The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) developed the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) in 1993, as a satellite to the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA), in recognition to the increasing importance of integrating environmental issues into development and the need to account for the manifold interactions between all sectors of the economy and the environment in order to ensure sustainable development.

 

ESCWA through the funded project "Strengthening National Capacities in Environment Statistics, Indicators and Accounts in support of progress toward achieving the internationally agreed development goals in the ESCWA and ECLAC Region 2007-2009", has planned activities to assist in enhancing the national capacities of Member States in environment statistics, indicators and accounts in order to integrate environmental concerns into economic development, thus supporting progress toward achieving environmental sustainability and related international agreed development goals member countries.  

 

This assistance by ESCWA, which encompasses training workshops, technical assistance missions, publication of studies and development of information systems, is coordinated with regional and international agencies, particularly UNSD, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the regional statistical cooperation programme between the European Union and Mediterranean partner countries (MEDSTAT) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

 

Wafa Aboul Hosn
Team Leader, Sectoral Statistics
Statistics Division, ESCWA
aboulhosn@un.org