Relevant, timely and high-quality statistics provides the evidence needed by policy decision-makers to make informed decisions.
ESCAP Pacific Office works closely with the ESCAP Statistics Division in Bangkok, the Statistical Institute for Asia-Pacific and relevant regional and national stakeholders, to improve the quality of official statistics, and use of data for policy making in the Pacific.
Quality statistics provide governance with evidence, inform individuals of their rights and responsibilities, and give local communities a voice to influence policy and communicate policy impacts. Improved use of data and statistics, enable stakeholders to build inclusive, sustainable and resilient societies.
A range of statistics and data priorities are supported by ESCAP in the Pacific region, including:
Policy and Data Integration (EPiC)
EPIC (Every Policy Is Connected) is an ESCAP develop tool that facilitates policy-data dialogue aiming to identify policy priorities as well as data needs. The tool integrates the four dimensions of development (Economic, Environmental, Institutional and Social) in every policy plan and develops a comprehensive indicator framework for policy monitoring. The outputs from the application of EPIC are two types: data and aggregation/disaggregation needs (for immediate action), and recommendations on policy formulation and indicator development (for future considerations).
For more information about the EPiC tool please visit the following links:
Background Paper: Every Policy Is Connected (EPIC): A generic tool for policy-data integration
Blog: Every Policy is Connected: developing and monitoring inclusive policies
National SDG Tracker
The National SDG Tracker is a tool for countries to track progress on the SDGs. It allows countries to add their data, enter national target values, and visualize progress in a few simple steps.
For more details on what the National SDG Tracker is, and how your country can use it, please go to the following link: https://data.unescap.org/stories/national-sdg-tracker
Pacific National SDG Tracker Workshop Series: https://www.unescap.org/subregional-office/pacific/national-SDG-tracker
System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
Environmental economics and accounting has significant potential to improve policy-making, resource use and environmental outcomes in the Pacific region.
ESCAP is working with a number of countries in the Pacific region to strengthen their environment statistics. Effort in the Pacific region has largely applied the System of Environment-Economic Account (SEEA) Central Framework. SEEA enables: links to economic statistics; comparable statistics to be produced between environmental domains (e.g. land, water, oceans and energy). Importantly, SEEA produces data and indicators for policy, analysis, reporting and research.
Efforts thus far has aimed to build national capacity to produce policy-relevant environment indicators using SEEA. ESCAP support is tailored for each country, with the development of accounts linked to national priorities, data availability and the capacity within country.
A summary of SEEA related developments in the Pacific can be found at: https://bit.ly/3ffSdvH