OECD
World
Forum
onon
Key
Indicators
OECD
World
Forum
Key
Indicators
Statistics,
Statistics,Knowledge
Knowledgeand
andPolicy
Policy
Palermo,
10-13
November
2004
Palermo,
10-13
November
2004
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
1
Development of environmental
performance and sustainable
development indicators in
Mexico
Salvador Sánchez-Colón
Director General for Environmental Information and Statistics,
Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources,
Mexico
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
2
Objectives
• Review major advancements/achievements in
the development of environmental indicators
and sustainable development indicators in
Mexico
• Examine lessons learned
• Explore ways for better advancing these efforts
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
3
Background
• First landmark: Report on the state of the environment in Mexico
(Ministry of Urban Development and Ecology, Mexico, 1986)
• UN Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de
Janeiro, 1992) - Agenda 21, Chapter 40th: Information for
decision making
• UN Commission for Sustainable Development: Sustainable
Development Indicators Program 1995
• Mexico’s entry to the OECD 1994: Involvement in OECD’s
environmental information initiatives (Environmental Data
Compendium, Core set of environmental indicators,
Environmental Performance reviews)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
4
Background
Objectives
• Fulfil international obligations (e.g.
OECD, UN-CSD, etc.)
• Evaluate progress towards sustainable
development
• Support for policy and decision making
• Inform society
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Types of indicators
• Environmental indicators.- Describe the behaviour of
separate components of the environment (e.g., air
quality, water pollution, etc.)
• Sustainable development indicators.- Indicators
systems aimed to describe the economic, social,
environmental and institutional aspects of development.
• Aggregation approaches:
Indices.- linear combination of weighted variables and
indicators
Environmental accounts, based on the monetary
valuation of environmental components and services
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Environmental indicators
Indicators for the assessment of environmental
performance (SEMARNAP, 1997, 2000)
•
Purpose: Disseminating information about the state of
the environment, making effective the people's right to
access to environmental information
•
Scheme: OECD’s Pressure-State-Response
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Environmental indicators
Subject themes
1997 edition
• Air
• Hazardous waste
• Municipal solid waste
• Wildlife
• Stratosppheric Ozone depletion
• Climate change
Added in 2000 edition
•Water resources
•Forests
•Soils
•Fisheries
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Environmental indicators
Basic Indicators of Mexico’s environmental performance
(SEMARNAT, 20005)
Subject themes
•Air quality and atmosphere (GHG, ODS)
•Water (Quality and supply)
•Waste (municipal and hazrdous)
•Soils
•Biodiversity (freshwater, marine and terrestrial
ecosystems)
•Fisheries
•Forest resources
OECD’s PSR scheme
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Sustainable development indicators
Mexico’s Sustainable development indicators
(SEMARNAP-INEGI, 2000)
•
•
•
UN Comission for Sustainable Development pilot project
22 countries participating (six from LA & C)
113 indicators compiled (out of 134)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Sustainable development indicators
Mexico’s Sustainable development indicators
(SEMARNAP-INEGI, 2000)
•
•
•
Arranged by SD dimensions
Following PSR scheme
Related to the Agenda 21 chapters
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Aggregated approaches
Mexico’s Environmental Sustainability Index
•Adaptation of the World Economic Forum & Yale and Columbia
Universities’s Environmental Sustainability Index
•Interpretation and adaptations specific for México.
• State-level analysis to account for the high environmental and
socio-economic heterogeneity of the country
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Aggregated approaches
Mexico’s Environmental Sustainability Index
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Aggregated approaches
Mexico’s Environmentally Adjusted Net Domestic Product
(INEGI, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
• Depletion of natural resources: Oil, forests, soils and ground
water
• Environmental degradation: air, water, and soils
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Aggregated approaches
Mexico’s Environmentally Adjusted Net Domestic Product
(INEGI, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Lessons learned
General issues
• Unequal progress in Latin-American and Caribbean countries
• Differences between LA & C countries and OECD countries
– LA & C countries: Biodiversity, Use and management of natural resources
– OECD and developed countries: Pollution, energy use, material flows, etc.
• Limited use in policy and decision-making
– Indicators developed following international initiatives
– Disaggregated data not available
– Inadequate data timeliness
• Right to access to environmental information
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Lessons learned
Environmental indicators
• Limited or poor data availability.
• High costs of developing/maintaining environmental indicators/information
systems against limited budgets and capabilities.
Sustainable development indicators
• Little success in integrating social, economic, environmental and institutional
aspects.
Aggregated approaches
• Indices: Great communicational power, but open to methodological criticisms
(arbitrary selection and weighing of variables, multicolineality and redundancy
of variables included, arbitrary scaling, etc.), loss of credibility.
• Environmentally adjusted Net Domestic Product: Incomplete consideration of
environmental components, assumptions in the valuation of environmental
degradation/depletion, results open to criticisms
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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Desirable future developments
• OECD’s role: PSR scheme, Core set of environmental
indicators
• Data/indicator systems hierarchically arranged: Municipalitylevel, State-level, Country-level, Region-wide level, Global level
• OECD’s expanded cooperation:
– Non-OECD countries
– International agencies (e.g., UNEP, ILAC, CCAD, etc.)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004
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