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SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS--The first study on the availability of data for the sustainable development goal (SDG) indicators in the Caribbean Netherlands has been completed.
The Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) in the Netherlands was commissioned by the Dutch Parliament’s Standing Committee on Kingdom Relations to examine the availability of indicators in the Monitor of Well-being and the SDGs for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. This exercise resulted in a report that was published Wednesday.
The study examined the availability of the 267 SDG indicators used in CBS’ Monitor of Well-being and the SDGs. These “SDGPlus” indicators comprise the available official SDG indicators of the United Nations, supplemented with indicators used in the CBS Monitor. The main relevant themes for the islands in the Caribbean Netherlands are poverty, the economy, nature and tourism.
Only a limited number of 34 indicators are available for Statia, Saba and Bonaire. For 176 indicators, or nearly 70 per cent of the total, no information is available. This does not necessarily mean that these indicators cannot be constructed, the CBS said.
Take the indicator “Traffic deaths”, for example. Although no official cause-of-death statistics are available for the Caribbean Netherlands, causes of death are established and recorded by medical practitioners and can be collected and analysed.
“Although the number of indicators already available is relatively small, it could be important to start monitoring them in order to track developments in well-being and sustainability. It would be very valuable for the islands if this first stock-taking exercise were to be followed up on a regular basis, so that the islands also gain an insight into sustainable development.”
Expanding the report with data from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten would also have significant added value, the CBS said.
