Global and Regional GEO Assessments

1. UNEP´s experience in strengthening environmental and sustainable development indicators in Latin America and the CaribbeanKakuko Nagatani-YoshidaDivision of Early Warning & Assessment UNEP Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean

2. Global and Regional GEO Assessments Global Regional Coming Soon: GEO Central America; GEO Caribbean; Ecosystem Assessment of Biodiversity in Mesoamerica.

3. National GEO Assessments Panamá 1999 Chile 1999 Cuba 2000 Perú 2000 Nicaragua 2001 Barbados 2000 Costa Rica 2002 Brazil 2002 Guatemala 2002 Goias 2002 Coming Soon: GEO Mexico, St. Lucia, Haiti, Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba 2005, Honduras, etc.

4. GEO Cities Assessments Technical and political partners (e.g. Municipality and University) Joint project with UN-Habitat GEO Cities Regional Network 100% donor funded

5. GEO for the Youth Network of youth groups throughout LAC – GEO For Youth Network Over 800 groups and individuals participated in the LAC project. Second phase focussing on capacity building Coming Soon: Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, Central America, Caribbean.

6. GEO Methodology and Capacity Building Capacity Building workshops Ongoing Training throughout process Revision and validation training tools Network of collaborating centres taking over capacity building (South-to-South, South-to-North)

7. GEO-LAC Work in Statistics GEO CD-ROM ”Statistics and Documents on the Environment". This inter-active CD-ROM contains more than 200 regional statistics and indicators on environmental resources and socio-economic factors and allows detailed data searches, development of graphics etc.

8. GEO-LAC Work in Statistics GEO “Environmental Statistics of Latin America and the Caribbean” This publication covers 180 environmental and socio-economic statistics and indicators of the region. The information is presented in five-year time series from 1970 to 1995, and annually from 1995 to 2000, and by country, sub-region and by environmental sector.

9. Theme and Source State of the Environment and its Trends Land: FAO Forest: FAO Biodiversity: World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) Freshwater: Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Coastal and Marine areas: WCMC; FAO Atmosphere: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC); Organización Latinoamericana de Energía (OLADE) Urban and Industrized areas: Centro Latinoamericano y Caribeño de Demografía (CELADE); Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Natural Resources: The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CDED)

10. GEO Global Regional Assessments GEO Latin America and the Caribbean 2000 GEO Latin America and the Caribbean 2003 Sub-regional Assessments Andes (03), Caribbean 2 (04), C. America (04), MERCOSUR (05) Sub-regional Youth C. America, Caribbean (04) Thematic / EW Assessments Climate change (04) Health and environment (04) Marine and coastal (03) GEO Cities Rio, Manaus, Mexico, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Havana, Arequipa (Peru), Guatemala City, Esmeraldas (Ecuador), Montevideo, S. M. Tucuman (Argentina), Lima & Callao, Chiclayo (Peru), Cienfuegos, Holguin, Santa Clara (Cuba), Maraba, Beberibe, Itapissuma, Quirinopolis (Brazil), Queretaro (Mexico), San Salvador, Panama City, San Jose National Assessments Panama 1 & 2, Chile 1 & 2, Cuba, Peru, Nicaragua 1 & 2, Barbados, Costa Rica, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico, St. Lucia, Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela, Argentina, The Bahamas Sub-national National Assessments Goias (03), Bahia (04) National Youth Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, Havana, Brazil, Colombia, Capacity Building Activities in Peru and Argentina Data and Indicators

11. Why we work with data and indicators … • Must work to eliminate numerous inconsistencies existing in the current data sets as well as to reduce unnecessary incompatibility among different data set. • Great need for user-friendly indicators that would assist decision-making processes. • Great need to improve the accessibility of data and indicators The objective of UNEP is to assist countries in the development of information system, to create a highly accessible regional data base, and to promote harmonisation of information collection in the whole region.

13. Why we wish that we could avoid working with data and indicators…. Limited availability and accessibility of data • Difference in definitions, concepts, measurement methods and technologies, etc. • Data “copy right” issues: statistics and georeferenced • Numerous data and reporting requirements from international, sub-regional and national organizations (too many reports and indicators) • Limited institutional capacity in general

14. Our efforts • ILAC Indicators and methodological sheets • GEO SIEAN • GEO Regional Data Portal and Tracking System • Interagency collaboration

15. ILAC: Guiding principle on Assessment and indicators • “Desarrollar e implementar un proceso de evaluación para dar seguimiento al avance en el logro de los objetivos del desarrollo sostenible, incluyendo los resultados del Plan de Acción de Johannesburgo, adoptando sistemas de indicadores de sostenibilidad, a nivel nacional y regional, que respondan a las particularidades sociales, económicas y políticas de la región”.http://www.pnuma.org/ilac/ilace.pdf • “Develop and implement an assessment process to follow up the progress made towards attaining sustainable development objectives, including the results of the Johannesburg Plan, adopting national and regional sustainability indicators that respond to the region's unique social, economic and political features” http://www.pnuma.org/ilac/ilaci.pdf

16. Ejemplo de indicadores propuestos/Examples of proposed indicators

17. http://www.pnuma.org/dewalac/indicadores.htm http://www.pnuma.org/reunion%20indicadores/index.htm

18. HOJA METODOLÓGICA Indicadores del ILAC (Las áreas sin sombrear corresponden a aquellas que deben ser llenados a nivel nacional)

19. Proposal for an Environmental Statistics & Indicators Project for the Forum Submitted to the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean (November 2003, Panama City) By the Goverment of Costa Rica (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Energía), the Development Observatory of the University of Costa Rica, with help of UNEP

20. The Proposal • Estimular el desarrollo de un conjunto medular de indicadores aprovados por el Foro de Ministros que ya se encuentran disponibles en los países que puedan ser usados para medir el progreso hacia las metas de la ILAC • Foster the development of a core set of indicators approved by the Forum of Ministers which are readily available in the countries that can be used to measure progress towards the goals of the Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development.

21. The Objective of the Proposal • Desarrollar metodologías comunes para medir las variables e indicadores del conjunto medular en consulta con los expertos nacionales • Develop common methodologies to measure the variables and indicators in the core set in consultation with national experts.

22. The Objective of the Proposal • Iniciar el desarrollo de un proyecto de fortalecimiento de las capacidades institucionales y promover el acopio y armonización de datos ambientales en el ámbito nacional dentro del marco del Foro de Ministros • Initiate the development of a project to strengthen capacities and promote the collection and harmonization of environmental variables and indicators at the national level within the framework of the Forum of Ministers.

23. The Objective of the Proposal • Compilar estadísticas e indicadores nacionales para alimentar un sistema de información ambiental regional que le permita al Foro de Ministros monitorear el progreso hacia el logro de las metas de la ILAC y otras iniciativas regionales • Collect the national statistics and indicators and input them into a regional environmental information system that allows the Forum of Ministers to monitor progress towards achievement of the goals of the ILAC and other regional initiatives.

35. Thank you www.pnuma.org