Environment Statistics

The project "Strengthening Statistical capacity-building in support of the Millennium Development Goals in the region of the Economic Community of West African States" is executed by UNSD in collaboration with the ECOWAS secretariat, with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Division for Public Administration and Development of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and the United Nations Development Programme.

The project aims at strengthening the national statistical systems in the 15 countries of the ECOWAS region, and the intra-regional co-operation among these systems. Advisory services, fellowship programmes and a series of sub-regional events (training workshops) constitute the core activities under this project framework.

As part of the project a Workshop on Environment Statistics was held in Dakar, Senegal from 28 February to 4 March 2005. The Workshop was organized by UNSD, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and ECOWAS. The agenda, presentations, country papers and final report are available.

As part of the follow-up to the Workshop a report entitled "An Assessment of the Situation of Environment Statistics in the ECOWAS Countries" has been prepared by UNSD, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Secretariat and the ECOWAS member countries. The report is based on country papers presented at the Workshop, responses to the UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics, information from relevant websites, as well as responses to the draft country profiles sent to the countries by UNSD. The report includes background information about the assessment, provides a description of the availability of environment statistics in ECOWAS countries, presents detailed information on the state of environment statistics in each ECOWAS country and includes recommendations for improvements, as well as describes the role and activities of international and regional organizations related to environment statistics in the region.

Furthermore, the ECOWAS Secretariat, in collaboration with UNSD, developed two draft strategic frameworks for strengthening capacity and institutionalising energy and environment statistics at the regional level as well as in the national statistical systems of the ECOWAS countries in order to build a sound base of these statistics.

An Expert Group Meeting on Energy and Environment Statistics (Abuja, Nigeria, 7-9 August 2006) was organized by the ECOWAS Secretariat, in collaboration with UNSD, to review the two draft strategic frameworks for strengthening capacity and institutionalising energy and environment statistics in ECOWAS Member States. The importance of the development and implementation of these frameworks was underscored as necessary for sensitization on the need for timely, reliable and accurate information in both energy and environment statistics. It was also noted that the frameworks would serve as useful tools to institutionalize these areas of statistics in the national statistical systems in the ECOWAS region.

The experts welcomed the draft frameworks on energy and environment statistics and recommended that the amended frameworks be presented for adoption at the next meeting of the ECOWAS Steering Committee (Addis Ababa, 28 August 2006). The experts also recommended the establishment of a Regional Technical Committee to monitor issues relating to energy and environment statistics, and in this regard they proposed draft terms of reference and membership of the Committee. UNSD provided two resource persons to the Meeting who made presentations on energy and environment statistics and assisted the ECOWAS Secretariat to finalize the report of the Meeting and the Frameworks on Energy and Environment Statistics.

The ECOWAS Steering Committee, at its meeting in Addis Ababa on 28 August 2006, endorsed the two frameworks on energy and environment statistics and requested that the ECOWAS Secretariat present them for adoption to the ECOWAS Technical Commission on Statistics that met from 13 to 14 November 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria. The Technical Commission endorsed the two frameworks and requested the ECOWAS Secretariat to present them to the ECOWAS authorities for adoption. The framework on environment statistics is available here in English and French.

ECOWAS organized a Workshop on Environment Statistics, in collaboration with UNSD, in Accra, Ghana, from 29 to 31 March 2010. The work schedule and presentations are available here.