IMPLEMENTATION AND PROMOTION OF ENVIRONMENTALECONOMIC ACCOUNTING Strategy paper

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IMPLEMENTATION AND PROMOTION OFENVIRONMENTAL-ECON
OMIC ACCOUNTINGStrategy paper

• First meeting of the UN Committee of Experts on
  Envrionmental-Economic Accounting
• (New York, 22-23 June 2006)

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Background

• UNCEEA has been established with the approval of
  its terms of reference by the Bureau of the
  United Nations Statistical Commission in November
  2005.

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Background

• OBJECTIVES
• (i) to mainstream environmental-economic
• accounting and related statistics
• (ii) to elevate the System of Integrated
  Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) to
  an international statistical standard1 and
• (iii) to advance the implementation of the SEEA
  at the global level.

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Background

• Five components of work programme
• coordination
• promotion and implementation of the accounts
  through the recommendations on their compilation
• harmonization and dissemination of the accounts,
  linking the accounts to indicators and developing
  relationship between the users and producers
• advancing the research agenda and
• harmonization of data collection activities on
  environment and related statistics with
  environmental-economic accounts.

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Current Situation

• environmental accounts has been most extensive in
  developed countries, notably EU member countries,
  Norway, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• Few sustained initiatives in developing countries
  China, Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Philippines
  and South Africa.

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Current situation

• Few regional program
• Eurostat-funded pilot programs for EU member
  states
• Natural Resource Accounting Programme for East
  and Southern Africa (on-going program),
  established in 1995, donor funded
• Global Initiative for Environmental Accounting
  proposed to GEF by the Earth Institute and World
  Bank

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Suggested areas of work

• Link the production and release of
  environmental-economic accounts and time series
  with the national accounts
• Facilitate the support of the SEEA framework by
  international agencies
• Increase support and technical cooperation in
  developing countries
• Develop a communication and dissemination strategy

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Link with national accounts

• Integrated compilation of accounts, tables and
  time series
• Align compilation cycles
• Align statistical units
• Align dissemination cycles
• Align data requirements in business surveys,
  household surveys, etc.

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Link to national accounts

• Under aegis of UN CEEA (suite of standards)
• Launch scope and compliance survey to assess the
  status of implementation of environmental-economic
  accounting
• Prepare SEEA as standards for official statistics
• Develop a set of dissemination standard on
  accounts, tables and time series e.g. energy and
  air emission and water accounts
• Develop guidelines for a comprehensive data
  collection programme of environment and economic
  statistics
• Develop a data quality framework for
  environmental accounting

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Facilitate the support for the SEEA framework by
international agencies

• Integrate in international strategy and national
  development plans including PRSP (WB), toolkits
  (UNDP), MDGs (UNSD) as well as indicators of
  sustainable development.

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Increase support and technical cooperation in
developing countries

• Coordination of TA
• Under UNCEEA
• Training material
• Analysis of success and impeding factors
• Website containing a searchable archive/library

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Develop a communication and dissemination
strategy

• Information and promotion material
• Communcation strategy, including application of
  technical tools (e.g. interactive presentations)
  for presenting the results of the accounts
• Articles in magazines and newspapers to raise
  awareness about environmental-economic
  accounting
• Organize events bringing together users and
  producers of environmental economic accounting
  (e.g. user-producer dialogue on water accounting,
  etc.)

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Questions to the UNCEEA?

• What is the best mechanism to promote the
  implementation of environmental-economic
  accounting in countries?
• Should a sub-group of the UNCEEA be created to
  advise the Committee on strategies to encourage
  the SEEA implementation in countries and carry
  out the activities outlined above? Who should be
  participate?
• What would be possible activities to be
  undertaken to encourage the SEEA implementation
  in countries?
• What would be the best way to coordinate
  technical cooperation activities in countries?