A capacity building programme on the Framework for the Development of Environment Statistics (FDES) has been launched by the African Centre for Statistics (ACS) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) jointly with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment).

Environmental sustainability is recognized as one of the three pillars that are critically linked to well-being of human in the global sustainable development agenda. The environmental issues are urgent and increasingly aggravating in Africa. Disasters triggered by rapid-onset natural hazards such as floods forced 1.1 million people displaced in 2015.  A spell of extended droughts and vegetation change from climate change are pushing many more people to the brink of famine. The population pressure on the environment such as urban pollution, deforestation and loss of top soil and underground water is at alarming rate and the situation will only exacerbate as its population is expected to be doubled by 2050.

Contrary to the strong need, reliable environment data and statistics on the status of environment and how it interacts with economic activities and society are scare on the continent. The system for environment statistics is still in a very early stage of development and the demand for statistical capacity building in this area is extremely high.

The FDES 2013, endorsed by the 44^th session of the UN Statistical Commission, is a multi-purpose conceptual and statistical framework for the development of environment statistics. The framework sets out the scope of environment statistics, and is an organizing structure to guide the data collection and compilation at the national level. The capacity building programme is designed to support African countries to develop environment statistics in their national statistical systems. It consists of three phases: first, an e-training module; second, a face-to-face seminar; and third, follow-up national workshops and on-site technical assistance to a group of pilot countries.

The e-training module is open to any individual who is interested in environment statistics and the FDES, and will be conducted in both English and French on every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 29 June 2017 through WebEx.

For more information about the e-training and the capacity building programme, please contact Mr. Xiaoning Gong, Chief, Economic Statistics and National Accounts Section in the ACS (xiaoning.gong@un.org).