The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of Yemen hosted a training workshop organized by ESCWA on Environment Statistics and Water Accounts late June in the Capital Sanaa. The training was attended by representatives of the CSO, Ministry of Water and Environment and the Environmental Protection Authority, in addition to participants from the Sudanese national statistical office and Ministry of Water and Environment. The training came as part of the Development Account Project “Strengthening National Capacities in Environment Statistics, Indicators and Accounts in support of progress toward achieving the internationally agreed development goals in the ESCWA and ECLAC Regions.”
ESCWA provided Yemen with three laptops equipped with the Regional Commission’s own Statistical Information System (ESIS), a database that allows compilation and reporting of environment and water statistics, as well as customized social and economic indicators. During the training, presentations were made on the methodologies to fill the Questionnaire of the UN Statistics Department (UNSD)/UN Environment Program (UNEP) on Environment Statistics for Water and Waste in its Arabic version for 2010, and identified all relevant data-gathering agencies in Yemen and Sudan. Yemen presented its overview of the status of completion of the questionnaires. For its part, ESCWA presented tables on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW), explaining the relationship between the questionnaire and tables. Afterwards, the supply and use tables of the SEEAW for Yemen were completed with the help of participants.
The training concluded with a discussion aimed at setting a work plan for Yemen to reinforce the status of environment statistics and data gathering and dissemination, as well as some recommendations for Yemen. Participants from Sudan requested to prepare a similar training in their country as early as possible to strengthen their abilities in environment statistics and accounts.