1 Monitoring the Environment The South African case study J de Beer.
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1 Monitoring the Environment The South African case study J de Beer
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Transcript of 1 Monitoring the Environment The South African case study J de Beer.
1
Monitoring the Environment
The South African case study
J de Beer
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Mandate and contextMandate and context
• Statistics Act, 6 of 1999
• Purpose of the Act– Advance planning, production, analysis, documentation, storage, dissemination and
use of official and other statistics– Provide for coordination with other organs of state (section 5, 7 & 14)– Provide for cooperation between producers of official statistics
• Role players in the Act– Minister in the Presidency responsible for National Planning: Approval of plans– Statistician-General: Producer, Coordinator and Certification– Statistics Council: Advisory– Heads of Organs of State: Producer
• Vision: Your leading partner in quality statistics
• Mission: To lead and partner in statistical production systems for evidence based decisions
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• To raise the profile of statistics in policy formulation, planning, monitoring and evaluation
• To address gaps in the statistical production process– Information gap– Quality gap– Capacity gap
• To guide and govern statistical production in the country
Statistical production system required Statistical production system required
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• Economic statistics– Employment– National Accounts (including Environmental Economic Accounts)– Business cycle– Government statistics– Price statistics
• Social and Population statistics– Household surveys– Service delivery– Population Census
• Scattered environment statistics– By chance– Module approach to existing surveys
Stats SA core areasStats SA core areas
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• Partnerships– Memorandum of Understanding with The Presidency; Dept of Environmental
Affairs; Energy; Mineral resources; Water Affairs; Agriculture, water and fisheries
– Inter departmental working groups
• Stats SA publications – updated annually– EEA: Water Accounts for South Africa: 2000– EEA: Energy Accounts for South Africa, 2002 to 2006 – EEA: Minerals Accounts for South Africa, 1980 to 2008 – EEA: Fisheries Accounts for South Africa, 1990 to 2008
• International participation– Opportunities for development, relevance, quality improvement– UNCEEA, London group, Oslo group– SADC workshops (UNSD support)– UNECA
Current work programmeCurrent work programme
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• Environmental information is becoming increasingly important as an assessment tool for:
– Main drivers of change;– Identifying trends; and– Responses.
• Environmental information informs:– Public debate;– Policy development; and– Decision-making.
Importance of environmental infoImportance of environmental info
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South Africa’s ecological footprint is higher than global average.
South Africa
Importance of environmental infoImportance of environmental info
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Partners in statistics – Line Ministries
ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS
ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS
Stocks and inventory statistics
Stocks and inventory statistics
Impact statistics: emissions / contamination
Impact statistics: emissions / contamination
Response statisticsResponse statistics
Activity statistics: resource extraction / harvesting
Activity statistics: resource extraction / harvesting
ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
StateState
ImpactImpact
PressurePressure
ResponseResponse
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS
(EEA) – PHYSICAL ACCOUNTS
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS
(EEA) – PHYSICAL ACCOUNTS
Opening and closing stocksOpening and closing stocks
Extraction, harvest, discoveries, natural growth
Extraction, harvest, discoveries, natural growth
Residual flow accountResidual flow account
INTEGRATED PHYSICAL AND MONETARY ACCOUNTS
INTEGRATED PHYSICAL AND MONETARY ACCOUNTS
Opening and closing stocks; depletion, accumulation,
degradation; production and income
Opening and closing stocks; depletion, accumulation,
degradation; production and income
Source: Statistics South Africa, 2009
Stats SA
LinkagesLinkages
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• Strengths:– Formalized agreements;– Expert knowledge in line ministries; and– Existing informal networks.
• Weaknesses:– Limited budget allocations;– Environmental statistics not mainstream priority;– Framework Development for Environmental Statistics (FDES) not established
within Stats SA;– No resources in Stats SA to collect environmental data; and– Institutionalization lengthy process preventing publishing official reports.
Strengths and WeaknessesStrengths and Weaknesses
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732
