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Workshop on Environment Statistics and Climate Change Statistics for the CARICOM Region (St. George's, Grenada)

Date: 4th November 2019 - 8th November 2019
Facilitators: Reena Shah, Emil Ivanov, Anjali Aradhana Sangeeta, Giulia Conchedda, Virginie Gillet, Michelle Wagner, Pauline Leonard, Abdullahi Abdulkadri , Vlad Trusca, Vintura Silva, Ryan Deosaran, Hayden J. Redhead , Quincy Augustine , Faustina Wiggins
Tags: Grenada

Intro:

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and the Government of Grenada, organized the Workshop on Environment Statistics and Climate Change Statistics for the CARICOM Region in St. Georges, Grenada from 4 to 8 November 2019.

Description:

Given a United Nations Statistical Commission request for UNSD to actively support developing countries in environment statistics through technical cooperation, the main purpose of the workshop was to help countries to implement the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013) and to familiarize them with the global work on climate change statistics and indicators. This was achieved through providing hands-on training on, inter alia, the FDES, the Environment Statistics Self-Assessment Tool (ESSAT), the Manual of the Basic Set of Environment Statistics, and on priority topics such as climate change statistics, water statistics, waste statistics, and the environmentally-related SDGs. Specifically, the workshop aimed at: a) Training participants from national statistical offices (NSOs) and ministries of environment (MoEs) or equivalent institutions such as environmental regulatory organisations in the CARICOM region on basic concepts, methods and best practices in environment statistics based on the FDES; b) Providing a forum for exchange of information on the status of national environment statistics; c) Enhancing participants’ capabilities in selected topics of environment statistics such as waste; d) Strengthen the capacity on e-waste statistics methodologies and data collection in the region; e) Reviewing environmentally-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators in relation to the FDES Basic Set of Environment Statistics; and f) Sharing knowledge and experience in climate change statistics and indicators. The workshop gathered 31 participants – being 10 from NSOs and nine from MoEs and other departments from eight CARICOM (member and associate member) countries: Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Grenada. In addition to UNSD and CARICOM, representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations University (UNU), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Regional Collaboration Centre of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC-RCC), also participated in the workshop. The workshop consisted of a series of experts’ presentations, sharing of and discussion of lessons learned from country practices, and facilitated group discussions. UNSD presentations covered the conceptual foundation and the structure of the FDES 2013, strategic pillars and steps to implement the FDES 2013, and details of environment statistics particularly relevant for the region (i.e. waste, water, and climate change). FDES 2013 supporting materials, such as the ESSAT, were also presented and discussed. FAO, UNFCCC, UNFCCC-RCC, UNU-SCYCLE and ECLAC also provided substantive technical contributions in their respective subject matters.