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AFRICA ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK 3 • Authors’ Guide
PART 2
DATA AND INFORMATION NEEDS FOR THE AEO-3
THEMATIC FOCUS OF THE AEO-3
The thematic focus of the AEO-3 is health and environment. The report will discuss the linkages between the two themes and the impacts on peoples’ livelihoods in the region. The required information will therefore not be limited to environmental parameters only, but also necessitate the consideration of social, political and economic information, especially as these issues impact on, or are affected by, the environment. The data needs will thus include biophysical features, demography, socio-economic issues, epidemiology, and related health sciences.
DATA ISSUES
Data will come from many sources and exist in different types and formats. This information will be needed at aggregated national, sub-regional, and regional
levels. In
addition, data from the sub-national or local levels may also be necessary because of their peculiarity or significance. This may be true for disease prevalence and other socio- economic information on livelihoods.
Gaps in the data should be identified as soon as possible. To this end, a data inconsistency and gap analysis should be conducted. When writing, the information and data collected can be analysed using the analytical frameworks described in Part 3 of these guidelines.
INFORMATION NEEDS
There will be a variety of thematic areas covered in the AEO-3 report and these will need information from a range of experts or specialists. In the interest of ensuring that the report is based on credible science, specialist support from epidemiologists and public health experts is required, especially on reported environment-health linkages, the
types of exposure, vulnerabilities, and impacts that are analysed. They can also provide guidance on the science- policy interface of the discerned environment-health issues and the proposed policy options.
Editorial Coordinators and CCs will collect most of the information. Biophysical data will be needed to examine the quantity, quality and distribution of environmental resources, industrial wastewater and emissions, energy generation and consumption, infrastructure and how they impact on health integrity. In addition, the CCs may wish to collect data on the cost of disease burden. This can come in the form of monetary or non-monetary indicators. Monetary values may simply be the average household income spent on family medical bills or productivity lost as a result of ailments. Examples may be drawn from national level statistics.
Information will also be required on health dynamics: social (cultural), political and economic issues. Examples of such data include demography, infrastructure, policies and legislation, livelihoods, land tenure and right of access to and use of resources, among others.
The report also requires information on the various multilateral agreements to which the countries in the region are party and their state of compliance.
POSSIBLE DATA SOURCES
Listed below are examples of the types of establishments that are likely to be able to supply data and information to the AEO-3 process. This is not exhaustive and only serves as an indicative list.
1. Governments: Data can often be found in government ministries, national statistical offices and departments or in universities and academic institutions. In addition, some governments have set up National Environment
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