Objective:
To equip African statistical offices, ministries, and practitioners with practical insights and guidance for implementing SEEA accounts, drawing on the UK Office for National Statistics' experience in compiling Central Framework and Ecosystem Accounts, while highlighting collaborative opportunities and lessons learned from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Participants will gain a detailed understanding of required data, compilation methods, and the policy applications of environmental-economic statistics aligned to SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and global biodiversity frameworks.
Description:
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an internationally recognised guide integrating economic, environmental and social data into a single, coherent framework to produce actionable information for policymaking. The SEEA is directly relevant to several key international initiatives, including the AUC Agenda 2063 The Africa we want, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Aichi targets and Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) and UNECA are partnering to deliver two webinars to showcase how the UK have implemented the two main SEEA Frameworks – the Central Framework and Ecosystem Accounting framework. We also plan to collaborate with Kenya National Bureaus of Statistics to provide technical advice on the development of their Forest Ecosystem Accounts, following the recent publication of Kenya’s National Plan for Advancing Environmental-Economic Accounts.
ONS are at the forefront internationally in developing Environmental and Natural Capital Accounts statistics aligned with SEEA and have been publishing statistics for over a decade to help policy makers and wider users understand how the environment and ecosystems contribute to the economy, the impact that the economy has on the environment, and how society responds to environmental issues.
These webinars are open to African national statistics offices, Ministries and practitioners who want to further develop their understanding of the practical steps to develop SEEA-aligned accounts and how to use these statistics to inform decision making. The webinars are suitable for countries at different stages of the implementation of SEEA-aligned accounts, however a basic knowledge of the SEEA guidance would be beneficial to participants.
Through this first webinar, participants will receive an overview of the type of data used, the methods applied and practical examples of the resulting statistics and their potential applications. Alongside presentations from the ONS, KNBS will provide an overview of their National Plan.
Webinar 1: SEEA Central Framework (Date and time: 30 September 2025, 3:00pm – 4:30pm (EAT, GMT+3)
Programme Outline:
Chair/Moderator: Mr. David Boko, UNECA
Welcome remarks:
- Mr. Samuel Annim, Director, African Centre for Statistics, UNECA
- Mr. Fred Kabanda, Manager, African Natural Resources Management & Investment Centre, AfDB
Presentation 1: Practical steps to develop SEEA-CF accounts in the UK, types of data used and use of SEEA accounts to inform decision making (by Mr. Neil Wilson, UK-Office of National Statistics)
Presentation 2: Overview of Kenya’s approach to SEEA - Central Framework accounts (by Ms. Christine Magu, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics)
Open Q&A with the audience
Webinar 2: SEEA Ecosystems Accounts (Date and time: 9 October 2025, 3:00pm – 4:30pm (EAT, GMT+3))
Programme Outline:
Chair/Moderator: Mr. David Boko, UNECA
- Welcome remarks: Mr. Innocent Onah, African Development Bank
- Presentation 1: Implementing the SEEA – Ecosystem Accounting framework to produce the UK’s Natural Capital Accounts: an overview of our journey so far (by Ms. Sonia Carrera, UK-Office of National Statistics)
- Presentation 2: Overview of Kenya’s approach to ecosystems accounts (by Ms. Christine Magu, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics)
- Open Q&A with the audience
About the presenters
Neil Wilson is the Head of Environmental Accounts and Surveys within the Environmental Economy Division at the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The area is responsible for running two annual environment surveys, the Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy Survey and the Environmental Protection Expenditure Survey. The area also produces the UK's Environmental Accounts including residence-based measures of emissions and our recently developed estimates of quarterly greenhouse gas emissions. Neil also led work to develop a definition and framework for the measurement of green jobs and the production of statistics for these. He is currently supporting the work to revise and update the SEEA Central Framework, co-chairing the task team on environmental activity accounts and related flows.
Neil has held a number of roles in the UK's government statistical system including working on a number of areas within the production of the UK's National Accounts, running a survey on levels of participation in culture and sport, and developing and measuring corporation tax relief measures.
Christine Magu is a Senior Statistician at the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). She has held various roles at KNBS and has over ten (10) years of experience in data compilation and analysis. She is trained in the System of National accounts (SNA) and the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), both Central Framework and Ecosystem Accounting, and is currently part of the team spearheading the production of SEEA accounts in Kenya. Christine is a SEEA champion and is the current co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Ecosystem Accounting in the area of Implementation and Statistical Capacity Building. She is also a steering committee member of the Africa Natural Capital Accounting Community of Practice and is the current SEEA focal point for Kenya. Christine has a strong passion for research, data collection, analysis and validation and report writing on economic and environmental matters. She is the Assistant Manager in charge of National and Environmental Economic Accounts at the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and holds a Master of Arts in Economic Policy Management from the University of Nairobi.
Sonia Carrera is Head of Natural Capital Accounts (NCA) at the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), since 2024. In this role she oversees the production of the UK annual accounts, habitat accounts, economic research and international engagement for NCA, and is a member of the Bureau for the London Group on Environmental Accounting. Previously, she has held leadership roles at the ONS in economic statistics analysis and population statistics research, and she chairs the ONS Social Mobility Network. Sonia has worked as a UK Government Analyst since 2008, with roles at HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury, Equality and Human Rights commission and the Department for Digital, Media and Culture.
Sonia holds an MSc in Psychology of Organisations and Marketing, graduating in Italy where she was born and lived before moving to the UK. She’s passionate about the environment, behavioural economics and social research; outside work she’s a keen gardener, runner and traveller.