By Robert Parry, Application of National Accounts. Presentation given at the 'Beyond-GDP in Africa: Innovative Ideas for a Regional Dashboard' workshop, Centre for the study of Governance Innovation, University of Pretoria. www.governanceinnovation.org

1. Environmental
economic accounting …
Water Resource Accounting
Environmental Economic Accounting
Water Resource Accounting
for South Africa
Robert Parry
Application of National Accounts
October 2014
The South Africa I know, the The South Africa I know, the home I understand home I understand

2. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of National Accounts (SNA)
• Internationally agreed standard set of
recommendations on how to compile
measures of economic activity.
• Describes a coherent, consistent and
integrated set of macroeconomic accounts in
the context of a set of internationally agreed:
– Concepts
– Definitions
– Classifications
– Accounting rules.
FEATURES

3. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of National Accounts (SNA)
• Provides overview of economic processes.
• Records how production is distributed to:
– Consumers
– Businesses
– Government
– Foreign nations.
• Shows how income originating in production,
modified by taxes and transfers flows to
consumers, businesses, government and
foreign nations.
FEATURES

4. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of National Accounts (SNA)
(continued)
• Shows how consumers, businesses,
government and foreign nations allocate
these flows to consumption, saving and
investment.
• National accounts are one of the building
blocks of macroeconomic statistics forming a
basis for economic analysis and policy
formulation.
• SNA is designed to accommodate needs of
countries at different stages of development,
providing a framework for standards in other
statistical domains to facilitate integration.
FEATURES

5. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of Environmental Economic
Accounts (SEEA)
• SEEA consists of 3 parts:
– Central Framework
– Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
– Applications and Extensions.
• Subsystems of SEEA elaborate on specific
resources and sectors, including:
– Energy
– Water
– Fisheries
– Land
– Ecosystems
– Agriculture.
FEATURES

6. • SEEA organizes statistical data for the
derivation of coherent and descriptive
statistics.
• SEEA enables the monitoring of the
interactions between the economy and the
state of the environment.
• SEEA propose no single headline indicator,
rather a multi-purpose system generating a
wide range of statistics and indicators with
many different potential analytical
applications.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of Environmental Economic
Accounts (SEEA) (continued)
FEATURES

7. • SEEA is a flexible system – it can be adapted
by each country to its own priorities and
policy needs.
• SEEA contains internationally agreed
– Standard concepts
– Definitions
– Classifications
– Accounting rules and tables.
For producing internationally comparable statistics on
the environment and its relationship with the
economy.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of Environmental Economic
Accounts (SEEA) (continued)
FEATURES

8. • The System of National Accounts (SNA) is a
measurement framework to measure:
– Economic activity
– Economic wealth
– General structure of the economy.
• SEEA Central Framework applies the
accounting concepts, structures, rules and
principles of the SNA to environment
information.
• The SEEA allows for the integration of
environmental information with economic
information in a single framework.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
SEEA’s relationship to SNA

9. • The SEEA-Water is a sub-system of the SEEA
deliver more detailed structures and
explanations on selected topics.
• The SEEA-Water, adopted in 2007, covers the
physical and economic stocks and flows
associated with water. It also covers
emissions of pollutants and water quality.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of Environmental Economic
Accounts for Water
FEATURES

10. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
EEA
UN, 1993
SEEA
UN, 1993
SEEAW
UN, 2007
EEA for Water
SA
CEEPA, CSIR,
2000
EEA for
Water SA
StatsSA,
2002
EEA for Water SA
CEEPA & StatsSA,
2007
EEA for Water SA
WRC & StatsSA
current
DWS
History of EEA for Water in SA

11. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
What does EEA for Water provide for?
Physical
Accounting
Hybrid
Accounting
Monetary
Accounting
Environmental stats & Economic
classification
Linking physical and
monetary accounts
More detail than SNA data
Allow variations in SNA
accounting rules

12. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Water Accounts
• Water
– Past discussion document (2002, 2004,
2005,2006,2009,2010)
• Accounts developed
– Supply and use tables

13. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Accounting for water resources.
Water is in continuous movement
through precipitation, evaporation,
run-off, infiltration and flows to the
sea.
Asset accounts for water resources
focus on the inflows and outflows to
and from the land surface and
subsurface, and on the destination of
these flows.
In conjunction with information on in-stream
uses of water and seasonal
variation, such a focus allows
assessment of the availability of water
to meet demand of the economy and
to assess consistency with the
sustainability of water supply.

14. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Hydrological system

15. The SEEA-Water describes the hydrological system in terms of
flows and stocks.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Hydrological system

16. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Hydrological system

17. Hydrological system
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Hydrological system

18. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Hydrological system

19. Supply Demand
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Environment
• Atmosphere and sea
• Natural MAR
• Surface water yield
• Ground water
• Soil water
• Ecological reserve
Distributors
• DWS (total yield)
• Irrigation boards
• Water boards
• Municipalities
• ROW and other WMAs
Production (SIC)
• Agriculture
Dry land & irrigation
Livestock
Plantation
• Mining
• Electricity
• Manufacturing
• Trade & Services
• Domestic
Urban & Rural
Water supply and use in SA

20. Water Supply and Use in The South African Economy-2000
(million m3).
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Water supply and use in SA

21. Standard Physical water supply table.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Physical supply & use tables (SUT)

22. Standard Physical water use table.
The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Physical supply & use tables (SUT)

23. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Procedures for development physical EEA for Water
• EEA for Water developed:
Input-output (I-O) matrix developed
I-O matrix consistent with definition of NWRS
I-O matrix developed for each WMA
Aggregated to national level
National I-O matrix converted to UN SUT format

24. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Date Source: Physical
External
• Department of Water & Sanitation
Water Resource Situation Assessment Model
 National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS)
 Dam capacities
 Dam levels
 Natural mean annual runoff and ecological
reserve
 Available yield in year 2000
Water requirements for year 2000
• South African weather service
 Rainfall figures according to rainfall districts

25. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Date Source: Monetary
Internal
• Statistics South Africa
 Stats SA 2000 Supply and Use tables
External
• Department of Water Affairs
Tariff data
Unpublished surveys

26. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
Monetary Accounts
Expenditure on water use by productive activities in South Africa, 2000.

27. The South Africa I know, the home I understand

28. The South Africa I know, the home I understand
System of Environmental Economic
Accounts for Water
THANK YOU
Robert Parry
robertp@statssa.gov.za