The Philippines expresses its gratitude to the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) for its involvement in the project entitled Environmental-Economic Accounting for Evidence-Based Policy in Africa and Asia, which concluded in 2023. The country’s participation in the project helped address technical and institutional barriers in establishing routinely produced environmental-economic accounts at the national level, drawing valuable lessons from our own experiences.
We also commend the progress made in the development of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) and welcome opportunities for future international participation through collaborative activities to advance these initiatives. The establishment of a global database for both SEEA – Central Framework (SEEA-CF) and SEEA-EA maximizes the use of available data for research and policymaking purposes.
The Philippines developed a Roadmap to Institutionalize Natural Capital Accounting (NCA), which provides strategic guidance on the national implementation of NCA from 2022 to 2040. Currently, there is a pending legislation on the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System (PENCAS), which aims to institutionalize environmental-economic accounting to mandate its use on policy and decision-making, designating agencies responsible for its implementation, providing institutional arrangements and to provide regular funding. The PENCAS bill will strengthen the agencies primarily involved in the generation of the accounts.
The Philippines was given the opportunity to participate in the 29th Meeting of the London Group on Environmental Accounting and expresses its support to the work program of the group.
In addition, the Philippines is proud to have hosted the Regional Training Workshop on the SEEA-EA, organized by the UNSD and the UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (UNSIAP) last June 2023.
Following the SEEA-CF, the Philippines has been consistently updating the country’s asset accounts for mineral and energy resources as well as flow accounts for water. We are also currently developing various environmental accounts such as material flow, energy flow, land asset, and water asset, among others. Compilation of subnational-level environmental accounts and statistics have been undertaken through the government-funded Philippine Economic-Environmental and Natural Resources (PEENRA) Project.