IBGE and the United Nations Statistical Division...

IBGE and the United Nations Statistical Division promote, from Monday to Friday (21 to 25), the International Seminar on Environmental Statistics and Economic-Environmental Accounts, in Rio de Janeiro. The event is aimed at the realization, in Brazil and Latin America, of the importance of statistical integration in the fields of environment and economy, with the implementation of a common reference: the System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA). The Seminar will be held by representatives of national statistical agencies of several countries and by users and national producers of data related to the environment. The opening session is going to happen on Monday, at 9:30 a.m., with presentations by the president of IBGE, Eduardo Pereira Nunes, and by the chief of the Economic Statistics Branch at the United Nations Statistics Division, Ivo Havinga.

With a two-day program and three workshops in Rio de Janeiro and a presentation in Manaus, the Seminar will add to the discussion about the best way of implementing an integrated system of environmental and economic information in Brazil. The System, which has already been implemented in some countries, has the objective of providing necessary information for policy and decision-making concerning the environment and sustainable development. Instances of the experience from other parts of the world, as well as from more developed countries in the execution of the SEEA will be presented in the event.

The Seminar is intended to promote a dialogue among users and producers of environmental information in Brazil, in order to identify the data needed for the elaboration of policies and to discuss how the conceptual scenario of environmental accounting may fulfill these needs. Work will be organized into six thematic sessions: Need of integrated information for policy and decisions making; Statistics and economic-environmental accounts; Countries experiences; Water, electricity, land, ecosystems and forests; Statistics and economic-environmental accounts in Brazil (discussion panel); Governance; and finally, Conclusions and steps to come.   

Each session will start with presentations of representatives of countries or organizations about practical matters and need of information, followed by a discussion panel concerning the situation of information in Brazil, by an open discussion among participants and ended with a period for conclusion. All the sessions will have simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

Besides the objective of stimulating dialogue among users and producers of environmental information, the seminars aims at providing information about the need of an integrated system, including matters related to climactic changes; presenting the main concepts and political applications of SCEA; creating a guide for the implementation of SCEA in Brazil; and establishing a guide for the implementation of SCEA in Brazil; and developing a regional Latin-American perspective for the implementation of the program of economic-environmental accounts.

The program includes workshops about water bills, on the September 23rd and 24th, and others on forest accounts, land and ecosystem accounts, on September 25th. These will pave the way for deeper investigation of technical and practical matters for the production of environmental accounts, being attended specially invited representatives of entities and organizations.

Service - International Seminar on Environmental Statistics and Economic-Environmental Accounts