FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT - United Nations

1 FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENTOF ENVIRONMENT STATISTICS (FDES 2013) FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENT STATISTICS (FDES 2013) United NationsUnited their Events and Settlements and ,Management and EngagementFramework for the DEVELOPMENT of Environment Statistics (FD E S 2013)asdfUnited NationsNew York, 2017 Department of Economic and Social AffairsStatistics DivisionST/ESA/ in Methods Series M No. 92 Department of Economic and Social AffairsThe Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges.

2 And (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national designations used and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or term country as used in this publication also refers, as appropriate, to territories or designations developed regions and developing regions are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the DEVELOPMENT of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures.

3 Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations Nations PublicationS T/ E SA /S TAT/SER . M /92 Sales No.: : 978 -92-1-161582-1eISBN: 978-92-1-056489-2 Copyright 2017 United NationsAll rights reservediiiPrefaceThis publication presents the FRAMEWORK for the DEVELOPMENT of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013), which is the revised version of the original FDES published in 1984 by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its forty-first ses-sion (23-26 February 2010), endorsed a work programme and the establishment of an Expert Group for the revision of the FDES and the DEVELOPMENT of a Core Set of Environment Statis-tics, taking into account the scientific, political, technological, statistical and experience-based developments of recent United Nations Conference on Sustainable DEVELOPMENT (Rio+20, June 2012) outcome document, The Future We Want ,1 includes several references to the importance of environmental data, information and indicators.

4 The FDES 2013 is expected to contribute significantly to improved monitoring and measurement of the environmental dimension of sustainable DEVELOPMENT and the post-2015 DEVELOPMENT agenda. The use of the FDES 2013 in national statistical systems will enhance developments in this field of statistics, as it is a multipurpose and flexible tool that can be tailored to address specific environmental policy concerns and priorities of countries , and can accommodate their levels of statistical FDES 2013 covers issues and aspects of the environment that are relevant for analy-sis, policy- and decision-making. It is designed to assist all countries in the formulation of environment statistics programmes by (i) delineating the scope of environment statistics and identifying its constituents; (ii) contributing to the assessment of data requirements, sources, availability and gaps; (iii) guiding the DEVELOPMENT of multipurpose data collection processes and databases; and (iv) assisting in the coordination and organization of environment statistics, given the inter-institutional nature of the revision of the FDES was undertaken as part of UNSD s work programme on envi-ronment statistics.

5 The Expert Group on the Revision of the FDES assisted UNSD in imple-menting the revision process. The United Nations Statistical Commission at its forty-fourth session (28 February-1 March 2013) endorsed the FDES 2013 as the FRAMEWORK for strengthen-ing environment statistics programmes in countries , and recognized it as a useful tool in the context of sustainable DEVELOPMENT goals and the post-2015 DEVELOPMENT United Nations (2012). Rio+20 outcome document, The Future We Want , available from (accessed 4 August 2017).vAcknowledgementsThe revised FRAMEWORK for the DEVELOPMENT of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013) consoli-dates the experience of countries and international organizations in the field of environment statistics. It has been developed in close collaboration with the Expert Group on the Revision of the FDES, which reviewed successive drafts of the FDES 2013 and commented on the issue papers drafted by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), other experts who provided advice on specific subjects, as well as countries and organizations that took part in the Pilot Test of the Core Set of Environment Statistics and responded to the Global Consultation of the final draft of the FDES 2013.

6 The revision was a complex process that entailed organizing the substantive contributions and participation of experts, countries and organizations from around the world at different stages of the process over a three-year Expert Group on the Revision of the FDES contributed valuable input through-out the process and, in particular, during the expert group meetings. It collaborated in the drafting process and revised various versions of the chapter and document drafts. Members of the Expert Group from national statistical offices and environmental ministries/agencies included Gemma Van Halderen, Michael Vardon and Mark Lound (Australia); Michael Nagy (formerly Austria, currently Qatar); Abul Kalam Azad (Bangladesh); Edgar Ek (Belize); Dit-shupo Gaobotse (Botswana); Ricardo Moraes and Wadih Neto (Brazil); Carolyn Cahill, Andrew Ferguson and Robert Smith (Canada); Yixuan Wang (China); Iva Ritchelova (Czech Republic) who acted as Chair of the Expert Group; Kaia Oras (Estonia); Leo Kolttola (Finland); Fanta Kaba (Guinea); Sekhar Jeyalakshmi (India); Wynandin Imawan (Indonesia); Cesare Costan-tino (Italy); Janet Geoghagen-Martin (Jamaica); Soh Wah Lim (Malaysia); Chitranjan Ramnath and Anand Sookun (Mauritius).

7 Jes s Romo-Garc a and Adriana Oropeza-Lliteras (Mexico); Hendrik Jan Dijkerman (Netherlands); Philip Olatunde Bankole (Nigeria); Torstein Arne Bye and Svein Homstvedt (Norway); Raymundo Talento (Philippines); Kok Chew Cheang (Singa-pore); Andreas Talea (Suriname); Khamis Raddad ( United Arab Emirates); Richard Guldin and William Sonntag ( United States). Members from international organizations included: Jochen Jesinghaus (European Commission); Jean-Louis Weber (European Environment Agency (EEA)); Christian Heidorn (Statistical Office of the European Union Eurostat), Rolf Luyendijk ( United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF)); Ashbindu Singh ( United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)); Robert Mayo, Mike Robson and Carola Fabi (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Matthias Bruckner ( United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA); Kristina Taboulchanas ( United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)); Peter Harper (Chair of the UN Committee of Experts on environmental -Economic Accounting (UNCEEA)).)

8 Experts from non-governmental organizations included: Marc Levy (Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University); Robin O Malley (Heinz Center for Sci-ence, Economics and Environment); and Christian Layke (World Resources Institute (WRI)).The following experts provided additional feedback on the drafts of the FDES 2013: Sarah Kabaija (Uganda); Ole Gravgard Pedersen and Thomas Olsen (Denmark); Julie Hass (Norway), who also provided indispensable editorial help; Viveka Palm (Sweden); Sachiko Tsuji (FAO); Jaap van Woerden (UNEP); and Carl Obst (Editor of the System of environmental -Economic Accounting (SEEA)). FRAMEWORK for the DEVELOPMENT of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013)viIt is also important to acknowledge the valuable contribution of countries and experts that participated in the Pilot Exercise carried out towards the final stage of the revision (August-September 2012) to refine the Core Set of Environment Statistics.

9 Both developed and develop-ing countries from all regions participated in the Pilot Exercise. In all, 25 countries and two international organizations took part in the Pilot, including 20 developing countries (Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, C te d Ivoire, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Qatar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Viet Nam and United Arab Emirates), five developed countries (Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United States) and two international organizations (Eurostat and UNEP).The FDES revision also benefited greatly from comments, suggestions and substantive input from the 76 countries , areas and institutions that responded to the Global Consulta-tion (September-November 2012) on the final draft of the FDES 2013. The following countries responded: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana.

10 Bra-zil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cabo Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, C te d Ivoire, Croa-tia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Gambia (the), Georgia, Hong Kong-SAR of China, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macao-SAR of China, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Myanmar, New Zealand, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Palestine, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Belarus, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slo-venia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Turkey, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Viet Nam. Participating institutions included UNECLAC, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)