1. Robert Mayo, Statistics Division FAO
17th Meeting of the London Group on Environmental Accounting September, Stockholm
27/03/2017
Towards a
System of Environmental Economic Accounting for Agriculture
Robert Mayo,
Statistics Division FAO 1 1

2. Content and acknowledgement
The need of an accounting framework for agriculture and the environment
Integrating agriculture activities in one framework
Relationship with other accounting frameworks
Implementation feasibility
Proposed handbook development process
Acknowledgement:
Juan-Pablo Castaneda and Jamie Luis Carrera, Institute of Agriculture, Rafael Landivar University, Guatemala, prepared the underlying UNCEEA paper

3. Why a SEEA-Agriculture?
Policy and research needs – strong relationship between Agriculture and the environment
major user of direct inputs from the environment;
major contributor to environment degradation;
major provider/user of ecosystem services
Builds on existing accounting frameworks
SEAFA and EEA = extension to include sustainability of production, consumption and accumulation
SEEA-FO and SEEA-FI = extension to cover the whole Agricultural sector

4. Why a SEEA-Agriculture?
Provides the conceptual framework for the Global Strategy to improve Agricultural and Rural statistics, (UNSC, Feb. 2010):
Foundation for integrating food and agricultural statistics into National Statistical System;
Establishing a core minimum set of statistical indicators;
Multidimensional information system that combines and harmonize data from various surveys and censuses.
SEEA-AGRI can play an important role in GSIARS:
Adopting an accounting approach for a statistical framework has the advantage of having a set of standard classifications from which consistent and comprehensive set of data series are compiled that are comparable across countries. The coherence of the data series will subsequently ensure a mutually consistent set of derived analytical indicators.
The accounts can provide a complete set of variables and standard terminologies for identifying and designing a core and minimum set of agricultural indicators, all based on the standard classifications both from the SNA and the SEEA. The accounts can also be used to develop new indicators, such as environmentally-adjusted macro-aggregates which would not otherwise be available.
The framework also responds to the need of having a multipurpose information system that can be used to combine and harmonize data from various surveys and censuses together into an integrated database.

5. What is SEEA-Agriculture?
Subsystem of the SEEA: Standard satellite account for the integration of agriculture and environmental data;
Allows monitoring of the economic importance of agriculture; estimation of its full costs & benefits; improvement of its management; Life cycle analysis appr.
Based upon internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and inter-related tables and accounts;
Relevant for both developed and developing countries;
Different from other SEEA subsystem => focuses on one broad activity rather than on one specific resource.

6. Integrating agricultural activities
Definition of Agriculture in the ISIC rev. 4, includes 3 groups of activities:
Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities
Forestry and logging
Fishing and aquaculture
Reasons for integration of these 3 groups of activities:
closely interconnected at the farm level (most farms are engaged in more that one of these activities at the same time);
same data source (common for agricultural surveys and censuses to include some information about all this group of activities).
All 3 sub-sectors strongly related to basic population needs of food, energy, shelter and other uses of raw materials.
Thus the SEEA-AGRI provides an integrated accounting framework for evaluating and monitoring these activities in their relationship with environmental assets. As a result the SEEA-AGRI has the potential to analyse in an integrated way issues such as food security, poverty, biofuels production, informal and rural employment, climate change adaptation, among others..

7. The SEEA-AGRI as SEEA subsystem
SNA
FAO agriculture and food accounting
SEAFA
SEEA
EAA
SEEA accounts
SUA
Forest
The SEEA-AGRI can be considered a subsystem of the SEEA
This is different from other subsystems of the SEEA in the sense that rather than focusing on one specific resource, it focuses on one activity and consider the relationship between these activity with environmental assets.
SEEA-AGRI links to the SEEA and its assets providing new elements of analysis which are not necessarily incorporated in the SEEA (in figure 1 only some specific SEEA accounts are shown).
In turn the SEEA provides the elements that are of interest for the SEEA-AGRI (e.g. water abstraction and consumption for agricultural activities).
FAO’s current frameworks, mainly Food Balance Sheets (FBS) and Supply and Utilization Accounts (SUA) are completely integrated to the framework. Furthermore, previous efforts (i.e. System of Economic Accounts for Food and Agriculture -SEAFA- and Economic Accounts for Agriculture -EAA-) are incorporated at least in the conceptual aspects relevant to SEEA-AGRI
: thus, specific aspects of other accounts (e.g. water abstraction and consumption for agricultural activities) are used in the SEEA-AGRI. Three crosscutting themes are biofuels (relative to energy accounts), land (relative to land accounts) and water (relative to water accounts).
Furthermore, previous efforts (Economic Accounts for Agriculture -EAA and Supply and Utilization Accounts -SUA) are incorporated at least in the conceptual aspects relevant to SEEA-AGRI. ,
Fishery
Water
SEEA-AGRI
Energy
Land and ecosystems

8. Feasibility of implementation
The flexibility of the system allows a modular and selective approach according to: Data availability; Data quality; Country agricultural structure
3 types of datasets: minimum requirement; recommended; desired
Identification of a core account is critical for upscaling and implementation
Technical capacity in countries needs to be strengthened (link to the implementation Plan of the Global Strategy)
Synergies with the implementation of the SEEA

9. SEEA-AGRI Development Process
UNCEEA agreed to include the development of the SEEA-Agriculture in its medium term work plan and to be led by FAO;
London Group to establish a subgroup on Agriculture as a forum to develop the new guidelines;
Make use of the experiences of countries which have already undertaken some SEEA-Agriculture (e.g. Germany, Netherlands and Sweden);

10. SEEA-AGRI Development Process
UNCEEA and the LG as forums for review and discussion towards development of SEEA-AGRI
SEEA-Agri is very important for the development of Vol. 2 of the SEEA because of its strong linkage with Ecosystem accounting.
Proposed roadmap includes 5 stages in a 2(3) year process
SEEA-Agri development from current country experiences
Pilots - Use the available data in FAO to build the accounts for a number of countries and verify therefore what the problems/data gaps are