1. Supporting Kenya and Uganda in developing and strengthening environmental-economic accounting for improved monitoring of sustainable development
Alessandra Alfieri
United Nations Statistics Division

2. Content
Advancing environmental-economic accounting for sustainable development and national policy
Project overview

3. Advancing environmental- economic accounting for Sustainable Development and national policy
The explicit purpose of the SEEA is to integrate information on the environment and the economy, so it responds to one of the areas of “overlap” which need to be considered for sustainable development.

4. International statistical standard
The SEEA Central Framework was adopted as an international statistical standard by the UN Statistical Commission in 2012
The SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting complements the Central Framework and represents international efforts toward coherent ecosystem accounting

5. The SNA and SEEA: Systems of integrated information
The SEEA has a number of different components.
First there is the SEEA Central Framework which is an international statistical standard to measure the environment and its relationship to the economy. It is fully consistent with the SNA which is the standard to measure the economy, and is essentially a satellite account of the SNA o extend to the environmental dimension.
The SEEA CF has various subsystems, which serve to provide more detailed guidance on accounting for specific environmental assets. Water is the most established, and energy is in the process of being finalized. FAO and UNSD have also developed a SEEA-AFF and is currently under global consultation. More will be developed in time.
Other modules will be developed in due course depending on policy need. In addition, technical notes are being developed to provide more detailed guidance about accounting for specific topics.
In addition, we have the SEEA EEA which is still in the experimental stage, and represents a synthesis of current knowledge on ecosystem accounting.

6. What is the SEEA?
SEEA is the international statistical standard for measuring the relationship between the environment and the economy.
Two perspectives: individual environmental assets (Central Framework) and ecosystems (Experimental Ecosystem Accounting)
Stocks and flows
Coherent and internally consistent
Integrated/Linked to SNA
Comprehensive
Time series measuring same concept over time
Apply to both physical and monetary based data

7. SEEA Conceptual Framework
Territory of reference
Environment
Imports/Exports
Economy
Economic Units
Enterprises
Households
Government
Non-profit institutions
Instruments
-Financial/Monetary
-Taxes/subsidies
- Financing
-Resource rent
-Permits
Activities
-Production
-Consumption
-Accumulation
Outside territory of reference
Outside territory of reference
Natural inputs
Residuals (e.g., emissions, waste)
Ecosystem
services
Individual Environmental Assets (e.g., land, water, mineral and energy, soil, aquatic)
Ecosystem Assets
Transboundary Environmental Flows

8. 3. Implementation of the SEEA
Implementation strategy (2013) objectives:
Adopt the SEEA as the measurement framework for sustainable development
Mainstream SEEA implementation in countries
Target 100 countries by for adoption of SEEA Central Framework
Target 50 countries by for adoption of SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
Establish technical capacity for regular reporting
Training materials
Guidance documents
Knowledge platform

9. Status of SEEA implementation
Global Assessment on Environmental Economic Accounting 2017
84 countries responded
54 countries have an SEEA program
Accounts most commonly compiled;
Air Emissions, Material Flows, Energy (due to Eurostat legislation)
Priorities accounts going forward;
Developed Countries: Energy, EPEA and EGSS
Developing Countries: Energy, Water and Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

10. Sustainable Development Goals and SEEA
Explain what the SDG agenda is. That there are 17 goals and very interconnected.
Moving forward, the SEEA also has the potential to be an important framework for monitoring the SDGs.
However, given the content of the SDGs it is expected that the SEEA will be an important statistical framework for their monitoring. It was recognised as such by the UNSC at its 45th Session, which also requested in march this year that the UNCEEA work to ensure the SEEA is reflected in the SDG monitoring framework.
Given the coverage of the SEEA and its links to the SNA, basing SDG indicators on the SEEA could help in supporting an understanding of the links and trade-offs between different goals, as the indicators would all be based on the same principals and statistical framework. The green boxes are those for which SEEA is relevant.
The SEEA is an important statistical framework for monitoring the SDGs in an integrated way

11. Indicators based on standards
Frameworks to coherently integrate information:
Indicators based on Standards
Higher quality
International comparability
Comprehensive basis for (dis)aggregation
Standards for Statistics
Aligned Definitions and Classifications
Improved capacity to compare and/or combine statistics from different sectors
Basis for coherent and comprehensive data sets

12. Project Overview
The explicit purpose of the SEEA is to integrate information on the environment and the economy, so it responds to one of the areas of “overlap” which need to be considered for sustainable development.

13. Project overview
Supporting countries in strengthening the institutional and technical capacity for the development of an integrated system in support of sustainable development
Work with 4 countries:
Malaysia
Indonesia
Uganda
Kenya
Duration: Until end of 2017

14. Project activities and outputs
Training workshop (Uganda, 2016)
Support national and international consultants to develop the assessment and national plan and development of pilot accounts
Regional workshop to showcase results
National workshops to present National Plans and support inter- institutional cooperation
Outputs
Completed national assessment
Agreed national plan
Compilation of at least one selected SEEA account on a pilot basis

15. Project activities and outputs
Kenya
National Plan for Advancing Environmental-Economic Accounting by 2020
National stakeholder reviews
Compilation of pilot energy account
National launch of the National Plan
Uganda
National Assessment on SEEA
Compilation of pilot water account
National launch of the National Plan (early 2018)

16. Project sustainability
Production and application of environmental-economic accounts and indicators
Formalizing the inter-agency platforms among stakeholders for data sharing and production of results
Continued international support
Mainstreaming the SEEA in the regular production process of the statistical system
Use of accounts in evidence based decision making