The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework was adopted as international statistical standard in 2012. Implementation in the Pacific, however, has only picked up
momentum from 2015, based on country and regional level work which the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Pacific Office implemented through a United Nations (UN) Development Account Project titled Strengthened Capacity of Small Island Developing States in Asia-Pacific on Valuation of Environmental Capital and the Economic Cost of Gender Inequality (the Project).
This publication summarizes the lessons and achievements from implementation of SEEA in the Pacific, based predominantly on the work undertaken by ESCAP Pacific Office through the Project
over the period 2015-2017. This work directly led to, inter alia, the development and first, historic release of accounts in four Pacific Island Countries (Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Palau and Samoa), diagnostic readiness assessments for SEEA in five Pacific Island Countries (FSM, Fiji, Palau, Samoa and Vanuatu), a dedicated Pacific regional training course, and several in-country capacity building efforts.