Environment Statistics

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in collaboration with the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) organized a National Workshop on Environment Statistics in Windhoek, Namibia from 3 to 5 December 2019. It was attended by 31 participants from diverse national institutions including the NSA, Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry (MAWF), Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), Namibia Hunting Association, Namibia Nature Foundation and Namibia University and others. The main aim of the workshop was to enhance the profile of environment statistics through the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES 2013) and build the capacity in this subject area in the country, by bringing the stakeholders together to assess work undertaken by Namibia and to provide hands-on training on priority topics such as climate change, water, waste, land, biodiversity and forest statistics. These topics were discussed in the context of reporting obligations under the corresponding Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and the environmentally-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 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. This included in-depth training sessions on selected priority topics, including land, water, climate change, forests and biodiversity statistics.