Armstat’s work on environmental statistics and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) was presented on 27 October in the Armenia Hall of the Blue Zone at COP17, which is continuing in Yerevan. Speakers at the event, entitled “From Environmental Statistics to Sustainable Development”, discussed the importance of using statistical data in environmental analysis and research.

Nelli Baghdasaryan, a member of Armenia’s State Council on Statistics, presented the national reporting platform for Sustainable Development Goal indicators. She noted that reports were available for 261 of the 306 indicators (85 per cent), including 35 global and seven national environmental indicators.

The importance of regularly updating indicators and monitoring progress was emphasised. The presentation also outlined SEEA’s role in bringing environmental and economic data together within a single framework to assess natural resource use, environmental pressures and expenditure on measures to address them.

According to Baghdasaryan, Armenia’s Statistical Committee has been compiling water-related indicators since 2015, while work on developing air emissions accounts is continuing.

Baghdasaryan also presented the application of the Classification of Environmental Purposes (CEP) to modernise environmental expenditure statistics and develop Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts (EPEA). Introducing CEP will help modernise the collection of environmental expenditure data and support the gradual development of EPEA.

It was stressed that integrating data could improve environmental policy evaluation, the analysis of expenditure and investment, and the evidence underpinning biodiversity conservation decisions, supporting the monitoring of progress towards the goals of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Improving data quality and methodologies, strengthening interagency cooperation and securing continued support from the international expert community were identified as priorities.

“Statistics are more than a collection of numbers and data. Our aim is also to answer specific questions and provide decision-makers with comprehensive, integrated information. In other words, statistics must provide the basis and material for analysis, which requires complete, detailed data. We obtain environmental data mainly from administrative registers, including information provided by the Ministry of Environment on waste, air emissions and water use,” Baghdasaryan told an Armenpress correspondent.

Karen Aghababyan, a representative of the BirdLinks Armenia NGO, presented issues concerning the standardisation of biodiversity data for SEEA. He outlined the main categories of data required: ecosystem extent and condition; species and taxonomic diversity; physical and monetary flows of ecosystem services; and economic and institutional responses. He also addressed data on species distribution, abundance and Red List status.