http://www.unescap.org/our-work/statistics

Ocean AccountsPlans and Priorities

Michael BordtRegional Advisor on Environment Statistics

bordt@un.orgcommunities.unescap.org/environment-statistics

http://www.unescap.org/our-work/statistics

Overview1. Background2. SEEA: A reminder3. Oceans

• Why are they different?• How can SEEA help?

4. Implementing ocean accounts• Partnerships• Capacity needs assessment• Case studies & pilots• Regional expert workshop

(Bangkok, 1-3 August, 2018)

5. Discussion

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities2

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1. Background

• Member States have asked ESCAP for support for• Regional cooperation

• On the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean• Regional partnerships

• For enhancing data and statistical capacities for Goal 14

• This requires• Assessing governance, institutions and data needs• Building and applying evidence• Providing guidance on data and statistics• Engaging in international, regional and national partnerships

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities3

http://www.unescap.org/our-work/statisticsESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview4

Official Statistics Policy

Science

I don’t have data on that.

Three solitudes…Why is the ocean so

important?

We need a “killer” indicator.

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Ask the right

questions

Work together

Common priorities

Data collectives

Efficient data

collection

Evidence based policy

ESCAP - Environment Statistics Overview5

Official Statistics

Policy

Science

We can help decide what to measure

and how!

You should know this!

How can we sustain

benefits from the ocean?

…or convergence?

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Governing the ocean needs “Big Statistics”

• A common language: • Standards: Concepts, Classifications, Methods

• To:• Integrate what we already know and identify gaps• Collaborate on solving and avoiding problems evidence• Put it into context messaging “killer” indicators• Ensure quality, coherence and relevance

• Environmental-economic accounting is “Big Statistics”• A integrated framework standards• Combine data from different sources coherent• Link to economic accounts relevance

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities6

+ Big Science+ Big Policy

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2. SEEA: A reminder

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities7

Stocks (P & Q)

Minerals & energyLand, SoilTimberAquatic Other biological

Water

Ecosystems +conditions

Flows (P & Q)

Materials

Energy

Water

Ecosystem services

Residuals (Q)

Solid waste

Air emissions

Effluents

Ecosystem impacts

Environment

EconomyProduction

ConsumptionAccumulation

ImportsExports

Benefits/Costs

• SNA:Contribution of natural inputs to economy (rent)

• Depletion, degradation adjusted net savings

• Non-SNA:Contribution of natural inputs to well being

• Externalities (health, poverty)

National wealth

• National BalanceSheet

• Resource life• “Critical”

Natural Capital

Mitigate & Manage (P)

Protection $Goods & ServicesTaxes & subsidies

P = Price (monetary value)Q = Quantity (physical)

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SEEA-Ecosystems (spatially detailed)

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities8

Extent ConditionServicesSupply Services Use

Services Supply Services Use

Asset

Augmented I-O Table

Integrated Sector Accounts and Balance Sheets

Tools: Classifications, Spatial units, scaling & aggregation,Biophysical modelling

Thematic: Land, Water, Carbon, Biodiversity

Tools: Valuation techniques

Supporting: SNA, I-O tables, economic production functions

Physical

Monetary

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A note on valuation of ecosystem services

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Section Division Group01.01.01 Biomass01.01.02 Water01.02.01 Biomass01.02.02 Water01.03.01 Biomass-based energy sources01.03.02 Mechanical energy 02.01.01 Mediation by biota02.01.02 Mediation by ecosystems02.02.01 Mass flows02.02.02 Liquid flows02.02.03 Gaseous / air flows02.03.01 Lifecycle maintenance, habitat and gene pool protection02.03.02 Pest and disease control02.03.03 Soil formation and composition02.03.04 Water conditions02.03.05 Atmospheric composition and climate regulation

03.01.01 Physical and experiential interactions

03.01.02 Intellectual and representative interactions

03.02.01 Spiritual and/or emblematic

03.02.02 Other cultural outputs

01. Provisioning

02. Regulation & Maintenance

03. Cultural

01.01 Nutrition

01.02 Materials

01.03 Energy

02.01 Mediation of waste, toxics and other nuisances

02.02 Mediation of flows

02.03 Maintenance of physical, chemical, biological conditions

03.01 Physical and intellectual interactions with biota, ecosystems, and land-/seascapes [environmental settings]03.02 Spiritual, symbolic and other interactions with biota, ecosystems, and land-/seascapes [environmental settings]

SNA Benefits• Should be in SNA• Benefits produced by economic units• Potential to be marketed• If require capital, labour…(e.g., timber)

• Value ecosystem’s contribution (rent)• If no capital, labour…(e.g., wild food)

• Value at market price Correct undercounting in SNA

Non-SNA Benefits• Should NOT be in SNA• Produced by ecosystems (e.g., water

regulation, pollination, air purification)• NO potential to be marketed (but have

carbon markets and PES)• Better to have reliable physical measures• View as part of national wealth Demonstrate “importance” to well-being

Source: CICES, 2013. www.cices.eu

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Services Supply in physical units

10

Source: Remme et al., 2014 (Limburg, the Netherlands)

Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities

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3. The OceanDifferent kind of “land cover” and “ecosystems”

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• They’re very large• Water keeps moving (currents,

upwelling)• Multi-layer (pelagic, benthic)• All looks the same from a satellite

(water or ice)• Trans-boundary / shared / Most

outside of national jurisdictions• Less studied / known / measured• SEEA not tested

• ESCAP YouTube Video; UN Environment: Ocean Pollution

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Many SEEA accounts many related SDGs

SEEA: Central Framework + Ecosystems

+ poverty [1]+ equality [5, 10]+ economy [8]+ disaster [11]+ SCP [12]+ climate [13]

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We have the technology!National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)SEEA Ecosystem extent- Terrestrial and Freshwater ecosystem types (Land Accounts)- Coastal communities- Coastal infrastructure- Pollution sourcesOceans spatial units- Ocean ecosystem types- Marine protected areas- Fishery, tourism, mining areas- Water quality / temperatureNational statistics- Emissions, effluents, wastes- Assets: fish stock- Supply/use: catch, beneficiariesAnalyses- Main sources of land-based pollution (by whom)- Value of natural inputs (to whom)- Cost/benefit of rehabilitation and protection- Policy options values at risk- Capture of “rent” (returns on investment)

EU01 EU02

EU04

EU05

EU10 EU11

EU09

EU07EU06

EU08

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Figure 1 A stylized set of ocean accounts

Ocean Assets:Drivers Ocean Extent Ocean Services Supply (physical)

Specific units % to oceanMinerals

(T)Energy (MToE)

Fish stocks (T) Service

SEEA Air emissions Beginning of period ProvisioningSEEA Effluents1 + additions Regulating and maintenanceSEEA Solid wastes1 - reductions Cultural1. would benefit from spatial disaggregation End of period Abiotic: Minerals, energy, medium for transport

Ocean governance Ocean Conditions Ocean Services Use (physical)

Specific units Specific units Minerals

(T)Energy (MToE)

Fish stocks (T) Service

Policies, plans and regulations Acidification (pH) ProvisioningInstitutions Eutrophication (BOD) Regulating and maintenanceManagement practices Plastics (T) CulturalTechnologies Temperature (°C) Abiotic: Minerals, energy, medium for transportSEEA EPE Accessibility/quality 3. Disaggregated by coastal/urban/rural, high/low - research 2. Including critical natural capital areas, settlements, coastal income, male/female - enforcement infrastructure, protected areas, fishing zones, designated tourist areas,SEEA EGSS coral reefs, mangroves, coastal beaches… Ocean Services Supply (Monetary4) - technologies Service

ProvisioningRegulating and maintenanceCultural

Note: This is a stylistic representation of the SEEA-EEA with additional Abiotic: Minerals, energy, medium for transportcomponents required for including sources of land-based pollution, 5. Would benefit from 4. Only some services can be valued in monetary terms.abiotic services (such as minerals, energy and medium for transport), disaggregation byexpenditures and governance. This is not as comprehensive as described large/small enterprise and Ocean Services Use (Monetary4)in the text. Much of the data on flows of land-based pollution, ecosystem linkage to employment by Servicetypes, and condition would be derived from detailed maps and beneficiary type. Provisioningaggregated as shown in the tables for reporting. Regulating and maintenance

CulturalAbiotic: Minerals, energy, medium for transport

Beneficiary type

SEEA Mineral and Energy Assets; SEEA AFF

Ecosystem Types (ha)

Industry

Industry

Ecosystem Types2

(ha)

Ecosystem Types2

(ha) Ecosystem Types (ha)

Beneficiary type3

SNA for some services5

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Implementing ocean accounts• Partnerships

• International, regional and national• UNSC: ESCAP & UNEP lead SEEA ecosystems revision on ocean

• Capacity needs assessment• Review national ocean priorities, policies, institutions, data

• Case studies & pilots (Indonesia, Fiji, others?)• Assessment, establish working group, compile priority accounts

• Regional expert workshop (1-3 August, 2018)• Draft guidance on data and statistics (10 issue briefs)

• Future• Coordinated implementation

• e.g., neighbouring countries to address transboundary issues• Regional & national “centres”: data hubs and research

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Plus other UN inter-agency and supported• GESAMP: Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific

Aspects of Marine Environment Protection• GEF: Global Environment Facility • IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change• OneSharedOcean• UNEP: Global Programme of Action for the

Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Bases Activities (GPA)

• DOALOS: The Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects

• UN Environment: Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA); International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI)

• World Bank: the Pacific Islands Regional

Oceanscape Program (PROP)International• OECD: Ocean Economy• GEO: Blue PlanetRegional• APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Forum): Ocean and

Fisheries Working Group• ASEAN: Southeast Asian Fisheries Development

Centre (SEAFDC)• CROP: Council of the Regional Organisations in

the Pacific• FAO: Asia-Pacific Fisheries Commission (APFIC)• PEMSEA: Partnerships in Environmental

Management of the Seas in East AsiaAcademic• ICSU: International Council for Science• Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

Many stakeholders many partnershipsUN Oceans

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See the concept note for a more complete list

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A partner mapping (to be continued)

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Capacity needs assessment

• Currently via online questionnaire and interviews:• National priorities for the ocean?• Capacity to address SDG14• Policies, regulations, frameworks, institutional mechanisms• Obstacles, challenges; priorities for development• Priority SDG14 targets• Stakeholder engagement

• Overview of regional needs ESCAP strategy

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Case studies and pilots (in progress)

• Scoping study (more detailed than capacity needs)• National vision, policies, regulations, institutions, plans• Policy gaps, incoherence, good practices• Data providers, users and stakeholders

• National working group (some already exist)• Integrate data for priority subset of ocean accounts• Release pilot accounts, publish selected data

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Regional expert workshop: Bangkok, 1-3 Aug. 2018

• 60+ national, regional and international experts

• Coordinate contributions now• Groups of 3-4 experts develop:

issue, options, recommendations• Plenary discussions of preferred

options

• Keynote lectures: Statistics, Science, Governance

• Result in guidance document for SEEA revision and implementation of case studies

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• The issues (so far):1. Spatial units and ecosystem classification: delineating units2. Ecosystem services: expand on existing classifications3. Disaster risk and climate change: establish linkages4. Links to social concerns: communities, artisanal, target groups5. Links to economic concerns: valuation and links to SNA6. Global data: What’s available and how to use it7. Progress on measuring SDG14: indicator metadata8. Ocean governance: international, regional and national9. Modelling the ocean: experience and opportunities10. Others?

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Regional expert workshop: Bangkok, 1-3 Aug. 2018

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Good news!

• Accounts don’t need to be complete to be useful• There is international interest and support

• Oceans Conference; United Nations Statistical Commission• Partnerships• Focus on governance

• ESCAP to support partnerships for governance, data and statistics

• Horizontal (topic, country) and vertical (international, regional)

• Other countries have already done parts• European Environment Agency workshop (Mar. 2016)• Some national data online: Thailand• Australia, NZ, NOAA, OECD: marine economy

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Take home points

• SEEA is a good starting point for statistical guidance for addressing SDG 14 (and ocean links to others)

• Ecosystem accounting is a spatially-detailed extension of the SEEA

• It includes guidance on measuring ecosystem types, their condition, the services they provide

• Especially SDG 15.9 (ecosystem and biodiversity values)

• Ocean data and statistics are a new challenge since the SEEA has not been applied to oceans

• There are many organizations working on different aspects of oceans and there are opportunities for harmonization of approaches to measuring SDG 14 and related indicators

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Group discussion: Ocean Accounts

• Specific interests or perspectives to include?• Interest in contributing?

• To expert workshop papers? (even if not attending)• Using resulting guidance for upcoming work• Advising on spatial or other data products

• Who should be engaged?

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References: EcosystemsAustralian Bureau of Statistics, 2013. Land Account:

Queensland, Experimental Estimates, 2013. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4609.0.55.003

CICES (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services). http://Cices.eu.

Dickson, B., Blaney, et al., 2014. Towards a global map of natural capital: Key ecosystem assets. DEW/1824/NA. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP.

Eigenraam, M., Chua, J. and HASKER, J., 2013. Environmental-Economic Accounting: Victorian Experimental Ecosystem Accounts, Version 1.0. Melbourne, Australia: Department of Sustainability and Environment, State of Victoria. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/londongroup/meeting19/LG19_16_5.pdf

European Environment Agency. 2015. Map of European Ecosystem Types. http://biodiversity.europa.eu/maes/mapping-ecosystems/map-of-european-ecosystem-types

FEGS-CS (Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Classification System. https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/final-ecosystem-goods-and-services-classification-system

Government Accountability Office. 2004. Geospatial Information: Better Coordination Needed to Identify and Reduce Duplicative Investments. http://www.gao.gov/assets/250/243133.pdf.

Griggs, D.J.; Nilsson, M.; Stevance, A.; McCollum, D. (eds.). 2017. A guide to SDG interactions: From science to implementation. Paris, France: International Council for Science (ICSU). http://www.icsu.org/cms/2017/05/SDGs-Guide-to-Interactions.pdf

Remme, Roy P., Matthias Schröter, and Lars Hein. "Developing spatial biophysical accounting for multiple ecosystem services." Ecosystem Services 10 (2014): 6-18.

Sumarga, E., & Hein, L. (2014). Mapping ecosystem services for land use planning, the case of Central Kalimantan. Environmental management, 54(1), 84-97.

SCBD Quick Start PackageSEEA Central Framework, SEEA-EEA, Applications and

ExtensionsStatistics Canada, 2013. Human Activity and the Environment:

Measuring Ecosystem Goods and Services 2013. 16-201-XWE. Ottawa: Government of Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-201-x/2013000/aftertoc-aprestdm1-eng.htm

Weber, J., 2014. Ecosystem Natural Capital Accounts: A Quick Start Package. 77 (Technical Series). Montreal: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. https://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-77-en.pdf

World Bank WAVES: Designing Pilots for Ecosystem Accounting

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References: OceansEuropean Environment Agency. 2016. Workshop on

options for marine ecosystem accounts, March 2016. GESAMP. 2016. “Sources, fate and effects of microplastics

in the marine environment: part two of a global assessment” (Kershaw, P.J., and Rochman, C.M., eds). (Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection). Rep. Stud. GESAMP No. 93, 220 p. http://www.gesamp.org/data/gesamp/files/file_element/0c50c023936f7ffd16506be330b43c56/rs93e.pdf

IMO (International Maritime Organization). 2012. International Shipping Facts and Figures – Information Resources on Trade, Safety, Security, Environment. http://www.imo.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/ShipsAndShippingFactsAndFigures/TheRoleandImportanceofInternationalShipping/Documents/International%20Shipping%20-%20Facts%20and%20Figures.pdf

Jambeck, J.R. et al. 2015. Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223), pp.768-771.

Mcleod, E. et al. 2011. A blueprint for blue carbon: toward an improved understanding of the role of vegetated coastal habitats in sequestering CO2. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 9(10), 552-560.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/110004Neumann, B. et al. 2015. Future coastal population growth

and exposure to sea-level rise and coastal flooding-a global assessment. PloS one, 10(3), p.e0118571. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118571

SANBI. 2013. National ecosystem classification system. Concept note. http://gsdi.geoportal.csir.co.za/projects/national-biodiversity-assessment-of-2018

Statistics Canada, 2013. Human Activity and the Environment: Measuring Ecosystem Goods and Services 2013. 16-201-XWE. Ottawa: Government of Canada. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-201-x/2013000/aftertoc-aprestdm1-eng.htm

United Nations. 2016. First Global Integrated Marine Assessment. www.un.org/Depts/los/woa

United Nations. nd. UN Atlas of the Oceans. http://www.oceansatlas.org/home/en/

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Acknowledgements

• Prepared by:• Michael Bordt

• Regional Adviser on Environment StatisticsESCAP Statistics Divisionbordt@un.org

• Ecosystems adapted from:• Advancing Natural Capital Accounting, a collaboration between The

United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and is supported by the Government of Norway.

• https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/eea_project/default.asp• Contact: seea@un.org

27 Ocean Accounts: Plans and Priorities