The natural assest base
Natural resource stocks
Index or natural resources
stocks
Still being tested; aims to measure the availability of natural resources starting with sub-soil assets.
Comprehensive measure expressed in monetary terms (M).
Fresh water resources Available renewable freshwater resources (groundwater, surface water) and related abstraction rates or water stress (S/M).
Renewable
Data sources and notes
Data collected at hydrological stations (calculated based on long-term measurements of levels, flow rates and inflows/outflows on rivers and lakes as well as groundwater, countrywide precipitation).
policy Perspectives
OECD: Measuring the transformation of the economy - green growth Indicators
Precipitation, Internal flow, Inflow of surface and ground waters, total renewable freshwater published in the UNSD Environmental Statistics database (Inland Water Resources); definitions and methods vary by country and over time. More work needed to improve the completeness and historical consistency of data on water abstraction, and renewable water resources estimation methods. Freshwater resources (including renewable internal freshwater resources per capita, withdrawals by different sectors), also available from World Bank.
Forest resources Area and volume of forests, stock changes over time (S/M).
Forests and wooded land area available with varying degrees of completeness (all EaP countries).
Fish resources Proportion of fish stocks within save biological limits (global) (S).
Size of major fish populations exist, but scattered across national and international sources.
Forest resources and their use intensity to be derived from forest accounts and FAO/UNECE Global Forest Resource Assessments (FRA). Forest area as a share of land area or square km also available from World Bank.
The state of some fish stocks (global level) available from FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (for a large number of stocks, still not possible to determine the status). Assessments of internationally managed stocks available from regional fisheries management organisations and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
Nonrenewable stocks
Mineral resources: available (global) stocks for selected minerals: metallic minerals, industrial mineral, fossil fuels, critical raw materials; and related extration rates (M).
Land resources: land cover conversions and cover charges from natural state to artificial state (M)
Biodiversity and ecosystems
• Land use: state and changes (*) (S)
Soil resources: degree of topsoil losses on agricultural land, on other land (M) • Agricultural land area affected by water erosion, by class of erosion(*) (S/M)
Wildlife resources (to be further refined) • Trends in farmland or forest bird populations or in breeding bird populations (*) (S/M) • Species threat status, in % species assessed or known (*) (S) • Trends in species abundance (*) (S/M)
This indicator is still being determined.
Time series data on land use (including agricultural land, arable land, forest areas) published by FAOSTAT, World Bank, UNSD Environmental Indicators. (Many countries use own land types classifications and methodologies for land cadastre, not compliant with international standards.) Further work needed to harmonise classifications and definitions, and exploit satellite images to monitor changes in land cover.
Extent and pace of biodiversity degradation by species, monitored by International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN); country level data on threatened species available in its “Red List of Threatened Species”. Threatened bird, mammals and plants species for year 2015, available from World Bank. County data on endangered species, as submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The definitions as per IUCN standards applied to varying degrees by countries. Historical data generally not comparable or not available.
The data sources are based on OECD (forthcoming) Measuring The Green Transformation Of The Economy: Green Growth Indicators Guide, EaP GREEN. Based on OECD (2014), S = Short term, M= Medium term, L = Long term. * proxy indicator when the main indicators are not available.
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