Latin American webinar on the SEEA EA - finalizing the revision

The revision of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting--Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA) was launched in 2018 by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC). The UNSC, at its 51st session in March 2020, emphasized "the importance and urgency of providing a  standardized  methodology  for  ecosystem  accounting  that  reflects  the  progress  made  over  the  revision  and  reinforces the role of national statistical offices as data stewards; and supported the aspiration to elevate the revised  SEEA  Experimental  Ecosystem  Accounting  to  SEEA  Ecosystem  Accounting."

The revision, conducted under the leadership of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA), aimed to develop an agreed statistical framework for ecosystem accounting, including agreed terminology, concepts, definitions and classifications for ecosystem assets and services in both physical and monetary terms using an accounting approach. The current draft is the result of significant efforts, with 100 experts writing technical papers as input to the review process and 600 experts reviewing and commenting on draft papers and chapters.

As the last step, in this 3-year review process, the SEEA EA underwent a broad global consultation of the full draft during the month of November 2020. Currently, it is being finalized incorporating the contributions received. The final version will be sent to the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) at the beginning of February 2021 and will be discussed at its next session in March 2021.

 

Objectives

The objectives of this high-level webinar are (i) to inform the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean about the review process; (ii) to show the progress in the application of ecosystem accounting in some countries of the region; and (iii) encourage active participation of the institutions in charge of ecosystem accounting in the region in this process (National Institutes of Statistics, Central Banks and / or Ministries of Environment).

 

Date and time: Thursday, February 4, 2021 (10am New York time / 12pm Santiago time)

 

Moderators:

  • Mr. Rolando Ocampo, Director of the Statistics Division of ECLAC
  • Ms. Rayén Quiroga, Head of the Area of ​​Environmental Statistics and Climate Change, ECLAC

 

Programme

1. Opening remarks

  • Mr. Stefan Schweinfest, Director of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
  • Mr. Rolando Ocampo, Director of the Statistics Division of ECLAC

2. Country examples of ecosystem accounting applications

  • Ms. Susana Cordeiro, President of IBGE and Ms. Rebeca Palis, Coordinator of National Accounts, IBGE, Brazil
  • Mr. Francisco Guillén, Deputy Director General of National Accounts, INEGI, Mexico
  • Mr. Henry Vargas Campos, Director of the Department of Macroeconomic Statistics, Central Bank of Costa Rica
  • Mr. Marcos Serrano, Head of the Environmental Information Department, Environmental Economy and Information Division, Ministry of the Environment, Chile

3. Discussion

 

Recording of the webinar

Event Date

Thursday, 04 February 2021 - 10:00am