The health cost of high air pollution from vehicles in the Costa Rican capital of San José and its immediate surrounds runs to millions of dollars each year, according to new research from the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE).
Central America has more than 2.3 million families depending on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods, making them vulnerable to climate change risks such as rising temperatures, extreme events such as drought and flooding, and also crop diseases. Researchers associated with the Swedish-based Environment for Development (EfD) initiative are running an ecosystems-based adaptation project in Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica that supports smallholder farming communities in adapting to changing conditions. This project scales up the needs and opportunities of smallholders to promote changes in public policies at a regional level.
People in Central America’s rural areas will face a 20 percent decline of drinking water availability by 2050, estimates show. EfD researchers are now collecting information from 8 000 households in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica. The primary aim is to map capabilities and obstacles for communities to adapt, and to provide community leaders tools and skills to respond to drier scenarios. EfD findings also support governmental adaptation policies.
Climate change poses a threat to reliable supplies of drinking water in rural areas. EfD Central America (CATIE) is working with rural communities in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua to develop solutions.
EfD researchers show that the Payments for Ecosystem Services program has no positive nor negative effects on people's income or jobs. And in the first three years of its implementation, the program had no effect on the deforestation rate. However, in the following five years, the program did slow down deforestation.
Payments for ecosystem services in Costa Rica: Does it matter who gets paid and why for the efficiency of payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs aimed to reduce deforestation and forest degradation? This is being studied by EfD Central America researchers.
This policy interaction provides clear examples of how research based results can be used to inform decision-making by government authorities.
A big sign made by EfD-Central America and CATIE provides information for visitors and the importance of donations to enter the Park.
ICAP Training Course in Costa Rica. From 19-28 March 2012. Applications deadline extended to 20 December 2011 (previously 15 December 2011).
Experts from around the world converge to discuss new approaches and policies for understanding the links between ecosystem services and evaluating the effects of agricultural development strategies and human well-being.
A highly selected interdisciplinary group of experts working on water and climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean met in Panama City, Panama from Thursday, September 29th to Saturday, October 1st, 2011.
The project seeks to promote capacity building for research, analysis and evaluation of the impacts of climate change and water, using the tools of environmental economics.
Con el proyecto se busca promover la creación de capacidad de investigación, análisis y la evaluación del impacto del cambio climático y agua, utilizando las herramientas de la economía ambiental
Success in achievement. Congratulations!
Participants from Latin America and the Caribbean completed the Environmental and Resource Economics Training Course on Impact Evaluation by LACEEP at CATIE
The IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) will work to build capacity for and strengthen the use of science in policy making by linking the scientific community and policy makers. The workshop and assessments will take place in Tokyo, Japan from the 25 to 27 of July 2011.
EfD-CA at CATIE takes advantage of research synergies in institutional aspects of climate change, biodiversity, and water.
Why can some communities succeed in solving collective problems such as provision of drinking water while others fail? Róger Madrigal, EfD Research Fellow, conducted fieldwork in 41 Costa Rican rural villages in order to identify success and failure factors. He made a substantial effort to present the results in an accessible way to people from all the communities as well as to academic peers and high level policy makers.
“To do high-quality research, you need to find out what policy makers need and nurture the interaction,” says Maria Angelica Naranjo, EfD researcher in Central America. Her research colleagues Roger Madrigal and Francisco Alpízar are exploring why some Costa Rican communities are successful in drinking water management while others are not. Policy makers and local communities are already using some of the researchers’ recommendations to bring change.
Unplanned, aggressive coastal development is threatening beautiful beaches. To help address one of Costa Rica’s most serious environmental problems, researchers from the Environment for Development initiative (EfD) are evaluating the performance and impact of a voluntary environmental regulation and certification initiative called the Blue Flag Ecological Program.