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OECD Environmental Indicators OECD TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT « 2001 OECD Environmental Indicators OECD TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Interest in sustainable development and awareness of the international dimension of Environmental environmental problems, have stimulated governments to track and chart environmental progress and its links with economic conditions and trends. Indicators This publication includes key environmental indicators endorsed by OECD Environment Ministers and the broader OECD Core Set of environmental indicators. It contributes to TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE measuring environmental performance and progress towards sustainable development. DEVELOPMENT OECD Environmental Indicators OECD Environmental Organised by issues such as climate change, air pollution, biodiversity, waste or water resources, this book provides essential information for all those interested in the environment and in the sustainable development. ENVIRONMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINABLE TOWARDS All OECD books and periodicals are now available on line www.SourceOECD.org www.oecd.org ISBN 92-64-18718-9 97 2001 09 1 P 2001 -:HSTCQE=V]\V]Y: 2001 OECD Environmental Indicators 2001 TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed: – to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy; – to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and – to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996), Korea (12th December 1996) and the Slovak Republic (14th December 2000). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention). Publié en français sous le titre : INDICATEURS D’ENVIRONNEMENT DE L’OCDE 2001 Vers un développement durable © OECD 2001 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use should be obtained through the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, tel. (33-1) 44 07 47 70, fax (33-1) 46 34 67 19, for every country except the United States. In the United States permission should be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, Customer Service, (508)750-8400, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA, or CCC Online: www.copyright.com. All other applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. )25(:25' Concerns about whether development is sustainable from an economic, environmental and social point of view have prompted a number of countries to further move towards policies focusing on pollution prevention, integration of environmental concerns in economic and sectoral decisions, and international co-operation. There is also increasing interest in evaluating how well governments are implementing their policies and how well they are satisfying their domestic objectives and international commitments. These demands have led to the development of environmental indicators as a tool for decision making and for assessing countries’ environmental performance. As part of their commitment to transparency and accountability, and to better information of the public, OECD Member countries have recently also expressed increasing interest in a reduced number of environmental indicators selected from existing larger sets to draw public attention to key environmental issues of concern and to inform about progress made. The OECD work programme on environmental indicators has led to several sets of indicators each responding to a specific purpose: an OECD Core Set of environmental indicators to measure environmental progress, and various sets of indicators to integrate environmental concerns in sectoral policies (e.g. energy, transport, agriculture). Indicators are also derived from natural resource and environmental expenditure accounts. The present report is one of the products of this OECD work programme on environmental indicators. It is updated at regular intervals and includes environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, as well as selected socio-economic and sectoral indicators having an environmental significance. It further includes a selection of key environmental indicators, endorsed by OECD Environment Ministers at their meeting in May 2001. The report highlights the linkages between environmental indicators, environmental performance and sustainable development, and thus provides a building block for the environmental component of sustainable development indicators. This report was prepared by the OECD Secretariat, but its successful completion depended on personal or official contributions by many individuals in Member countries, and on the work and support of the OECD Working Group on Environmental Information and Outlooks. This report is published on the responsibility of the Secretary General of the OECD. Joke Waller-Hunter Director, OECD Environment Directorate - 3 - Data in this report largely come from "OECD Environmental Data - Compendium 1999". These data are harmonised through the work of the OECD Working Group on Environmental Information and Outlooks (WGEIO). Some were updated or revised on the basis of comments from national Delegates on “Key environmental indicators”, as received by 30 March 2001. In many countries, systematic collection of environmental data has a short history; sources are typically spread across a range of agencies and levels of government, and information is often collected for other purposes. When reading this report, one should therefore keep in mind that definitions and measurement methods vary among countries and that intercountry comparisons require great caution. One should also note that indicators presented in this report refer to the national level and may conceal major subnational differences. - 4 - 7$%/( 2) &217(176 I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................... 7 II. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS .......................................................................................................11 ♦ CLIMATE CHANGE .................................................................................................................................. 13 1. CO2 emission intensities 15 2. greenhouse gas concentrations 18 ♦ OZONE LAYER DEPLETION ................................................................................................................... 19 3. ozone depleting substances 21 4. stratospheric ozone 23 ♦ AIR QUALITY............................................................................................................................................ 25 5. air emission intensities 27 6. urban air quality 32 ♦ WASTE...................................................................................................................................................... 35 7. waste generation 37 8. waste recycling 40 ♦ WATER QUALITY..................................................................................................................................... 41 9. river quality 43 10. waste water treatment 45 ♦ WATER RESOURCES ............................................................................................................................. 47 11. intensity of use of water resources 49 12. public water supply and price 51 ♦ FOREST RESOURCES............................................................................................................................ 53 13. intensity of use of forest resources 55 14. forest and wooded land 56 ♦ FISH RESOURCES .................................................................................................................................. 57 15. fish catches and consumption: national 59 16. fish catches and consumption: global and regional 60 ♦ BIODIVERSITY ......................................................................................................................................... 63 17. threatened species 65 18. protected areas 66 III. SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS.....................................................................................................69 ♦ GDP AND POPULATION.......................................................................................................................... 71 19. gross domestic product 73 20. population growth and
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