This multi-purpose conceptual and statistical framework provides an organizing structure to guide the collection and compilation of environment statistics at the national level. Though recommended for use by countries at any stage of development, its primary objective is to guide countries at early stages in the development of their environment statistics programmes by: (i) delineating the scope of environment statistics and identifying its constituents; (ii) contributing to the assessment of data requirements, sources, availability and gaps; (iii) guiding the development of multipurpose data collection processes and databases; and (iv) assisting in the co-ordination and organization of environment statistics, given the inter-institutional nature of the domain. It adequately responds to the increasing demand for information in the follow-up to Rio 20 and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.