United Nations Statistical Commission Research Articles

BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS AND MAPPING OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED ON THE DEGREE OF URBANISATION METHOD IN THE SCOPUS DATABASE

The United Nations Statistical Commission agreed in March 2020 to start using the Degree of Urbanisation as a method to delineate cities, urban, and rural areas to enable international statistical comparisons. The decision consequently promotes countries to change or align their classification and/or methods of urbanisation delineation. This is expected to increase the number of studies with “degree of urbanisation” or “urban classification” keywords around the world in line with the implementation of the method. Aim: This study aims to determine the research trends on the degree of urbanisation in the Scopus database from the year 2013 to 2022. Methodology and results: The bibliometric method was applied through the VOSviewer software (version 1.6.18. Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands) for the analysis. The findings showed that the topics related to the degree of urbanization are underrepresented in terms of the number of publications and contributing nations though the trend in the number of articles published in the Scopus database has annually increased from 2017-2021. Conclusion, significance and impact study: This implies there is a lot of potential regarding the publication of studies on the concept of “degree of urbanization”

Prioritizing the culture metric for transformative ocean management in South Africa

ABSTRACT The Ecosystems Services (ES) approach to ocean management forms part of global initiatives to achieve sustainability. In a time of climate change and ocean depletion, ES is critical to an inclusive global ocean accounting and marine spatial planning (MSP). The ES approach proposes that nature offers a range of services to human populations which can be measured for integrated ocean management. The services identified in ES are thought to be usefully integrated into systems’ models for both retrospective analysis and future modelling. Recently, culture is identified as an important ecosystem service in ocean management. The System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) adopted and applied by the United Nations Statistical Commission Several scholars calls for the inclusion of culture in environmental economic accounting. However, and as argued in this article, for various reasons, culture is not easily circumscribed, and it offers its own epistemological foundation that may frame ocean ‘accounting’. The research presented in the article uses anthropological research methods to investigate, document and analyse the form and substance of coastal culture in South Africa. It is concluded that the transmaterial, temporal and processual nature of culture means that for South Africa and potentially Africa, a radical transformation of ecological discourse is necessary for a sufficiently dynamic ES approach that can apprehend the complexity of culture in Africa and the world.

Modelling and testing forest ecosystems condition account

We developed an application model based on the System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework, endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 2021. This model enables mapping condition accounts for forest ecosystems using automated computation. We applied the model nationally in Spain between 2000 and 2015 to test its effectiveness. Our model follows five methodological steps to generate forest condition accounts: (i) definition and spatial delimitation of forest ecosystem types; (ii) selection of variables using the ecosystem condition typology encompassing physical, chemical, compositional, structural, functional, and landscape characteristics; (iii) establishment of reference levels, including lower (collapse) and upper (high ecosystem integrity) thresholds; (iv) aggregation of variables into condition index; and (v) calculation of a single condition index by rescaling the aggregated indicators between 0 and 1. The results obtained from the model provide valuable insights into the status and trends of individual condition indicators, as well as aggregated condition index values for forest ecosystems, in a spatially explicit manner. Overall, the condition of the forest ecosystems in Spain showed a slight increase, from 0.56 in 2000 to 0.58 in 2015. However, distinct trends were observed for each ecosystem type. For example, mixed Alpine and Macaronesia forests exhibited a significant improvement, while the continental Mediterranean coniferous forests did not show any change. This innovative approach to monitoring forest condition accounts has important potential applications in policy and decision-making processes. It can contribute to effective evidence-based nature conservation, ecosystem service management, and identifying restoration areas.

Ecosystem accounting: Reconciling consumer surplus and exchange values for free-access recreation

The United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) has adopted chapters 8–11 of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting—Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) as the internationally recognized statistical principles and recommendations for the valuation of ecosystem services and assets for use in ecosystem accounts. This has provided new challenges for environmental economists. Ecosystem accounts capture the contribution of ecosystem assets to economic activity in a compatible way to the traditional System of National Accounts. Both are based on exchange instead of welfare value, with the latter commonly estimated and used in welfare analysis. To estimate exchange values for ecosystem services that contribute to the generation of non-market benefits, exchange prices need to be derived. In this paper, we apply the simulated exchange value (SEV) method to derive exchange prices and values to account for recreation-related services using the travel cost method. We show that exchange prices and average consumer surplus estimates are related. Further, we show that when travel-cost based exchange prices are considered, the proportional reduction in trip numbers is constant if the marginal enabling cost are zero, simplifying the modelling process. We demonstrate the development of accounts for an example recreational fishery based on these measures.

Now is the time to close gaps in governance statistics – And the Praia Group is ready for the challenge

Created in 2015 by the United Nations Statistical Commission, the Praia Group on Governance Statistics aims “to contribute to establishing international standards and methods for the compilation of statistics on the major dimensions of governance”. The Praia Group has recently created two “Task Teams” led by national statistical offices from around the world – one on Non-Discrimination and Equality, and one on Participation in Political and Public Affairs – whose aim is to advance the development of international statistical guidance, standards and instruments to measure these two dimensions. This article reviews the work accomplished so far by each Task Team to develop internationally harmonized model survey questionnaires on these two dimensions, in order to enable the production of comprehensive survey-based statistics on Discrimination and Participation that are comparable across different cultures, languages and development contexts, and over time.

From local prices to the global economy: A unique global collaboration that underpins the International Comparison Program

The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a unique example of enduring statistical cooperation and collaboration across national, regional, and global agencies. For over fifty years, the Program has delivered a vital public good: purchasing power parities (PPPs) and price level indexes (PLIs) for economies across the globe. PPPs enable a wealth of metrics on economic output, material well-being, and consumption, as well as a host of PPP-based indicators across the socioeconomic spectrum, many of which are used for monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Fundamental to these data and metrics is cross-country comparability, and the ICP’s multi-agency partnership ensures that this is achieved through agreement on common statistical standards and methods in price data collection, in national accounts expenditure data compilation, in quality assurance, and in the calculation and dissemination of results. Working within a comprehensive governance structure overseen by the United Nations Statistical Commission, the ICP Global Office at the World Bank, and five regional agencies, together with Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), collaborate with over 170 national agencies to ensure that the work carried out across all economies adheres to these established benchmarks and processes, resulting in both bespoke ICP price collections that reflect both nationally relevant and globally comparable goods and services, and expenditure data that follow international standards. This paper presents an overview of this unique global partnership and highlights how different challenges and processes are addressed by stakeholders working with shared knowledge towards a common goal.

Regional cooperation and statistical capacity development: Successes, challenges and next steps

Regional Cooperation and Capacity Development was the sixth discussion platform topic of the Statistical Journal of the International Association of Official Statistics. Contributors shared many reflections on cooperation and capacity development including the third ‘c’ of coordination. Coordination, as one contributor remarked, “has been a holy grail but is a long way from being achieved”. United Nations (UN) Member States (countries) regularly call for improved coordination amongst the international capacity development community at annual meetings of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and international organisations and professional associations are committed to coordination and cooperation ideals. This paper highlights potential routes to improved global cooperation by reviewing contributions to the discussion platform, sharing an example of effective coordination from a UN Regional Commission, and the key features of current coordination efforts by the International Statistical Institute (ISI) and the UN. The launch of the ISI’s Capability Building Committee’s 2022–2025 strategic plan provides an opportunity to review overall coordination efforts and promote inclusive capacity development efforts to ensure no one or no National Statistical System is left behind.

Establishing a reference tool for ecosystem accounting in Europe, based on the INCA methodology

The European Commission developed an amendment to Regulation 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts to include reporting on ecosystem accounts compliant to the United Nations Statistical Commission System of Environmental-Economic Accounts – Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA-EA) standard. To support Member States implementing this regulation, an open source tool, known as INCA-tool, to generate ecosystem service accounts has been developed, based on the Knowledge Innovation Project on Integrated Systems of Naural Capital and Ecosystem Services Accounting (KIP-INCA) methodologies. The INCA-tool was developed by taking into account the FAIR principle for software and data, as well as existing interoperability standards by the SEEA community. Three types of users were identified with their specific needs, interactions and skills. To meet their needs, the INCA-tool was split into two parts, a python package to perform the calculations and an acessible and easy-to-use user interface in QGIS to integrate national information. With a first version of the toolkit in place, improvements to the existing calculation methods and alignment with the upcoming EU regulation can be achieved. Further, feedback from Member States beta-tests and their experiences is currently collected and implemented and the full public roll-out is planned for the end of 2022. The software packages in the toolkit were already used to extend the existing nine INCA European wall-to-wall account series with the year 2018.

Nationally reported metrics can’t adequately guide transformative change in biodiversity policy

Biodiversity loss is rampant (1⇓–3). To safeguard the future of life on Earth, there are growing calls for transformative change in biodiversity policy [i.e., for a fundamental and system-wide reorganization of how such policy is designed, implemented, and enforced across scales and sectors (1)]. Here we argue that to achieve this change, nations need to urgently implement robust biodiversity metrics into decision-making processes and policy. To have any chance of retaining the globe’s biodiversity, nations must implement better, more robust biodiversity metrics into decision-making processes and policy. Image credit: Shutterstock/Stu Shaw. Because biodiversity sustains human life and economy, biodiversity metrics should be elevated to the same level as other core statistics and should be regarded as essential for guiding societies toward transformative change. Biodiversity metrics should be held to the same standards, rigor, and accuracy as any other nationally reported data, such as those on human population size, age structure, economic growth, and agricultural or industrial production. Measures of the state of biodiversity should thus be published as part of national statistics and mandated by legislation to ensure delivery. In March 2021, the 52nd United Nations Statistical Commission introduced the notion of biodiversity accounting in economic and financial decision-making, a move that represents an important step in changing international attitudes toward enhancing biodiversity policies. As researchers continue to gather knowledge on the structure, mechanisms, and determinants of biodiversity, governments should leverage that knowledge to guide policy. We therefore call for stronger efforts to implement monitoring schemes that provide species abundance data and for metrics that are globally harmonized to provide a more accurate quantification of patterns of biodiversity change (4, 5). To guide policy, governments and institutions require statistics that adequately and sensitively reflect ongoing change. Most current assessments of biodiversity status and trends are … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: tomas.roslin{at}helsinki.fi or anna-liisa.laine{at}uzh.ch. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Climate Change Statistics: European Experience and National Assessment

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to the society, economy and environment in the whole world and Ukraine in particular. The central objective for the environmental statistics today is to perform the sound statistical assessment, to develop or improve new or existing approaches to building up the system for accounting of the indicators measuring climate change and adaptation to it. The improvement or development of existing or new methodologies and methods for the statistical accounting and assessment of climate change indicators is the only way for the production of information in a sound and comprehensive manner. It is argued that the statistical analysis allows deepening the grasp into the operation of a complex and dynamic phenomena as climate change, elaborate actions to reduce its adverse environmental effect, and eliminate adverse consequences of climate change for our planet. 
 It is found that the official statistics have been put the ever stronger focus on issues of environmental performance and climate change by concentrating on the development and improvement of methodologies and procedures for compilation of environmental accounts that are used for economic measurements of natural resources, energy, waste, water resources, air emissions, spending for environmental protection. It is stressed the United Nations Statistical Commission has adopted, at global level, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) designed to provide important support to the development of statistics related with climate change by intensifying the effort in several dimensions of the complex economic and environmental accounting. The industry coverage of the climate change statistics is defined, with a detailed description of various approaches to the environmental accounting in which indicators of climate change are involved. The significance of the environmental-economic accounting (and the account of air emission of dangerous substances in particular) as the central source of data on greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine is substantiated.
 In spite of many functions in the measurement of climate change, assigned to the national statistics system, the existing official statistics does not always employ its capacities for the assessment of climate change. By considering the statistics on climate change as a tool with impact on decision-making in this field, the authors outlined the areas of improvements in the accounting of climate and climate change.

Rwanda’s Off-Grid Solar Performance Targets

The United Nations Statistical Commission’s Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDG) settled on 230 guidelines to assess the 17 SDGs and 169 Targets. The clause of “Leave No One Behind” and scarcity of data in most deserving countries made the UN 2030 Agenda agree on 169 Targets. Recently in Energy Policy, Bisaga et al. used synergies and trade-offs of SDG7 to assess Rwanda’s off-grid solar energy sector performance against the 169 Targets of the UN 2030 Agenda.

Assessing compliance with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics: A maturity model for continuous improvement1

In 2019 the United Nations Statistical Commission (UN STATSCOM) celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their adoption of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFPOS). To mark this milestone and drive further adoption of the principles, a UN STATSCOM Friends of the Chair Group on the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FoC) was convened to work on selected aspects of implementing the UNFPOS. One aspect the group worked on was development of criteria for assessing compliance with the UNFPOS. The group achieved this by developing a maturity model that both assesses compliance with the UNFPOS and identifies areas for continuous improvement. The Maturity Model was endorsed at the 51st session of the UN STATSCOM in March 2020. Compliance with the UNFPOS signals that official statistics are produced in a trusted apolitical way and that governments and citizens have available valuable and reliable information about their economic, social, environmental and demographic situations. In the era of ‘fake news and alternative facts’, compliance with the globally endorsed ethical, professional and scientific standards and guidelines that make up the UNFPOS builds confidence and trust in official statistics.

Measuring the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators: An Unprecedented Statistical Challenge

Abstract In March 2017, the United Nations (UN) Statistical Commission adopted a measurement framework for the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, comprising of 232 indicators designed to measure the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their respective 169 targets. The scope of this measurement framework is so ambitious it led Mogens Lykketoft, President of the seventieth session of the UN General Assembly, to describe it as an ‘unprecedented statistical challenge’. Naturally, with a programme of this magnitude, there will be foreseen and unforeseen challenges and consequences. This article outlines some of the key differences between the Millennium Development Goals and the SDGs, before detailing some of the measurement challenges involved in compiling the SDG indicators, and examines some of the unanticipated consequences arising from the mechanisms put in place to measure progress from a broad political economy perspective.

Ecosystem accounting in the Netherlands

In 2012, the Netherlands started the testing and production of high resolution, national scale ecosystem accounts following the methodology of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA), in short ‘ecosystem accounting’. The SEEA is endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as a comprehensive system for analysing and recording physical and monetary information on ecosystems and human dependencies on ecosystems. Many other countries have been developing natural capital accounts following the SEEA EEA, but the Netherlands work was novel in the sense that a comprehensive set of accounts has been developed for the whole country, including high resolution maps and accounting tables of ecosystem type, condition, services, assets, carbon and biodiversity. The work involved over 10 man-years of work, and was carried out in a collaboration by the Netherlands Statistical Office (CBS) and Wageningen University. This paper presents the methodologies followed and results obtained, and reflects on the policy applications of the accounts. Some further testing and development of the SEEA EEA is needed and also the Netherlands accounts are not yet complete. Nevertheless, the lessons learned in the Netherlands are relevant for other accounting efforts world-wide.

FORMALIZATION OF VALUE MEASUREMENT OF ECOSYSTEM ASSETS OF SOCIAL-TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

The essence of the formalization process is revealed. Its projection on the task of formalizing the value measurement of ecosystem assets of social-territorial communities disclosed three iterative steps of the algorithm for its solution. The last step is to represent ecosystem assets in monetary terms by appropriate calculation formulas (a system of indicators to determine their numerical values), which is achieved by establishing a monetary valuation of their ecosystem goods and services as an indicator of the natural capacity of these ecosystem assets. It is shown that the basic methodological basis for the numerical formalization of monetary calculation of ecosystem assets of socio-territorial communities are the provisions on determining the economic value of ecosystem services and their contribution to welfare, which are enshrined in the four most important constitutive official documents developed by United Nations Statistical Commission, FAO, IMF and World Bank in 2012-2017. It is established that in foreign countries (Great Britain, the Netherlands, the People's Republic of China) these documents are used as a source in the implementation of appropriate valuations of ecosystem services provided by ecosystem assets of certain areas. And the UK in general has introduced such estimates in 2018 in the practice of its state statistical accounting of natural capital on a regular basis. The generalization of the existing as of 2020 foreign developments on monetary valuation of ecosystem services provided by ecosystem assets is carried out. The list of ecosystem services, the cost of which can now be calculated using the appropriate sequences of formulas for their calculation for the final total monetary assessment of ecosystem assets, is presented in tabular format (with address sources). These sources, which contain sequences of the necessary formulas for calculating the monetary contribution of ecosystem services, will be useful to domestic appraisers of ecosystem assets of local communities. It is recommended to creatively and thoughtfully use the already developed positions and sequences of calculation formulas on the outlined topics, which are published in the relevant foreign official procedural methods and in the performed project studies as auxiliary guides, when conducting estimation of specific ecosystem assets of territorial communities of Ukraine.

The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics in the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD)

The Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics were adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 1994 and are now universally agreed as a comprehensive framework for the mission of National Statistical Offices. It gives a set of fundamental values and principles, which NSOs and other data producers should have in order for the public to have trust in the official statistics they produce.Statistics Centre – Abu Dhabi (SCAD) is the main authorized body concerned with official statistics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is responsible for the collection, classification, storage, analysis and dissemination of official statistics covering social, demographic, economic, environmental and cultural indicators. It has considered the fundamental principles of official statistics as a foundation stone in producing the Emirate’s official statistics, to satisfy the highest level of data quality standards and to gain the trust of the public with its statistical production. This article will discuss the institutional, organizational, and technical activities that have been undertaken by SCAD to comply with the fundamental principles of official statistics. It will highlight the principles and implementations adopted by SCAD with examples. Keywords : Fundamental principles, official statistics, Quality. DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-20-09 Publication date :October 31 st 2019

СПЕЦИФІКА ВАРТІСНОГО ВИМІРУ ЦІННОСТІ ЕКОСИСТЕМНИХ ПОСЛУГ ПРИ ВИЗНАЧЕННІ ЗБИТКУ ВІД ЗАБРУДНЕННЯ НАВКОЛИШНЬОГО ПРИРОДНОГО СЕРЕДОВИЩА

The formalization of the economic damage from the deterioration/destruction of ecosystem services is carried out. On this basis, its output component is designated: the indicator of harm to ecosystem goods and services as assets of natural capital. For the first time, meaningful content of economic damage from the loss of ecosystem goods and services is revealed. Its content is based on the cost estimation of the total amount of harm caused to them (1), the volume of relevant public expenditure and financial resources to replace certain types of ecosystem services, which are lost in whole or in part (2), the costs necessary to prevent harm from the negative socioeconomic and environmental consequences of the loss of ecosystem services (3) and the elimination of these losses (4), as well as lost profits from lost opportunities (income) due to degraded ecosystem services and the resulting social costs (5). It is substantiated that in determining the overall rate of economic damage from environmental pollution by the ecosystem objects, its key parameter is exactly the cost measurement of the value of ecosystem services on the basis of an economic assessment of the degradation changes of ecosystem producers. A consistent parameterization of the economic value of ecosystem services is presented and the applied results of cost estimation of ecosystem services are generalized. These results provide reference methodological support for similar evaluation by other developers, in particular, professional appraisers licensed by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine. The author introduces into scientific use the provisions on determining the economic value of ecosystem services and their contribution to well-being, which were set out in the four most important constitutional official documents developed by the United Nations Statistical Commission, FAO, the IMF and the World Bank in 2012-2017. For the first time, the estimated cost of ecosystem services for the Dnipro river Basin within Ukraine, including the Kiev Region, is calculated. A double excess of the value of ecosystem services of Kiev area (as the region of the middle reaches of the Dnipro Basin) over the value of the regional gross product for the same time period was found. The author proves the necessity to take into account the significant contribution of ecosystem services (or, conversely, their losses) to public income in order to create a scientifically plausible basis for making more substantiated and credible practical decisions when forming and implementing the socio-economic and environmental policies.

SDG’s Indicators Framework and Disability in India

The post-2015 development framework endorsed disability as an issue of social rights that is in accordance with the guidelines of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations Statistical Commission has worked through the Inter-agency and Expert Group and the High-level Group in the formation of the indicators framework to measure the progress made by the disabled persons in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main objective of this article is to assess the disability prevalence in India and subsequently examine its preparedness towards developing the disability indicators. We consider the Census 2011 data to provide an account of disability situations along with information on state-wise composition, types, age distribution, literacy and employment aspects. We then explain as to how the indicators framework would result in data and information demands on India’s part, which are essential for monitoring the progress of disability inclusion in the country.

How Much Will a Data Revolution in Development Cost?

The UN High Level Panel has called for a data revolution. The world’s population should be counted, measured, weighed, and evaluated. This information should be collected, compiled, aggregated, and presented in such a form that it can usefully inform policy-makers and citizens in aggregated forms, and disaggregated according to region, village, gender, and population group. It is tempting to think that having more and better information will improve policy choices, but this is not automatic. Moreover, demanding more information may lead to a deteriorating supply of information if demand outstrips supply. This article therefore focuses on the cost of the data revolution rather than its possible benefits. The simple starting point is that data do have a cost. The cost of the data revolution will be considerable. The costs include the sheer financial cost of monitoring, but importantly extend to include the opportunity cost of competing demands on survey capacity. Particular indicators also influence behavior by skewing activities in favor of completing goals with quantifiable targets. More data are only better data if they contain meaningful information that clearly outweighs the opportunity cost related to its gathering. However, funding available for sustainable development goal (SDG) measurement is limited and there are also institutional capacity limits to be reckoned with. On 11 March 2016, the United Nations Statistical Commission’s Interagency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) agreed on 230 individual indicators to monitor the 17 goals and 169 targets. Because the final list of 230 indicators has been a moving target, the research for this article took as the starting point of what a reasonable level of measurement of the millennium development goals would have cost to raise a debate and to give a crude estimate over the cost of the introduction of the SDGs, with their exponential increased demand for data. This is done by bringing together and reconciles the existing information on the costs measurement as a reference for scholars concerned with SDG feasibility and operationalization.

Integrating statistical and geospatial information, cultures and professions: International developments and Australian experience

For more than half a century, the United Nations (UN) Statistical Commission has been the highest body of the global statistical system. Bringing together Chief Statisticians, the UN Statistical Commission considers and decides upon statistical standards and the development of concepts and methods, and their implementation at the national and international level. In contrast, the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management has existed for only the last 5 years. Established by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2011, the Committee brings together senior national government geospatial experts to develop strategies to build and strengthen national capacity on geospatial information, as well as disseminate best practices and experiences of national, regional and international bodies on geospatial information. The 60 International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress, held in Brazil in July 2015, recognised the importance of the integration of statistical and geospatial information. The then President of the International Association for Official Statistics, Professor Kawasaki, used his Presidential Address to shine a light on this important area for official statistics. Driven by a growing demand for better data for more informed decision-making, there is an increasing body of material available about the technical aspects and benefits of bringing together statistical and geospatial information, but little has been written about the cultural aspects of two diverse professional communities working together. This paper focuses on some of these cultural aspects, and highlights cooperation underway globally, and nationally within Australia, and provides some suggestions for further improvement.