Transcript Presentation

Mandate and Governance Structure
of the
London Group
Outline
• Mandate of the London Group
• How the LG responded to different
international challenges (i.e. SEEA-2003)
• Recent change in the international
environment (creation of the UNCEEA)
• New mandate
• Proposed new governance structure
Mandate of the LG
Established in 1994 as a the City Group (by the Statistical
Commission) with the objectives of:
(a) Playing a leadership role in defining international best
practices in the theory and practice of environmental
accounting within the framework of the SNA;
(b) Providing a forum for the sharing of national and
international expertise in this field;
(c) Encouraging the adoption of best practices in the field by
promoting the results of the LG's efforts via proceedings
volumes, concepts and methods manuals, operational
manuals and other means
Governance structure 1994-1997
LG is an informal group of statisticians from
NSOs and int. organizations.
Yearly meeting, report to the UN Statistical
Commission
In 1998, the UN SC agrees that the LG
undertake the revision of the SEEA → new
governance structure
Governance structure 1998-2003
• Secretariat of the LG, Statistics Canada
• Coordinating Committee (CC) with the main objective of
steering the SEEA revision. It was composed of:
• the most recent and future host of the LG meetings
• Statistics Canada, Secretariat of the LG
• the publishing agencies of the SEEA-2003: Eurostat,
OECD, UNSD, the World Bank (IMF even though a
publishing agency did not become a member of the CC
New governance structure
Governance structure 2003-2006
CC responsible for organising the LG meetings. It
was composed of
• the past and future host of the LG meetings
• Statistics Canada as secretariat
• UNSD
3 sub-groups were established in 2003 to address
specific issues and develop compilation guidelines.
Sub-groups of the LG
Sub-group on Water Accounting, moderated by UNSD
which contributed to the SEEAW handbook (finalized
recently)
Subgroup on Mineral and Energy Accounts, moderated by
Statistics Denmark which carried out a survey on
country implementation of mineral and energy asset
accounts and developed guidelines for a handbook on
mineral and energy asset accounts;
Subgroup on the Expansion of the SEEA to Social Aspects,
moderated by Statistics Sweden which prepared
discussion papers for discussion at the LG meetings
UNCEEA
In 2005, the UN SC establishes a UN Committee of
Experts on Environmental-Economic
Accounting (UNCEEA) with the objectives of
(a) Mainstreaming environmental-economic
accounting and related statistics
(b) Elevating the SEEA to an international
statistical standard
(c) Advancing the implementation of the SEEA
at the global level.
The UNCEEA’s programme of
work
(a) coordination of groups working on
environmental-economic accounting and
related statistics
(b) promotion and implementation of the SEEA
(c) methodological research
(d) harmonisation of data collection activities with
environmental-economic accounting concepts
and definitions.
Coordination
• “UNCEEA has within its mandate an umbrella function
in coordinating and providing vision, direction and
prioritization to ensure that existing groups work in
complementary fashion” (UNSC Report of the
Secretary General, E/CN.3/2006/9 para 7).
To this end, the UNCEEA has been in contact with the LG
to establish cooperation in the advancement of the
research agenda
Methodological research
OBJECTIVE: Elevating the SEEA to the level of a
standard by 2010
HOW:
The UNCEEA will develop a programme of research
focusing on refining and clarifying those issues that
will permit elevating it to the level of a statistical
standard as well as a longer term research agenda.
The UNCEEA will prioritize the issues, identify working
groups to resolve them, monitor progress of the
working groups, review their recommendations and
report to the SC on the proposed solutions
UNCEEA requests to LG
The UNCEEA has requested that the LG
consider accepting a significant number of
issues of the research agenda as part of its
work program.
The UNCEEA calls for a new governance
structure of the LG to meet the request of
the UNCEEA to undertake the research
within an agreed time schedule
New mandate of the LG
• 2006-2008
to resolve those issues in the research agenda
that the LG agrees to cover during this
meeting (NY, June 2006) and its next
meeting (South Africa, early 2007)
Proposed governance structure
The LG would be composed of:
• A Chair
• A Secretariat
• Members of the LG
Role of the Chair
• Develop the programme of work and time schedule for
the LG on the basis of the agreed list of issues
• Facilitate the discussion during and in-between meetings
• Contribute substantively to the solution of the issues
• Make sure that agreements on issues are reached
• Monitor that issue and outcome papers are prepared
according to schedule
• Report on progress made to the UNCEEA
To be elected during this meeting (NY, June 2006)
Role of the Secretariat
• Assist the Chair in its tasks (incl. providing dayto-day management of the LG, the design of the
agenda and organization of the LG meetings)
• Establish a website for the update of the SEEA
(following the model of the 1993 SNA update)
• Maintain internal and external communication
on behalf of the LG
Role of the LG members
• Actively contribute to solving the issues on the
research agenda
• Prepare issue and outcome paper according to an
agreed format and time schedule
• Actively participate in electronic discussion
groups (EDG) that will be created as appropriate