Integrating Environment and Economy: Practical Approaches to SEEA Central Framework and Ecosystem Accounting for African Policymakers  A mini webinar series co-organised by UNECA, the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics
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Webinar 1: Focus on SEEA Central Framework

Date and time: 30 September 2025, 3:00pm – 4:30pm (EAT, GMT+3)   


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.

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