NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Hon. Vaughn Miller, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, addressed a recent workshop for Environment and Climate Change Statistics and Indicators organized by The CARICOM Secretariat and The Bahamas National Statistical Institute.

The event, supported by the 11th European Development Fund capacity-building technical assistance programme, took place over three days, and was held at The Bahamas National Statistical Institute, facilitated by the CARICOM Secretariat and the National Statistics Office of Suriname.

The objectives of the meeting included:
Exchange of experiences about the statistical production processes of environment and climate change statistics for identifying best practices;
Understand the current status of environment and climate change statistics production, and indicators measurement in Suriname to identify possibilities for implementing additional best practices;
Improve the capacity of the NSO to fill data gaps using the FDES 2013 and the ESSAT, the global set of Climate Change Statistics and Indicators and the CISAT, focusing on the methods of computation, existing data sources as well as dissemination methods for indicators;
Discuss needs to strengthen quality protocols of primary data collected, interoperability processes, and dissemination of environment data.
Minister Miller remarked that the government has a duty to prepare its citizens for the potential negative impacts and opportunities that climate change may present and relevant statistical data is integral for this to take place without panic.

He said, “The government has a mandate to formulate a research agenda for the country. We need baselines and firm indicators to measure change, to measure progress.  We need your expertise now more than ever.”
Minister Miller affirmed his Ministry’s commitment to assist and cooperate.

The Hon. Vaughn Miller, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources speaks at a workshop for Environment and Climate Change Statistics and Indicators.

Participants at a recent workshop for Environment and Climate Change Statistics and Indicators listen to the Hon. Vaughn Miller, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources.

(Photos/Samantha Black/Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources)