statistics: To monitor progress based on an agreed set of indicators

African Centre for Statistics II. Regional and International environmental conventions II. International environmental conventions and programmes that most African countries ratified included: –Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Basel, 1989.Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal –Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Stockholm, 2001.Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants –Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, Rotterdam, 1998.Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade –Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, 1971.Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat

African Centre for Statistics II. Regional and International environmental conventions (cont’d) –Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, (CITES), Washington DC, 1973.Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna –Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Bonn, 1979.Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals –Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage –Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), Paris, 1994.Convention to Combat Desertification –Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Nairobi, 1992.Convention on Biological Diversity –The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), New York, 1992.

African Centre for Statistics II. Regional and International environmental conventions (cont’d) Regional environmental conventions: –London Convention for the Protection of Wild Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa (1900) –African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1968) –Protocol on Protected Areas and Wild Flora and Fauna in Easter Africa Region (1985) –Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of West and Central African Region

African Centre for Statistics II. Regional and International environmental conventions (cont’d) –Convention on Establishing a Permanent inter-state drought control committee for the Sahel –Bamako convention on the ban of the import into Africa and the control of trans-boundary movement and management of hazardous wastes within Africa –Lusaka agreement on cooperative enforcement operations directed at illegal trade in wild fauna and flora Need for environment statistics: To monitor compliance with regulations based on a prescribed set of data by national parties

African Centre for Statistics III. Thematic/topical international data collections Objective: To provide internationally comparable data based on standard questionnaires and methodology. The aim is not directly environmental but the data are used in environment statistics. Examples: UNSD:-Energy statistics, industrial commodity statistics, trade statistics, national accounts, demographic statistics FAO AQUASTAT (water) FAOSTAT (agriculture, nutrition, fisheries, forestry, food aid, land use and population) FISHSTAT (fisheries) Etc.

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections Objective: To provide internationally comparable statistics on environmental issues based on standard questionnaires and methodology at national level o UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics o OECD/Eurostat Questionnaire on the State of the Environment

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Duplication of requests and related problems International organizations may ask for the same or similar data/indicators, creating unnecessary burden on countries; Equally, more than one national organization may collect (and provide to the international organizations) the same or similar data in parallel, ending up with diverging figures for the same country; International organizations may use different concepts, definitions and classifications that end up with apparently duplicate data requests; Deviations from the international definitions motivate organizations to manipulate country data to ensure comparability and as a result, there will be differences between data from international and national sources.

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Consistency between questionnaires UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire is consistent with the OECD/Eurostat Questionnaire The UNSD questionnaire asks for less detailed information than the OECD/Eurostat questionnaire The Water questionnaire is consistent with SEEAW (water accounts) Any regional questionnaires should be consistent with UNSD/UNEP and OECD/Eurostat questionnaires

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Coordination Efforts to avoid duplication by using data available at international sources instead of asking it from the countries Sometimes duplication is apparent and unavoidable (e.g. FAO land use statistics versus UNSD land use questionnaire) International Coordination of Environment Statistics UNSD is actively promoting coordination between international and regional organizations through the Inter-secretariat Working Group on Environment Statistics (IWG-ENV).

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) The main objective of the IWG-ENV: o Harmonization of international data and their collection. It focuses on: o Development and harmonization of methods; concepts, definitions and classifications o Coordination of data collection o Coordination of training Members include: UNSD, UN-ECE, UNEP, FAO, OECD, Eurostat

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics o 2004 Questionnaire included sections on: Air; Land; Waste; and Water o 2006 Questionnaire included sections on: Waste; and Water o 2008 Questionnaire includes sections on: Waste; and Water o 2010 Questionnaire includes sections on: Waste; and Water All the Questionnaires could be accessed at the UNSD website (

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire Contents Waste 2010 R1: Generation of Waste by Source R2: Management of Hazardous Waste R3: Management of Municipal Waste R4: Composition of Municipal Waste R5: Management of Municipal Waste – City Data R6: Supplementary information sheet

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Water 2010 W1: Renewable Freshwater Resources W2: Freshwater Abstraction W3: Freshwater Available for Use W4: Total water use W5: Water Supply Industry (ISIC 36) W6: Wastewater treatment facilities W7: Population connected to wastewater treatment W8: Supplementary information sheet

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Air 2004 Emissions A1: Emissions of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) A2: Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) A3: Emissions of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NM-VOCs) A4: Emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) A5: Emissions of Methane (CH4) A6: Emissions of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) A7: Emissions of Lead (Pb) A8: Supplementary Information Sheet for Emissions Data

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Air Ambient air quality A9: Annual Mean Concentrations of Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) in Ambient Air A10: Annual Mean Concentrations of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in Ambient Air A11: Annual Mean Concentrations of Suspended Particulate Matter (<10µm) (SPM10) in Ambient Air A12: Supplementary Information Sheet for Ambient Air Quality Data

African Centre for Statistics IV. Comprehensive international environment statistics data collections (cont’d) Land 2004 L1: Land Use L2: Area Affected by Soil Erosion L3: Area Affected by Salinization L4: Area Affected by Desertification L5: Supplementary Information Sheet on the Land Section

African Centre for Statistics V. Data Dissemination Data collected by the Questionnaires are available at the UNSD website ECA gets its environment data and indicators online from UNSD websites

African Centre for Statistics VI. Conclusions The main requirements of environment statistics are to Meet the data needs of users at national, regional and international levels To report to regional and international conventions and conferences on the status of the environment Data collection is undertaken in a coordinated manner International organizations share available environment statistics and indicators among themselves The response rate to the UNSD/UNEP Questionnaires is low, it needs improvement, NSOs in collaboration with other stakeholders in countries need to fill the questionnaires with whatever available data

African Centre for Statistics United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Thank You