Environment Statistics

In September 2022, UNSD hosted three information sessions on the Questionnaire on Environment Statistics.

Since receiving the mandate from the Statistical Commission in 1995, the UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics (water and waste sections) has built the world's largest database on water and waste statistics for all UN member states. Hence, the Questionnaire was well positioned to adjust its content to reflect SDG policy demand when that mandate arrived in 2015. The Questionnaire draws the attention of over 160 member states (in their role as respondents), and SDG (co-)custodian agencies (e.g. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO), UN-HABITAT, etc.). Colleagues from UNEP and WHO served as resource persons and made presentations emphasising the SDG indicators for which they are (co-)custodian, and other uses of countries' data in the Questionnaire. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) gave technical and language support at the Spanish language session. The data received via the Questionnaire serve as inputs for seven SDG indicators in Goals 6, 11 and 12.

UNSD offered these three repeat sessions (to satisfy different time zones, and different languages) to stress the message to countries of the value of their data and appreciation of their effort. The notion of burdening member states only once in order to gain data to use for multiple purposes (e.g. SDG policy framework, the Global Set of Climate Change Statistics and Indicators, the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) and the System of Economic-Environmental Accounting (SEEA)) was stressed. Approximately 60 countries attended and their questions revealed keen interest in providing country-owned data to feed into important policy frameworks such as the SDG indicators. UNSD plans to hold similar such sessions for each data collection cycle and welcomes countries' contact concerning the Questionnaire via: envstats@un.org.

Presentations:

• 1. UN Statistics Division: The UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics (water and waste sections)   
• 2. UN Environment Programme: The UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics (waste section) for SDGs   
• 3. UN Environment Programme: The UNSD/UNEP Questionnaire on Environment Statistics (water section) for SEEA