Bangkok, 17 February 2016 - A set of 157 science-based indicators that assess resource use efficiency in Asia and the Pacific and prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners, is a core component of a United Nations statistical guide for sustainable development policy making in the region that was launched today.
The indicators are part of the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2015, an annual publication of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which this year takes stock of major development trends and related data challenges for countries in Asia and the Pacific within the context of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The yearbook uses UNEP resource-use efficiency data for assessing the status of SDG 12, aimed at ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.
“Sustainable development simply cannot happen without robust information. Indicators reduce the omplexity of a situation to a degree that decisions and actions can be based on evidence. In order, to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, in particular SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production - policy-makers must be armed with a wealth of information regarding natural resources, supply chains and emissions,” said Isabelle Louis, UNEP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific."
The SDG 12 indicators which appear in the Yearbook are derived from a report and database developed over three years by UNEP in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Asia-Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with the support of the European Union-funded SWITCH-Asia Programme. They cover natural resource use over the past 45 years for 26 countries in the region with eight main indicator domains ranging from ‘Natural Resource Use’ to ‘Primary Resource Trade Dependency’ to ‘Eco-Efficiency of Production’. The UNEP report and database can be accessed online here - www.unep.org/asiapacificindicators.
The ESCAP Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific provides key development trends in Asia Pacific and is accompanied by a booklet of 111 “Did you know?” facts about the Asia-Pacific region, country profiles of key development indicators for each of the 58 regional members and associate members of ESCAP, tools which allow users to manipulate data and generate time-animated statistical charts and maps and an online statistical database which contains approximately 900 data series.
