Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013) 6 institutions are key players in producing data used in environment statistics. Statistical and environmental expertise, scientific knowledge, institutional development capabilities and ade quate resources are also needed to produce environment statistics. Within this relatively new statistical domain, methodological resources, tools and good practices are being developed and systematized gradually. Consequently, many countries still require substantial technical assistance and capacity building to develop their national environment statistics programmes. 1.1. Objective of environment statistics 1.3. The objective of environment statistics is to provide information about the environ ment, its most important changes over time and across locations and the main factors that influence them. Environment statistics seek to provide high-quality statistical information to improve knowledge of the environment, support evidence-based policy- and decision-making, and provide information for the general public and specific user groups. 1.2. Scope of environment statistics 1.4. The scope of environment statistics covers biophysical aspects of the environment and those aspects of the socioeconomic system that directly influence and interact with the envi ronment. 1.5. The scope of environment, social and economic statistics overlap. It is not easy—or nec essary—to draw a clear line dividing these areas. Social and economic statistics that describe processes or activities with a direct impact on, or direct interaction with, the environment are used widely in environment statistics. They are within the scope of the FDES. Other relevant social and economic statistics, which are not part of environment statistics, are also required to place environmental issues in context and facilitate the integrated analysis of environmen tal, social and economic processes. The use of consistent definitions and classifications among these fields supports their integration. When properly integrated, data and other inputs from social and economic domains enrich the analysis of environment statistics. 1.3. Main users of environment statistics 1.6. Environment statistics serve a variety of users, including but not limited to: i. Policy and decision makers at all levels; ii. The general public, including media and civil society; iii. Analysts, researchers and academia; and iv. International agencies. 1.7. Different users need environment statistics at different levels of aggregation and depths of information. They may need cross-cutting environment statistics data sets, for instance regarding climate change. In other cases, they may be interested only in particular topics and themes pertaining to specific sectoral analysis and policymaking. Policy- and decision-makers at the highest levels and the general public would tend to use environmental indicators and more aggregated statistics. Environmental administration, researchers, analysts and academics may be more inclined to examine extensive and detailed environment statistics. International agencies typically have well-articulated needs for environment statistics based on environmen tal agreements or international data collection processes.
7 Overview of Environment Statistics—Characteristics and Challenges 7 1.8. Environment statistics support evidence-based policymaking by making it possible to identify environmental policy issues and quantify the measures and impacts of policy initia tives objectively. They strengthen assessments through quantitative metrics, making analyses more robust through the use of timely and comparable data. The type; level of thematic, spatial and temporal aggregation; and format of environment statistics depend on the type of user and intended use. The main products of environment statistics are detailed tabulated environment statistics series and environmental indicators, both of which can be stored in multipurpose databases and disseminated in the form of online databases, as well as different types of publi cations, such as compendiums, yearbooks, thematic reports, and analytical publications, such as state of the environment reports. 1.4. Environmental information, data, statistics and indicators 1.9. Environmental information includes quantitative and qualitative facts describing the state of the environment and its changes. Quantitative environmental information is generally produced in the form of data, statistics and indicators, and is generally disseminated through databases, spreadsheets, compendiums and yearbooks. Qualitative environmental information consists of descriptions (e.g., textual or pictorial) of the environment or its constituent parts that cannot be adequately represented by accurate quantitative descriptors. 1.10. Environmental data are large amounts of unprocessed observations and measurements about the environment and related processes. They may be collected or compiled via statistical surveys (censuses or sample surveys) by the national statistical system or may originate from administrative records, geographic databases, registers, inventories, monitoring networks, thematic mapping, remote sensing, scientific research and field studies. 1.11. Environment statistics are environmental data that have been structured, synthesized and aggregated according to statistical methods, standards and procedures. The role of envi ronment statistics is to process environmental and other data into meaningful statistics that describe the state of and trends in the environment and the main processes affecting them. Not all environmental data are used to produce environment statistics. The FDES provides a frame work that identifies environmental and other data that fall within its scope and then contrib utes to structuring, synthesizing and aggregating the data into statistical series and indicators. 1.12. Environmental indicators are environment statistics that have been selected for their ability to depict important phenomena or dynamics. Environmental indicators are used to synthesize and present complex environment and other statistics in a simple, direct, clear and relevant way. Environmental indicators are generated because environment statistics are usu ally too numerous and detailed to meet the needs of policymakers and the general public, and often require further processing and interpretation to be meaningful. Environmental indica tors may take various forms such as rates, ratios or proportions, and be constructed at different levels of aggregation. The purpose of these indicators is to assess present and future directions with respect to goals and targets, evaluate and determine the impact of specific programmes, monitor progress, measure changes in a specific condition or situation over time, and con vey messages. Policy frameworks such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework and national environment/sustainable development indicator sets, are typically used to identify and structure indicators. 1.13. Environmental indices are composite or more complex measures that combine and synthesize more than one environmental indicator or statistic and are weighted according
Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013) 8 to different methods. An index can provide a valuable summary measure to communicate important messages in an accessible way and, thus, raise awareness. However, they often raise questions regarding their proper interpretation, methodological soundness, subjectivity of the weighting, and the quality of the underlying statistics. 1.14. Environment statistics organized primarily within the FDES may be structured for specific analytical purposes based on different analytical frameworks, such as the DPSIR framework, issue-based frameworks which focus on specific environmental problems (e.g., climate change, air pollution and land degradation), policy-based frameworks such as sus tainable development strategies, or assessment frameworks such as those used in state of the environment reports. 1.15. Accounting frameworks, such as the SEEA, reorganize the relevant environment statis tics according to stocks and flows within and between the environment and the economy, based on the principles of the System of National Accounts (SNA). In this way, it creates links between environment statistics and the SNA and facilitates the analysis of relationships between the economy and the environment. 1.16. These types of environment statistics are all important and interdependent. They feed back into each other to produce diverse and complementary products that can be used for dif ferent purposes and that fit specific user needs and resources of countries or agencies. Ideally, information about the environment should be produced and used as a multipurpose informa tion system which would increase synergy, consistency and efficiency in the use of limited financial resources. 1.5. Sources of environment statistics 1.17. Environment statistics synthesize data originating from various types of sources. Thus, the data used to produce environment statistics are not only compiled by different collection techniques, but also by various institutions. Types of sources include: i. statistical surveys (e.g., censuses or sample surveys of population, housing, agricul ture, enterprises, households, employment, and different aspects of environment management); ii. administrative records of government and non-government agencies responsible for natural resources, as well as other ministries and authorities; iii. remote sensing and thematic mapping (e.g., satellite imaging and mapping of land use and land cover, water bodies or forest cover); iv. monitoring systems (e.g., field-monitoring stations for water quality, air pollution or climate); v. scientific research and special projects undertaken to fulfil domestic or interna tional demand. 1.18. These multiple types of sources are usually used in combination. For instance, in esti mating certain types of emissions to the air, statistical surveys are used in combination with scientific research. While statistical surveys and administrative records are commonly used in all areas of statistics (economic, social and environment) and the use of remote sensing data has become widespread, the use of data from monitoring networks, scientific research and special projects are specific mostly to the production of environment statistics. 1.19. Environment statistics rely considerably on data that are collected by direct measure ments using a variety of methods, including remote sensing and field-monitoring stations.
9
Overview of Environment Statistics—Characteristics and Challenges
9
Most countries have agencies that are primarily responsible for monitoring environmental
resources and conditions. They may be entities in their own right or government agencies with
other primary functions that also have departments concerned with environmental matters.
These agencies typically produce two main types of data: (i) measured data (obtained by direct
observation, field measurements and remote sensing); and (ii) calculated data (derived using
estimates and modelling).
1.20.
The use of estimates and modelling to generate environmental data can improve overall
data quality, including accuracy and coverage, especially when models draw upon two or more
sets of observations, such as field observations coupled with global satellite-based observations.
Models may also incorporate administrative data or data resulting from statistical surveys or
special projects.
1.21.
The main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of these types of sources of
environment statistics are discussed below.6
Statistical surveys
1.22.
There are two types of surveys: (i) censuses and (ii) sample surveys. A census is a survey
that collects data from the entire population of interest. A sample survey is a survey carried
out using a sampling method, in which data are collected from a representative portion of the
population of interest and not the whole population.7
1.23.
Environment statistics can be collected from surveys by (i) adding environment-related
questions to surveys intended primarily to collect data on other topics and (ii) using surveys
intended primarily to collect environment statistics. When environmental data are collected
through environment statistics surveys, the survey design reflects the objective of produc
ing environment statistics. However, it is not always feasible or economical to conduct such
surveys, so data are frequently obtained from other existing statistical surveys (e.g., social,
economic and sectoral) whose primary objective differs from the production of environment
statistics.
1.24.
Adding environment-related questions to other surveys is less expensive than collecting
data through a separate survey, the response burden is minimized and the environmental data
can be directly linked to other data collected. However, the challenges of adding questions to
existing surveys include the following: (i) there may be limited space available for additional
questions in existing surveys, (ii) the survey frame and stratification of the population and
sampling selection may not be ideal for environment statistics, (iii) the data may need to be
reorganized or reclassified to be used in environment statistics and (iv) respondents may not be
familiar with environmental terms or the information needed to answer environment-related
questions.
1.25.
Environment-specific surveys may be censuses or sample surveys. The advantages of
using environment-specific surveys are that (i) the survey frame and sampling used can be
selected based on the requirements of environment statistics, (ii) consistent concepts and defi
nitions can be used in survey questions and (iii) the most suitable type of survey modes for col
lecting environment statistics can be selected. On the other hand, environment-specific surveys
create an additional response burden and are costly in terms of finance, human resources and
time. In addition, in many cases, no suitable register, list or map is readily available to use as
a survey frame.
6 United Nations Statistics
Division (2012). International
Recommendations for Water
Statistics, available from
http://unstats.un.org
/unsd/envaccounting/irws
/irwswebversion.pdf (accessed
4 August 2017).
7 International Statistical Institute
(2003). The Oxford Dictionary of
Statistical Terms, Yadolah Dodge
ed., Oxford University Press.