1. United Nations Statistics Division
Global Assessment of Environment Statistics and Environment-Economic Accounting
Regional Workshop on Water Accounting Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic June 2007
Ilaria DiMatteo
United Nations Statistics Division

2. Outline Introduction of the Global Assessment
Overview of the global status in environment statistics and environmental accounting
Scope of the programmes
Factors impeding for the development and compilation of the environment statistics and environmental accounting
General summary of ECLAC countries’ reply to the global assessment
Follow up survey on water and energy

3. Introduction of the Global Assessment
Request by the UNCEEA
Global assessment in two phases
Information collection items in phase I
Part A, environment statistics
Part B, environmental-economic accounting
Report to the UN Statistical Commission

4. Overview of the global status in environment Statistics and environmental accounting
Country response:
97 countries responded to Part A, 88 (91%) countries have environment statistics programmes;
70% of 88 countries are planning to expand environment statistics.
99 countries responded to Part B, 49 (49%) countries have the environmental accounting programme
about 20 countries not compiling environmental accounts have plans to start with their compilation in the near future

5. Scope of Environment Statistics Programmes
Six areas most commonly covered areas of environment statistics:
Water – the most commonly compiled statistics in both developed and developing regions
Air
Forest
Land
Energy
Agriculture

6. Scope of the Environmental Accounting Programmes
The accounts most commonly compiled:
Energy and Emission accounts
Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts
Water – most compiled account in developing countries
Forest
Material Flow/Waste Accounts
Mineral Asset Accounts

7. Factors impeding the development of environment statistics
Lack of human resources (72%)
Lack of financial resources (60%)
Lack of institutional set-up/coordination (51%)
Lack of access to training material (32%)
Lack of interest by the users (15%)

8. Main impeding factors for the development of environmental accounting
Lack of human resources (69%)
Lack of financial resources (68%)
Availability of data (61%)
Quality of data (52%)
Lack of institutional set-up/coordination (39%)
Lack of interest by the users (34%)
Lack of access to training material (31%)

9. Factors impeding the compilation of environment accounts
Availability of data (88%)
Quality of data (64%)
Lack of human resources (62%)
Lack of financial resources (55%)
Lack of institutional set-up/coordination (29%)
Lack of interest by the users (26%)
Lack of access to training material (21%)

10. Summary of ECLAC countries’ reply to the Global Assessment
Among 33 Latin American and the Caribbean ECLAC countries, 19 (58%) replied to the Global Assessment
19 responding countries were:
Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic (Oficina Nacional de Estadistica, and Central Bank), Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

11. ECLAC countries environment statistics programmes mainly cover
Among the 19 responding countries, 14 countries have environment statistics programmes.
Water (12 countries)
Air (10 countries)
Forest (11 countries)
Land (11 countries)
Energy (12 countries)
Agriculture (12 countries)

12. Problems encountered in ECLAC countries in developing and compiling the environment statistics
Among the 19 responding countries, 13 have indicated similar problems encountered by other countries:
lack of financial and human resources
lack of institutional set-up/coordination
lack of access to training material
availability of data
quality of data

13. ECLAC countries environmental accounting programmes mainly cover
Among the 19 responding countries, 4 countries --- Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico --- are compiling environmental accounts
Colombia: Water, mineral asset, energy and emission, forest, material flows, environmental protection expenditure.
Dominican Republic: Water
Guatemala : Forest, Water
Mexico: Water, mineral asset, energy and emission, forest, land and ecosystem, environmental protection expenditure.

14. Problems encountered in ECLAC countries in developing and compiling the environmental accounts
For countries with environmental accounting programmes, similar problems are singled out as encountered by other countries:
lack of financial and human resources
lack of institutional set-up/coordination
lack of access to training material
availability of data
quality of data

15. Follow up surveys Energy Statistics and Balances
Energy and Air Emission Accounts
Water Statistics and Accounts

16. Conclusions
Environment statistics and environmental accounts are established and expanding components of national statistical programs
While environmental accounting is new, nearly half (49%) of the responding countries have an environmental accounting programme. Another 20% are planning on compiling environmental accounts
Water statistics and accounts are priority areas
Lack of human and financial resources impede the implementation of both environmental statistics and accounting programmes