High-level webinar on SEEA Ecosystem Accounting for countries in Latin America

The high-level webinar on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting—Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) for countries in Latin America took place on Thursday, 4 February 2021. The Webinar was co-organized by the UN-ECLAC Statistics Division and the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) and was attended by over 117 participants, including 5 heads of NSOs, from 16 countries in Latin America. The webinar was very timely, as the SEEA EA was submitted for adoption to the UN Statistical Commission at its session a month following the webinar.

The webinar aimed to inform the high-level officials from mainly national statistical offices in Latin America about the SEEA EA revision process, present the ecosystem accounting achievements in some countries in the region, and provide a platform for discussion on ecosystem accounting. It was also aiming to prepare the NSO management for the upcoming discussion at the Statistical Commission.

The webinar started with two introductory presentations. Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, director of UNSD, presented on the SEEA EA revision process and Mr. Rolando Ocampo, director of ECLAC statistics division, spoke on the regional perspectives on ecosystem accounting. The introductory presentations were followed by a high-level panel on experiences with ecosystem accounting in the region. Representatives from four countries – Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico – shared their countries’ experiences with the implementation of the SEEA EA. Speakers in the webinar widely agreed that the SEEA EA was very important to inform the policy decisions in their countries, they all supported its adoption by the Statistical Commission as an international statistical standard, and hoped for further work on implementation of the ecosystem accounting in the region. The recording of the webinar is available here.