A number of new national level environmental series are being developed to meet environmental information needs
by
Chase O'Brien
Statistics New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand is developing a pilot set of natural resource accounts for forestry, fish, minerals, water and land. Stock accounts show the annual stock level of the asset - for forestry, this is the size of the national forestry estate in hectares and cubic metres, and the dollar value of the estate. Flow accounts show the use of each resource throughout the economy, and the waste by-products that are generated during each industrial stage. Stock and flow accounts will be produced for each of the five resources, expressed in physical and monetary terms. Depletion and degradation of the resource can also be estimated. Any work on depletion and degradation in the natural resource accounts could be used in any future work on a "Green GDP" adjustment. The session will discuss some of the conceptual and data issues involved in the development of natural resource accounts, and other benefits from producing the accounts.

Statistics New Zealand is producing a report on Environmental Protection Expenditure (EPE). This is defined as expenditure on goods and services that benefit and protect the environment. The initial report will discuss some of the conceptual issues and provide an estimate of New Zealand EPE in the 2000/01 year. This estimate is based on available data only. Future development of EPE could ultimately lead to an estimate of New Zealand's "environment industry".

Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) are being developed by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, and progress on EPI will also be discussed. Other statistical developments that may be discussed include the work on the "ecological footprint" and the results from the recent bio-technology survey.

Date received: November 25, 2001