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The Working Group on Statistics for The Working Group on Statistics for Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development

Robert SmithRobert SmithStatistics CanadaStatistics Canada

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A bit of history…A bit of history…

• Sustainable development popularized by Brundtland Commission – 1987

• First SD indicator sets – early 1990s– Mainly driven by national policies on SD

• SD emerges as a cross-cutting issue bridging the gap between economy, society and environment – mid-1990s

– Indicator sets suddenly become very long

• Economists begin to address SD by extending the concept of capital beyond its traditional boundaries – early 1990s

– Human and natural capital the first “offspring”– Social capital arrives a few years later – slower to develop

• Others get interested in the “capital approach” – late 1990s

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……and a bit moreand a bit more

• A few national statistical offices begin to express concern - 2003– SD indicator sets viewed to lack rigour

– Long lists seen to be arrived at through “horse trading”

– Lists prone to frequent revision

• Temporal consistency – a hallmark of national statistics – hard to achieve

• Heads of statistical offices from the developed world agree to form a working group – 2005– Norwegian Finance Ministry keynote speech sets the challenge – SD

indicators need to resonate with central decision makers

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What will the Working Group work on? What will the Working Group work on?

• Three central tasks1. Thoroughly explore the concept of capital in the broadest sense as the

basis for measuring SD

• Identify broad indicator “domains” based on capital

• Recommend a small set of indicators that might be useful for international comparisons

2. Review existing SD indicator sets to find “commonalities” among them

3. Compare the “ideal” approach based on capital with the “practical” approach based on national policies

• Attempt to build a synthesis from the thesis and the antithesis

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Who are we?Who are we?

• Mainly representatives of national statistical offices from across Europe, with a few others (Aus, Canada, Korea, NZ, USA)– Some members from outside the statistical community – EC DG

Environment and ECFIN; environment ministries; finance ministries

• Steering Committee to help coordinate and lead the work made up of highly experienced and committed institutions

• Canada; Germany; Norway; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom; Eurosatat; OECD; United Nations; World Bank

• Norway playing a key role– Strong support from Ministry of Finance and from Statistics Norway

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Where have we arrived?Where have we arrived?

• Main points of agreement:– SD is fundamentally about ensuring human welfare– SD is linked with economic, social and environmental concerns– Current approaches to measuring SD put too little emphasis on the long term

• Main points of debate:– Is welfare today a central issue for SD?

• Some argue that SD is as much about ensuring high and equitably distributed welfare today as it is about ensuring welfare for the future

• Others say that current welfare has little, if anything, to say about how well off we might be in the future – other measures are needed to asses the latter

– Is social capital a concept with meaning beyond the metaphorical?• That is, can we identify social assets and discover how to make them grow?

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Where are we going?Where are we going?

• Aiming to prepare a report by summer 2008– Goal is to describe in readable terms an approach to the measurement

that is conceptually robust and that reconciles existing approaches with the capital approach to the fullest extent possible

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Thank youThank you

Robert Smith

Chair, Working Group on Statistics for Sustainable Development

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Director

Environment Accounts and Statistics Division

Statistics Canada

Ottawa, ON, Canada

K1A 0T6

613-951-2810

robert.b.smith@statcan.ca