Overview of Environment Statistics

Overview of Environment Statistics
Good morning and thanks for coming. I’m especially grateful to the Learning Centre, who coordinated this event. This is a story with two main themes: coherence and integration. To demonstrate, I’ll ask you to work with me on this… Please point to your office. This represents the “old model” of fragmented statistics. Now, point to me…This is the “new model” of coherent statistics addressing a common policy platform, like the SDGs. We can also talk about the parts (the details) and the integration of parts. Raise you hands if you see your work as focussing on the details: one location, one issue, one process… Group A: You’re important, because you provide the depth that we need to answer complex problems. If you see your work as integrating the parts, raise your hand. That is, you’re working on understanding the “big picture”. Group B: You’re important, too, because you make sure that we’re asking the right questions. The well-known Canadian ecologist CS Holling, suggested that Group A and Group B need to understand each other. If not, Group A risks providing precise answers to the wrong questions. Group B risks providing imprecise answers to the right questions. I’ve spent most of my academic and professional career negotiating between the two.

Highlights of Presentation
Decisions are becoming more integrated: SDGs, green economy, climate, biodiversity, nexuses Need integrated, ongoing, reliable information Environment statistics are produced by many agencies Fragmented and require standardization Official statisticians have tools and capacity to standardize and integrate environment statistics FDES guidance on collecting environment data SEEA for integrating environmental with economic data Like me, SEEA is pretty much the middle-man between detail and “the whole”. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Observation on accounting:
If we managed our economy the way we manage our environment, we’d still be hunter-gatherers. - Michael Bordt, 2015 Account for Natural Capital Jane Gleeson-White in her book Six Capitals: or can accountants save the world? makes the case that companies and governments need to make integrated decisions to optimize all forms of capital: Financial, Manufactured, Intellectual, Human, Social & Relationship, Natural. We’ll focus on the natural capital part. Our environment is our natural capital and to measure it, we need environment statistics. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

What’s the problem? Decisions are becoming more integrated:
Sustainable development; green economy; climate change; biodiversity Develop or conserve? Where to develop? Short/Long-term benefits? Who benefits? Environment statistics are produced by many agencies Therefore fragmented and require standardization NSOs have focussed on economic and social statistics May not have people or institutional arrangements to produce environment statistics ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Decisions are integrated (example)
People need water, food and energy, while limiting climate change Viable energy options may reduce equitable access to water and food while adding to unBearable climate change Local optimization doesn’t work any more! Integrated decision making means trade-offs between conservation and development. We can’t have it all (or can we?). We can identify optimal solutions. New statistical tools enable us to quantify these linkages and understand the trade-offs. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Why National Statistical Offices (NSOs)?
“Fundamental principles of official statistics” foster: Culture of quality, impartiality, confidentiality, relevance Trust by government, business and civil society Tools and expertise to work with complex data Confidential data collection processes (surveys, accounts, administrative data) can be adapted for environment statistics Often custodians of the National Statistical System & SDG monitoring and reporting What do statisticians and accountants have to do with all this? Statisticians work with numbers and tables, but don’t quite have the sparkling personalities to be accountants. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Environment statistics are interdisciplinary and inter-institutional
Environment statistics are about: the state of the environment, our dependence on it, our impact on it, it’s impact on us (even negative ones), and how we protect and manage it. This information comes from many institutions using different methods, concepts and classifications. You need to be a bit of an ecologist, environmental scientist, geographer, economist, sociologist…It’s not easy! You need to work with other agencies: Not many statistics agencies directly count trees, birds, pollution, coal reserves… FDES: Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Information, data, statistics, accounts and indicators
Metadata The world Information Rules: Structure, Aggregate Data: Qualitative Quantitative Themes: Stock/flow Statistics Accounts Select Indicators Combine Indices ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Three solitudes… What do you have? What do you want?
Official Statistics Policy Time frame? Advocacy? Process orientation? Standards? Consistency over time? Coherence? Infrastructure? Complexity? Data management? What do you need to know? Science In the worst case, there’s no communication among science, official statistics and policy Questions difficult to answer individually. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

How can we solve problems?
…or convergence? How can we solve problems? How can we help? Official Statistics Policy Science You should know this! Collaboration Common objectives Understand strengths Develop capacity Develop infrastructure Identify gaps Ongoing statistics In the best case, there’s constructive collaboration (beyond what do you have? What do you want?) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Statistical tools for integration
National Planning High quality indicators SEEA: System of Environmental-Economic Accounting  Standards for measuring interactions between environment and economy SNA: System of National Accounts  Standards for measuring the economy Integrated accounts FDES: Framework for the Development of Environmental Statistics  Basic statistics Harmonized data (standards & processes) What do we do if everything is related to everything else?  get organized… Integrate the parts with the whole. Like I said, we have (some of) the technology. Some countries are using Social Accounting Matrices to link people to economic accounts. We don’t really have standards across all domains. GSBPM: Generic Statistical Business Process Model  Integrated statistical processes DQAF: Data Quality Assessment Framework  Quality guidelines NSDS: National Strategies for the Development of Statistics Diagnostic Tool, Inventory Template  Strategic planning and assessment Fragmented environmental, economic and social data ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

FDES Structure FDES describes the scope and components of environment statistics; harmonizes data with common standards  SEEA integrates these data into “accounts” ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA in the SNA SNA 2008 p. 534 As with the SNA, the SEEA accounts provide a scorekeeping function from which key indicators can be derived and a management function in that they can be used in the analysis of policy options. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Another observation on accounting
Indicators Accounts Economic Data Economic statistics: Macro-economic theory Trusted framework (SNA) Accepted indicators (GDP…) Statistical infrastructure Environment statistics: Many theories Collected for specific purposes Few accepted indicators Little statistical infrastructure ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA is A coherent measurement framework linked to SNA:
Aligns concepts, classifications and methods Based on accounting principles & systems theory Flexible and modular Select and adapt components to country needs Don’t need to be complete to be useful Since 1992, has been implemented, in part, by over 90 countries Is NOT: a model, database or analytical framework ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA does Provide guidance on producing “accounts” for: Natural inputs to the economy, Impacts of the economy on the environment, and Expenditures to mitigate impacts Support sustainable statistical infrastructure to regularly produce relevant accounts and indicators Improve coherence by standardizing concepts, classifications and methods Reduce overlaps in data collection “collect once, use many times” Improve relevance by linking to SNA Examples of implementation: Canada: GHGs, freshwater supply-demand, land, ecosystems NL: energy, ecosystems Australia: water, energy, carbon, ecosystems ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

International platforms for integration
Agenda 21, Rio +20, SDGs: Integrate nature into decision making!!! OECD Green Growth World Bank WAVES IPBES, IPCC UNDP Biofin UNEP, FAO, UNDP: REDD+ UNEP TEEB, Green Economy, SCP CBD Aichi Targets Many international SD/environmental platforms recognize SEEA as an underlying measurement framework. This is one way to encourage communication and collaboration between them. Unfortunately, this link has not been maintained in the definition of the SDG indicators. IPBES expressed early interest in the SEEA. IPCC use different concepts and classifications from the SNA, but they can be bridged. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Stocks & flows in the SEEAs
National wealth National Balance Sheet Resource life Environment Stocks Minerals & energy Timber Aquatic Other biological Water Ecosystems + conditions Flows Materials Energy Water Ecosystem services Benefits/Costs SNA: Contribution of natural inputs to economy (rent) Depletion, degradation adjusted net savings Non-SNA: Contribution of natural inputs to well being Expenditures on protection, management Externalities? Economy Production Consumption Accumulation Imports Exports Residuals Solid waste Air emissions Effluents Ecosystem impacts It’s difficult to account for all natural inputs, products and residuals at once, so we group them… Mitigate & Manage Protection $ Goods & Services Taxes & subsidies SEEA - Physical flows

Environment accounts and statistics
SEEA-CF (Central Framework) Assets Physical flows Monetary flows Minerals & Energy, Land, Timber, Soil, Water, Aquatic, Other Biological Materials, Energy, Water, Emissions, Effluents, Wastes Protection expenditures, taxes & subsidies SEEA Water; SEEA Energy; SEEA Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Add sector detail As above for Water Energy Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries SEEA-EEA (Experimental Ecosystem Accounting) Adds spatial detail and ecosystem perspective Extent, Condition, Ecosystem Services, Carbon, Water, Biodiversity FDES (Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics) Basic statistics for above plus… Extreme events and disasters Human settlements and health Protection, management & engagement Six SEEA accounts are required in EU Countries by legislation: Air emissions, material flows, energy, EPE, EGSS, taxes & subsidies, The SNA 2008 is 722 pages The SEEA-CF is only 346 The SEEA-EEA is only 198 ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Where to start? Priority concerns (from ADB Myanmar Environmental Performance Review 2012) Related accounts and statistics Related SDGs 1. Forest degradation 3. Land degradation Land Asset Account Ecosystem Account (Extent) 15 Life on Land 2. Water resources and quality Water Account (Asset; Supply /Use) Ecosystem Account (Water) 6 Water 14 Life on Water 4. Climate change Energy Account  Air Emissions Ecosystem Account (Carbon) 7 Energy 13 Climate 5. Solid waste management Solid Waste Account 11 Urban 12 Consumption 6. Biodiversity loss Ecosystem Account (Biodiversity) 14 Oceans 7. Impacts of mining on the environment Ecosystem Account (Condition) Table 2: Ranking of Priority Environmental Concerns in Myanmar Priority Environmental Concerns Description of Concerns 1 Forest resources Losses of forest vegetation, forest area, decline of forest products, and forest services. 2 Water resources and quality status Declining surface and groundwater resources for human and domestic consumption, and use of safe water. Pollution of surface water bodies in urban and nonurban areas. 3 Land degradation Soil erosion, decline of soil fertility and increase of land salinity. 4 Climate change Increased emission of greenhouse gases. 5 Inadequate solid waste management Inadequate collection, disposal and management of solid waste from household, municipal, and industrial premises. 6 Threats to biodiversity Loss of habitat, fragile ecosystems, and extinction of plant and animal species. Poaching, mining activities, and social impacts. Natural genetic resources. 7 Impacts of mining industry on environment Land degradation, land contamination, surface and underground water pollution, air pollution due to industrial processes. Source: National Commission for Environment al Affairs (NCEA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific 2008. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Relax! Nobody has done it all. Canada and NL score about 16/33.
We hope to establish an environmental statistics “report card” for the 2016 Yearbook. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

The details ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Balancing nature’s books
Stock/flow  Assets, Supply/Use Asset Accounts: Opening balances, additions, removals, closing balance Supply/Use Accounts: Supplier  User Double/quadruple entry Monetary and physical transaction between supplier and user Time of recording: When transaction occurred Consistent units of measure, concepts, classifications, methods & valuation rules It’s a little like balancing your check book: If you spend more than you earn, you’re in trouble! Stock flow implies that there is: a stock of an asset (e.g., water), additions to the stock (precipitation, transfers) removals from the stock (evapotranspiration, extraction, transfers) People abstract water (by suppliers) It is transferred to users (use) And some of it is returned to stock Double/quadruple accounting is the action of recording monetary (payment) and physical (product) aspects of a transaction for both supplier and user. You give me $2, I give you a coffee I give you $2, you give me a coffee Time of recording is important since accounts are based on accounting periods (e.g., one year, one month) Consistency assures different parts are comparable (e.g., market value can be expressed in basic, purchaser or consumer prices) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

What is an “account”? Different data sources: One common theme:
Household survey: 100 Municipal admin: 300 Industry survey: 175 One common theme: Common unit of measure Convert ($/month, litres/day, m3/month) All users/uses Water use account (m3/year) Rows add up An “account” is a coherent table with a common unit of measure. We convert everything to this common unit. Rows and columns add up and the total should represent the “global whole”. We can use available data to estimate missing data. Columns add up Total ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

The SEEA and the SNA The SNA measures national economic activity, production and assets (wealth): In monetary terms By tracking transactions between economic units (businesses, households, governments) The SEEA measures environment/economy links: Expands asset boundary (includes physical natural assets) Distinguishes expenditures on environmental protection Records physical quantities of natural inputs to the economy Records residuals produced and consumed (and by whom) Records changes in private and public natural assets The SNA is good for some things and not so good for others. GDP is a pretty good measure of economic activity. It is not intended to be a measure of welfare. “Bad” things like oil spills and war increase GDP, but not necessarily welfare. The SNA acknowledges the need to better measure the contribution of natural resource to the economy. The SEEA can be seen as a “satellite account” to the SNA. That is, it runs in parallel without affecting the traditional economic measures. It can track natural resource stocks and attribute changes in those stocks to economic sectors. “Combined presentations” can show, for example, the economic contribution (value added, employment) of an economic sector in comparison with its “disbenefits” (pollution, depletion, degradation). ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SNA view of the world 4 1 3 5 2 6 7 Sectors Residuals Products
Industries Final demand Assets Industrial output of goods and services Industrial intermediate demand Gross fixed capital formation Financial and produced assets, opening balance Other changes in volume & holding gains/losses on financial & produced assets Financial and produced assets, closing balance 4 1 3 5 2 GDP (more or less) is: Value added of total production, or Expenditures on final demand, or Factor income (Compensation of Employees + Gross Operating Surplus + Gross Mixed Income) Change in national wealth (7) is: (4) Financial, produced assets and liabilities+ (5) Gross Fixed capital formation + (6) Other changes 6 7 ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA view of the world Private Public 1 2 3 4 5 Sectors Residuals
Products Industries Final demand Assets Industrial output of goods and services Industrial intermediate demand Environmental protection expenditures Gross fixed capital formation Capital expenditures for environmental protection Financial and produced assets, opening balance Natural resource assets, opening balance Changes in natural resource assets Natural resource assets, closing balance Other changes in volume & holding gains/losses on financial & produced assets Changes in and holding gains/losses on natural resource assets Financial and produced assets, closing balance Resource production by industries Resource use by industries Resource production by households/gov’t Resource use by households/gov’t Waste consumption by industries Waste output by industries Waste output by households/gov’t Waste consumption by households/gov’t 2 3 The SEEA broadens the asset boundary to include: Public and private natural resource assets  minerals and energy, timber, land, water, aquatic resources Distinguish expenditures on environmental protection Records physical quantities of natural inputs Records wastes produced and consumed (residuals) Records changes in physical and monetary quantities of natural assets 4 5 ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

One environment: Two perspectives
Individual environmental assets & resources: Timber Water Soil Fish Ecosystems: Biotic and abiotic elements functioning together: Forests Lakes Cropland Wetlands SEEA Central Framework starts with economy and brings in information on natural assets, flows and residuals SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting starts with ecosystems and links their services to economic and other human activity Together, they provide the foundation for measuring the relationship between the environment, and economic and other human activity ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-CF – The Accounts Assets (=stocks; physical and monetary):
Mineral and energy resources Land, Forest Soil Timber Aquatic resources Other biological resources Water Imagine, for a moment, an asset account. It records the opening balance, additions, removals and closing balance. Some of these are renewable, so we have to model natural growth and removals. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-CF – The Accounts Physical flows
Supply/use for materials (extract  consume) Material flows (through economy) to final demand (e.g., GHGs) Water supply/use Energy supply/use Residuals Air emissions Water emissions Wastes (generated and used/recycled) Physical flow accounts measure the supply of natural input to the economy and the flow of residuals out of the economy. This is like Materials-Energy Balances…stuff has to go somewhere! ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-CF – The Accounts Monetary flows
Environmental protection expenditures (demand side) Environmental goods and services sector (supply side) Resource use and management Environmentally-related payments by & to government (fines, fees, taxes, subsidies, concession payments) Most of the Monetary Flows are already recorded in the SNA. Many countries use business surveys to provide more detail (type of expenditure, good, service; paid to whom…) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-EEA (Ecosystem Accounting)
SDG Target 15.9: By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts “Experimental” = in progress Spatial framework of ecosystem units (30-100m) Extent of ecosystem types Condition of ecosystem asset Classification and valuation of ecosystem services Links to SEEA-CF and SNA Tested in Australia, Canada, Mauritius, Netherlands, Philippines, pilot countries (Bhutan, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Vietnam) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-EEA Overview I’ll use this diagram to ground the next few slides. We will look at it in more detail… I was asked in South Africa what the “animal” looked like. This is what I came up with. It serves as the Table of Contents for the training modules. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

SEEA-EEA Accounts and tools
Extent account Ecosystem type + ownership and use Changes over time General agreement on what exists on surface of country Land cover change (where, why?) The Extent Account is a detailed version of the SEEA-CF Land Account. It is spatially-detailed and works best with two periods of comparable land cover data. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Condition account “Quality” and biophysical measures important to Ecosystem Services (ES) Overall condition, changes, location of changes Future flows of ES The Condition Account contains measures of environmental quality and other biophysical measures. This is useful to link the Extent Account to the capacity of ecosystems to supply services. For example, if you had scenarios with future conditions, you could use biophysical modelling to estimate future flows of services. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Thematic accounts Land (spatial detail) Water (spatial detail, quality, ecosystems as beneficiaries) Biodiversity (species ranges, characteristics, populations) Carbon (focus on biocarbon) Contribute to Condition Accounts Focus on specific issues The thematic accounts are useful on their own, but also provide inputs to the Condition Account (e.g., biodiversity indices, primary production, water quality) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Ecosystem Services supply / use accounts Physical measures Use by beneficiaries Valuation to estimate monetary values Contribute to monetary Asset Account & links to SNA To be able to put a value (monetary, ecological or social) on ecosystem services, it is important to first have measures of the physical flows of those services (e.g., biomass accumulation in the forest, reduction in flood control, visitors to protected areas). Once you have physical measures, you can use valuation techniques to attribute monetary values. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Monetary asset accounts Net Present Value of future flow of services Trade-offs Contribute to Balance Sheets For some applications, it is useful to know the value of the asset given different uses (e.g., protect or develop a wetland). To do this, requires an estimate of the future flows of services (given different uses) and the value of those services. It is also useful to contribute to the National Balance Sheet as a source of National Wealth. Goal 17 re: measures of progress (making decisions to optimize use of ecosytems) Target 15.9 By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Links to SNA Ecosystem Services in economic production functions Degradation and depletion-adjusted aggregates (e.g., value added minus depreciation)  Trade-offs An understanding of how ES contribute to different sectors, provides a basis of adjusting traditional macro-economic aggregates. For example, if a resource is being used sustainably, there is no need to adjust. That is, there is no degradation or depletion. This coincides somewhat with the idea of Maximum Sustainable Yield (or carrying capacity for ecosystems). If ecosystem services are not being used sustainably, then, for example, “profits” of a business sector imply “liabilities’ to the environment. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Classifications (land cover, use, ecosystem services) Methods (Spatial units, scaling & aggregation) Biophysical modelling (future flows & filling gaps) To do this, we also have a toolkit of classifications, spatial units, scaling and aggregation rules and methods of biophysical modelling. ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Stages of implementing environment stats
1. Strategic planning 2. Build statistical and institutional mechanisms 3. Strengthen National Statistical Systems 4. Produce accounts 5. Use accounts Diagnostic Tool Inventory Template Institutional Framework Data sharing Partnerships Frameworks Quality, process ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Implementing the measurement framework
1. Strategic planning (Diagnostic Tool): Iterative understanding of priorities and capacities National vision Engage NSS ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

2. Build statistical and institutional mechanisms Leadership Funding Monitoring Implementation plan Data sharing New surveys New compilation ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

3. Strengthen National Statistical Systems International guidance on statistical production Share data Centralize processes Quality guidelines Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Documenting existing activities
Inventory template for environment statistics To document external statistical “supply chain” ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

4. Produce & 5. Use accounts 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 ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

“Good statistics are cheaper than bad decisions.”
Take home messages “Good statistics are cheaper than bad decisions.” FDES guides the collection of basic environment statistics The SEEA is a measurement framework to “disentangle” environment data ( Coherent) Many countries are implementing SEEA as a way of harmonizing, prioritizing, estimating data ( Feasible) It is linked to the SNA and many SDGs ( Relevant) ESCAP provides technical assistance, training and work planning support ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Questions? Comments? ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

References ESCAP: http://www.unescap.org/
Gleeson-White, Jane Six Capitals: The revolution capitalism has to have – or can accountants save the planet? Holling, C.S., Two Cultures of Ecology. IMF-DQAF: Paris 21. NSDS: Saner, M. and Bordt M Building the consensus: The moral space of Earth measurement systems. Ecological Economics 130 (2016): Statistics Canada, Human Activity and the Environment 2013: Measuring Ecosystem Goods and Services: x/ /aftertoc-aprestdm1-eng.htm UNSD Fundamental principles of official statistics. UNSD FDES: UNSD SEEA: Training materials: World Bank. WAVES: ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Acknowledgements Materials prepared by: Michael Bordt
Regional Adviser on Environment Statistics ESCAP Statistics Division ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview

Overview of Environment Statistics

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