Environment statistics are important to provide a sound basis for decision-making, to monitor progress and to support public awareness with respect to the environment.
Purpose
- Provide the presentation of data from various subject areas and sources. It is now globally accepted that the state of the environment is of fundamental importance to human survival. At the same time, the environment is subject to changes as a result of the way that human activities and natural events can have an impact on it. Therefore, environment statistics and environment indicators provide such information and enhance the policy making process to ensure that the present needs are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
- incentive to research (national + international)
- Comply with national, regional and international obligations / treaties (CARICOM, UNSD& SDGs)
- Maintain publication frequency and awareness.
International Guidelines
For data collection the following guidelines were used;the CARICOM Core set that consists of 12 sectors and 61 indicators; the UNSD guidelines (FDES 2013) that consist of 6 components and 458 environment statistics; and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that consist of 17 goals, 169 targets and 232 indicators.
Relevance
Environment statistics are important because they:
- Reflect the state of affairs, quality and availability of natural resources
- Represent human activities and natural events that influence the environment, the influences of these activities and events and the social consequences is a way to respond to questions from the wider public
- Assist with the implementation, development and harmonization of environmental policies
- Help to include environmental complaints into decision-making
- Promote sustainable development, planning, public awareness and participation
- Evaluate national environmental performance and policy.
The Environment Statistics publication consists of thirteen chapters. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction in which the environmental issues of the specific sector are explained. The information of each chapter is organized (loosely) according to the Pressure – State – Response framework; the issues in each chapter describe the pressure, the impact on the environment and the response.
The thirteen subject areas are:
(1) Demographic and Socio-economic background, (2) Climate and Natural disasters, (3) Tourism, (4) Transport, (5) Environment and Health, (6) Water, (7) Energy and Minerals, (8) Forestry, (9) Coastal and Marine Resources, (10) Land use and Agriculture, (11) Biodiversity, (12) Air and (13) Waste.
Achievements
- Workshops on environment statistics, with environmental organizations and ministries participating by providing environment data, discussing the draft publication, as well as considering the current state of affairs in relation to environment statistics.
- Launch of the environment statistics publication (the 8th publication was launched in 2018)
- Environment publications including environment related statistics from the millennium development goals and sustainable development goals
- GBS is a member of the Technical Working Group of the United Nations for environment statistics (expert group meetings on environment statistics)
- Since 2017, GBS has participated in the Technical Working Group of CARICOM for the CARICOM core indicators
- Together with Jamaica and Belize, GBS is in the group of CARICOM countries that lead the way in the area of environment statistics.
Publications: 1st in November 2002, 2nd in May 2006, 3rd in December 2008, 4th in September 2010, 5th in October 2012, 6th in December 2014, 7th in December 2016, 8th in December 2018 and the 9th in December 2020.
For the environment statistics compendia see also the link of the UNSD (United Nations Statistics Division). View the link
For the 9th environment statistics publication of December 2020. View the link
