SEEA Training on Land and Forest Accounting in Bhutan

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and UN Environment (UNEP), in collaboration with the National Statistics Bureau (NSB) of Bhutan, organized a training workshop on SEEA land and forest accounting on 8-9 October 2024 in Thimphu, Bhutan. This capacity-building activity was delivered as part of a project on Agile Statistical Systems, under the 14th Tranche of the UN Development Account, aiming to address statistical and data needs in times of crises and disasters.

Building on the country priorities identified through Bhutan’s National Implementation Plan for the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (2024-2029)  supported by the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and UN-SIAP in 2023, the workshop focused on the concepts, classifications and accounting structures related to land and timber asset/flow accounts and targeted NSB, the National Land Commission Secretariat, the Department of Forest and Park Services, as well as other governmental agencies related to the accounts. The event also included a hands-on exercise on using QGIS to produce an initial land cover account based on nationally available data sources. Following the workshop, ESCAP and UNEP are continuing to provide technical support to NSB and relevant stakeholders.

More information on the event, including programme and presentations can be found here.

This note was contributed by ESCAP