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Module A database typically includes metadata, which are the background information about a data set itself.
4 They include facts, such as the source of the data, the scale at which they were collected, the year

they were collected, the projection if there is one, and any other information that you need to know
before you can interpret the meaning of the data and use them in your analysis or report. An example
of metadata can be found in the GEO Portal, as demonstrated in Exercise 1. Metadata for indicators

is further discussed in Section 4.1 on Methodology Sheets for indicators. Spatial data have additional
9-12 December, 2013 BOX 5 System for integrated environmental and economic accounting
metadata requirements that are also described in the GEO Data Portal.

The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an integrated
framework for economic and environmental data. It was developed by the United Nations
as a satellite database to the System of National Accounts (SNA) for the purpose of
enabling environmental data to be incorporated into economic decision making. It brings

together economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the
contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the
environment. It provides policy-makers with indicators and descriptive statistics to monitor
these interactions, as well as a database for strategic planning and policy analysis to identify
more sustainable paths of development. The data contained within the database can also
be used to derive national-level indicators (UN Statistics Division 2003 and Hardi, P. 2000).

The SEEA system consists of four main categories of accounts:
? Flow accounts for pollution, energy and materials, providing information at the industry
level about the use of energy and materials as inputs to production, and the generation
of pollutants and solid waste.
? Environmental protection and resource management expenditure accounts, identifying
expenditures incurred by industry, government and households to protect the environment
or to manage natural resources. They take those elements of the existing SNA that are
relevant to the good management of the environment and show how the environment-
related transactions can be made more explicit.

? Natural resource asset accounts, recording stocks and changes in stocks of natural
resources such as land, fish, forest, water and minerals.

38 Monitoring, Data and Indicators