Kyrgyzstan National Workshop on Shared Environmental Information Systems (SEIS) and Environmental Statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Date: 2018-06-11 - 2018-06-14
Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Indicators: 7.1.2, 7.2.1, 7.3.1, 7.a.1, 7.b.1, 15.1.2, 15.4.1, 15.9.1, 15.a.1, 15.b.1
Partners: UNECE, UNDP
Topic: Forest & Energy accounts
Overview
UN Environment organized a capacity building workshop on Environmental Information Systems (including SEIS) and Environmental Statistics for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (11-14 June 2018), to advance understanding on SEIS principles, on management and reporting of biodiversity data, and on the production of forest and energy accounts under the System for Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).
Over 80 national experts attended the workshop which was hosted in collaboration with UN Environment-WCMC, UNDP, UNECE, UNESCAP, the State Agency of Environment Protection and Forestry, and the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic.
To effectively report on progress on the environmental dimension of the SDGs, environmental data and information needs to be effectively collected, managed and shared between a variety of stakeholders.
Knowledge-based societies require building up capacities to source, organize, interpret and communicate environmental data and information in an effective way in support of decision-making.
In line with Shared Environmental Information Systems (SEIS) principles of open access to data, there is a recognition of the need for making national data from credible sources available in a meaningful way and in a format suitable to inform environmental governance at multiple levels.
Kyrgyzstan is making efforts for implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and being able to report on the SDGs.
These include the development of a national framework of SDG indicators supported by ready availability of data.
Therefore, there is a strong need and opportunity to have linked information systems and indicators in place, including for reporting.
A concrete example is the development of Kyrgyzstan’s 6th national report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for submission at the end of 2018. With this aim, experts discussed and improved their knowledge on the development of indicators and information system capacity for protected areas in Kyrgyzstan, as well as on the production of forest and energy accounts under the System for Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).
This joint One UN approach to the organization of this workshop is the result of active collaboration between the four UN agencies and the Kyrgyz Republic, with financial support from the European Union (as well as from UN Development Account and Global Environmental Facility), to unite efforts at country level to ensure synergies in the development of environmental information systems and improve capacities on environmental statistics for the SDGs.
