Metadata


Environmental statistics


0. Registration entry for subjects


0.1 Name

Environmental statistics

0.2 Subject area

Environment and weather conditions

0.3 Responsible authority; office, division, person etc.

Albert Sigurdsson
Statistics Iceland
Tel: +354 528 1262
umhverfi@statice.is

0.4 Purpose and history

The purpose is to build up a databank conaining environmenal statistics. The work was initiated in 1993 at Statistics Iceland as a follow up to a parlimenary resolution to initiate environmental and natural resource accounts, and that a systematic collection of environmental statistics should be organised for this purpose.

0.5 Users and application

Various public institutions, students and mass media. Substantial part of all inquiries are from EU, OECD and Internationala organizations.

0.6 Sources

Professional institutions in the environmental sector.

0.7 Legal basis for official statistics

A parliamentary resolution since th of May 1990.

0.8 Response burden

Most of the daa is updated yearly in connection with the publication of Landshagir, the Statistical Yeabook of Iceland, or in connection with enquiries from international institutions.

0.9 EEA and EU obligations

Regulation (EC) no. 2150/2002 on waste statistics, regulation (EU) no. 1185/2009 on pesticide statistics and regulation (EU) no. 691/2011 on environmental accounts.
Manual for the OECD/Eurostat Joint Questionnaire on Inland Waters tables 1-7, concepts, definitions, current practices, evaluations and recommendations. Version 2.3.

1. Contents


1.1 Description of content

The data can be classified as following:
Air-emission and air quality
Inland water; concumption and abstraction by sectors
Land, land-use
Forest, forest area
Marine, pollution and pollution in living mater
Wildlife; species of mammals, birds, insects and plants
Waste; total waste generated, waste management and waste disposal
Protected areas; number and dimension
Environmental accounts
Other

1.2 Statistical concepts

n/a

2. Time


2.1 Reference periods

The calendar year is the mst common reference.

2.2 Process time

More or less the whole year. Depending on enquiries from abroad but mostly in late summer months for the publication of the Statistical Yearbook of Iceland.

2.3 Punctuality

ASAP

2.4 Frequency of releases

Yearly.

3. Reliability and security


3.1 Accuracy and reliability

Professional institutions in the environmental sector are the sources for data and are regarded as reliable. New measurements or changes in international definitions can affect the data and lead to a revision back in time.

3.2 Sources of errors


3.3 Measures on confidence limits/accuracy


4. Comparison


4.1 Comparison between periods

Comparision between years is common and regarded as reliable, since figures are amended back in time if new measurements or change in definitions occur.

4.2 Comparison with other statistics

The other Nordic countries
The EU and EFTA countries
The OECD countries

4.3 Coherence between preliminary and final statistics

Preliminary figures are common in emission data and final data is often not ready until two years after the reference year. The preliminary figures are estimated according to estimated fuel combustion, industrial processes, etc.

5. Access to information


5.1 Forms of dissemination

Statistics, categorised statistical web tables
Statistical Series, Hagtíðindi
Statistical Yearbook of Iceland, Landahagir

5.2 Basic data; storage and usability

Data is received from various professional institutions, mostly in Excel format and is preserved like that as well as in SQL database format.

5.3 Reports

Three publications specific on environmental data have been published; in 1997 (Environmental data, Iceland and Europe), 1998 (Environmental statistics) and 2005 (Environment and pollutant emissions).

5.4 Other information

Statistics Iceland, 6.1.2016
© Hagstofa �slands, �ann 6-1-2016