1. Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template
Before the work planning session, we’ll go into a bit more detail about the Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template.
We’ve used both already. The Diagnostic Tool in preparing your presentations on Wednesday. And the Inventory Template in the FDES training yesterday.
I’ll try to keep to the highlights.

2. Overview Background Implementation steps
The Diagnostic Tool (Strategic planning)
The Inventory Template (Knowing what you have)
Group exercise
Prepare 2-minute “elevator speech” (90min)
Present to Prime Minister
We’ll give a bit of background on the need for integrated information. This reviews some of the material in the opening presentation.
Implementation of the SEEA is a multi-step, multi-stakeholder process.
The first step in implementation is Strategic Planning. The Diagnostic Tool helps us guide the conversation among stakeholders, experts and supporters.
The Inventory Template helps us to systematically document what data we already have.
The last section will be a group exercise where we’ll use the steps of the Diagnostic Tool to develop a short proposal.
An “elevator speech” is a practiced, 2-minute presentation. If you see your Deputy Minister in the elevator and you have 2 minutes, what would you say?
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 2

3. Background
Decisions and national visions are becoming more cross- sectoral and complex
Sustainable development, green economy, maintaining natural capital to support jobs & economic growth…
SDG 15.9
By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts
Environment statistics support more than half the SDGS
FDES & SEEA provide an integrated, coherent & comprehensive platform for integrating environmental statistics and linking to economic accounts
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

4. Implementation steps
Implementing new statistics requires Strategic Planning including an assessment of what you already have.
New statistics need to be relevant to users. Environment statistics need collaboration across stakeholders.
Strategic planning
Building statistical and institutional mechanisms
Strengthening national statistical systems
Producing accounts
Implementation is a cycle of planning, building, strengthening and production.
The objective is not only to produce accounts. In doing so, we need to ensure that the accounts address policy needs.
We also need to create mechanisms improve the national statistical system so that producing the accounts becomes easier and the results are more useful.
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

5. Implementation: 1. Strategic Planning
1. Strategic planning (Diagnostic Tool): Iterative understanding of priorities and capacities
National vision
Engage NSS
We need strategic plans to identify the policy and institutional landscape. Before we start working on compiling accounts, we need to engage partners, identify the priorities, and understand what we already have in terms of data, capacity and ongoing initiatives.
We can then use the strategic plans to inform our work plans and proposals to build support.
What is important is to link the needs in your country (indicators for policies) with what you have (data and capacity).
There is no point in developing capacity and accounts that no one will use.
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

6. Implementation: 1. Strategic Planning
Knowing what data you have
Inventory is based on steps of GSBPM
To document relevant statistical activities
This is especially important outside of NSOs since most departments don’t think of themselves as producers of statistics.
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

7. Implementation: 2. Building statistical and institutional mechanisms
Needs
Leadership
Funding
Monitoring
Implementation plan
Data sharing
New surveys
New compilation
The next step in implementation is building the statistical and institutional mechanisms to support and implement your work plan.
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

8. Implementation: 3. Strengthening National Statistical Systems
International guidance on statistical production
Share data
Centralize processes
Quality guidelines
Identify priority gaps
Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM)
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

9. Implementation 4: Produce the statistics
Partnerships
Get started
Learn by doing
Incremental improvement
Examples:
Netherlands: First energy account many people, two years; second update, one person 6 weeks.
Canada: 10 people updating 10+ accounts per year
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

10. Part 1: Diagnostic Tool

11. Strategic Planning… A. Understand B. Do 1. Policy priorities
2. Institutions
3. Knowledge
4. Progress
5. Context
6. Priorities for environment statistics
7. Constraints & Opportunities
C. Evaluate
= Work plan
You need to understand…
Before you do…
And then evaluate and understand more…
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

12. Strategic Planning The Diagnostic Tool is flexible and iterative:
Repeat the process with new stakeholders
Start at any step:
May focus on leveraging existing work (Step 4)
There may be institutional mechanisms in place with specific priorities (Step 2)
Useful for comparing notes with other countries
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 12

13. Understand: 1. Policy Priorities
What are your national priorities related to the environment, sustainability, biodiversity and green economy?
Are there immediate concerns about environment and natural resources?
Where would you find a statement of these priorities?
This becomes your Vision Statement
Priorities can be found in legislation, national development plans, sustainable development strategies,
Ideally, they would link environment and economy (e.g., natural heritage, jobs, poverty reduction, food security…)
Ecosystem assets/issues
Water
Wetlands
Biodiversity, Protected areas/species
Land
Forests
Agricultural areas
Climate/carbon
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

14. Understand: 1. Policy Priorities
National policy priorities (Examples):
Economic development
Jobs
Food security
Water security
Environmental concerns (Examples):
Conservation versus Development
Access to & distribution of natural resources
Supply/demand/cost of natural resources
Degradation and depletion
Mitigating risk of extreme events…
(Could ask for suggestions from participants and list on flip chart or screen)
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 14

15. Understand: 2. Institutions
Who are the stakeholders in environment, sustainability and green economy?
Producers of information
Users of information
Supporters of improved information and statistical processes
Are there institutional mechanisms already in place to make decisions?
Some stakeholders may be interested in promoting the use of their data
Others may be looking for data to use
Others may be looking for opportunities to improve the efficiency of data collection and production of indicators
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 15

16. Understand: 2. Institutions
Stakeholders (Examples):
National statistical offices
Environment & natural resource agencies
Finance & planning departments
Industry associations, development partners, NGOs
Institutional mechanisms (Examples):
Sustainable development committee
Task force reporting to international agencies
Interdepartmental statistics working group
Commission on…
National statistical offices can help integrate data and apply quality frameworks
Environment and natural resource agencies can provide and use data
Finance and planning agencies also have and need data
Industry associations, development partners and NGOs can support and use data
Institutional mechanisms
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 16

17. Understand: 3. Knowledge
What are the key national data sources that can be used as a basis for environment statistics?
What are the key documents and research initiatives related to these sources?
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 17

18. Understand: 3. Knowledge
Key data sources (Examples):
Land cover maps, ownership, soil inventory,
Water supply & quality, forestry, agriculture, fisheries data
Energy, minerals statistics
Socio-economic statistics
Documents and research initiatives (Examples):
Environment statistics compendia
State of the environment reports
Energy balances
SDG indicators…
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 18

19. Understand: 4. Progress
What progress has already been made in work related to environment statistics?
SEEA-CF Environmental-economic accounts
SEEA-EEA Ecosystem accounts
FDES compendia
SDG indicators
TEEB studies
WAVES studies
Climate National Communications
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 19

20. Understand: 4. Progress Examples of existing accounts and statistics:
SEEA-CF
Assets (land, soil, timber, aquatic, water)
Supply and use (timber, fish, water, air)
Monetary flows (protection expenditures)
SEEA-EEA
Ecosystem Extent, Condition and Capacity
Carbon
Biodiversity
Ecosystem Services Supply (physical or monetary)
Compendia based on FDES
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 20

21. Understand: 5. Context
What related statistical development activities could benefit (and benefit from) improved environment statistics?
Statistical standards, quality and process guidelines
Spatial data standards
Environmental data inventories
Biodiversity or ecosystem assessments
Reporting on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)
Green economy studies
Identify opportunities to build on and work with related initiatives
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 21

22. Understand: 5. Context
What related international development activities could benefit (and benefit from) better environment statistics?
UN Agencies
International NGOs
Bilateral
Identify opportunities to build on and work with related initiatives
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 22

23. Do: 6. Set priorities for new work
Now that we understand the:
Priorities
Institutions
Knowledge
Progress and
Context
What does this suggest as priorities for future development of environment statistics?
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 23

24. Do: 6. Set priorities for new work
Which accounts (or components) should be developed first? (Examples):
Land Accounts support many objectives
Water Accounts inform water security, use
Energy Account are an opportunity to harmonize energy information, identify gaps & link to Carbon
Waste Accounts can identify opportunities for efficiency and impact reduction
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 24

25. Do: 7. Consider opportunities and constraints
What are the opportunities for immediate actions to address these constraints? (Examples)
National Plan, SD strategies being developed
Need to address SDG indicators
Funding available, need a proposal
NBSAP: Link biodiversity targets to accounts
International initiatives (REDD+, SDGs, WAVES, IPBES, CBD…)
Have much data, need to integrate
SEEA training
REDD+ is the initiative to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
SDGs are the Sustainable Development Goals as recommended by the Post 2015 development agenda
WAVES is World Bank Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services
IPBES is the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
CBD is the Convention on Biological Diversity
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 25

26. Do: 7. Consider opportunities and constraints
What are the constraints to achieving these priorities? (Examples)
Too little technical capacity
Too few people with expertise
No platform for integrating spatial data
No funding
No institutional mechanism for collaboration and sharing
Need to prepare national engagement: meetings, mechanisms, prototypes…
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 26

27. Do: Develop a work plan Identify a 3-5 year Work Plan that
Addresses national sustainable development priorities
Engages stakeholders
Leverages knowledge, progress and current initiatives
Overcomes constraints
Takes advantage of opportunities
 to develop priority statistics within an integrated statistical infrastructure
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 27

28. Do: Develop a work plan
Immediate next steps (data, institutions, capacity) (Examples):
Conduct inventory of available data
Create a platform for sharing data
Engage partners in addressing data needs for international initiatives
Initiate national SEEA training program
Seek a coalition of partners for funding
Develop a prototype account (proof of concept)
Establish working groups and design a process
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template 28

29. Part 2: Inventory Template

30. Knowing what you have
Part of strategic planning is to understand what data already exist
Important for NSOs and data providers
NSOs should already produce metadata on their own statistical activities (surveys, administrative data, secondary collections)
International statistical community uses GSBPM to document statistical processes and how they link
Consolidation of common processes
Reducing duplication
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

31. The statistics “Supply Chain”
Inventory is based on steps of GSBPM
To document statistical activities
Statistics
Accounts
Indicators
Publications, databases
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

32. Inventory concepts Granularity: What level to document?
Survey
Account
Indicators database
Significance: Is it important?
Relevance to environment statistics
Used for policy decisions or reporting
Ongoing
National in scope
Authoritative source
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

33. Inventory components Description Sources and contents Methods Outputs
Name, description, responsible…
Sources and contents
Variables measured, sources
Methods
Transformation and validation
Outputs
Variables, geographic scope & scale, reference period…
Access
Formats, requirements, Internet address..
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

34. How to do an inventory
Similar to approach used by Statistics Canada (Databases for Environmental Analysis, 1998)
Two students under expert supervision
Three months from beginning to end
Over 1,200 databases documented
Process:
Pre-fill from known information (e.g., Web)
Contact data manager  send form
Review and revise
Updated in 2012 from Internet only
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

35. Take home messages Implementing new environment statistics requires:
Strategic planning (Diagnostic Tool)
Knowing what you already have (Inventory Template)
It can’t be done alone
Engage stakeholders
Address constraints and take advantage of opportunities
Take advantage of ESCAP’s services to advise
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

36. Questions and comments?

37. Next session
90 minutes to update main points of Diagnostic Tool presentation
Lunch
Short (2min) “elevator speech” to Prime Minister:
Because the national vision to …
…requires addressing the priorities of …
To do this, we already have …
But we need better measures of …
We can’t do this now because …
So we need to …
This will take … months and cost $...
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

38. References
ECE GSBPM: al+Business+Process+Model
ESCAP:
IMF-DQAF:
Paris 21. NSDS:
UNSD Fundamental principles of official statistics.
UNSD FDES:
UNSD SEEA:
Training materials:
World Bank. WAVES:
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template

39. Acknowledgement Materials prepared by: Michael Bordt
Regional Adviser on Environment Statistics
ESCAP Statistics Division
Environment Statistics Diagnostic Tool and Inventory Template