The Ecosystem Services Accounting for Development Program (ESAfD) participated in the 6th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists through several appearances in academic sessions and a special policy session coordinated by the ESAforD program researchers.
What does gender of a smallholder farmer got to do with the value of wild pollination services to crop productivity?
During the first semester of 2018, EfD researcher Jorge Bonilla has been actively involved in discussions about air quality in Bogotá with stakeholders. The Group of citizens for air quality in Bogotá (MECAB in Spanish) provides an opportunity for citizens, researchers and representatives of the local council to discuss the air pollution problems of the city.
CATIE, Costa Rica. EfD Central America welcomed students from across Latin American for its 19th edition of the course: Economic bases for the management and the valuation of environmental services, the course seeks to contribute to the understanding of the causes and effects of environmental degradation in the region.
WCERE 2018: Before the WCERE 2018 conference in Gothenburg, EfD arranged two summer-courses in Spatial Analysis in Economics and the environment and Application of Experimental Methods in Climate Policy supported by funding from Sida.
WCERE 2018: During the world congress, two new regional environmental economists associations were announced. The Latin American association (LAERE) was launched during one of the policy sessions, and Edwin Muchapondwa, University of Cape Town, organized a meeting to spur interest for an African association.
WCERE2018: What are the lessons learnt from avoiding day zero in cape Town, South Africa and what are the economic and behavioral tools that can help us prevent other types of environmental crises? A pre-conference session on Economic instruments for water-scarce cities on June 25th addressed these questions.
WCERE2018: In conjunction with the WCERE 2018 conference in Gothenburg, EfD arranged the workshop ‘Women in Environmental Economics for Development’ (EfD’s WinEED). Supported by funding from Sida, EfD invited 23 academics from the global south interested in the intersection between environmental economics and development research, to take part in the workshop and in WCERE.
On July 4th,2018, EfD researchers Jorge Bonilla and Daniel Slunge met researchers from the Gothenburg Air and Climate center (GAC) and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) to communicate the current research agenda on air pollution in Colombia and other EfD centers.
WCERE2018: On Monday, June 25, the EfD Forest Collaborative research program held its third biannual meeting at the University of Gothenburg, just before the start of the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE).
The Department of Economics, University of Concepción, offers a postdoc position. The position mainly involves research, but may also include teaching/supervision assignments.
WCERE 2018: One policy session during the conference adressed economic incentives and policy instruments to handle marine plastic pollution. One conclusion that came out was that there is a need for clear incentives that drives producers to take responsibility for the whole life cycle of their products.
The study "Does the location of salmon farming centers contribute to the reduction of poverty in remote coastal areas?
Environmental economics research plays a crucial role in dealing with the global challenges, and the need for dialogue and collaboration between researchers, practitioners and policy makers is greater than ever. During the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, WCERE, 25-29 June in Gothenburg, Gina McCarthy (Former US EPA Administrator), Jos Delbeke (Senior Advisor EU) and Karolina Skog (Swedish Minister of Environment) will participate in special policy sessions.
On the 5th of June the world marked the World Environment Day. Tanzania celebrated this day in a week-long event from the 31st May until the 5th June. The week-long event included a high level symposium which took place on the 1st June at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The theme of the symposium was climate change, environment and national economy.
South African conservation authorities could raise the daily park attendance fees for the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) by just over double, without a significant loss of visitors in response to the price hike.
Almost 100 researchers from lower- and middle-income countries received Sida, IDRC and EAERE-funded travel grants to participate in WCERE 2018. This vastly enriches the international scope of the congress program.
Some targets for Ethiopia´s Climate Resilient Green Economy are not delivered due to lack of data. This is one was one of the challenges brought up during the second conference on Ethiopia's Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE), held Sheraton, Addis Ababa on May 14-15.
Claudine Uwera, who holds a PhD from the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, has been appointed Minister of State in charge of Economic planning in Rwanda.
The Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) of Ethiopia was launched on March 5, 2018 at Sheraton Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the presence of high-level government officials, experts, researchers and other stakeholders from both government and non-governmental institutions.
On February 16, EfD Central America Researcher Leida Mercado participated in representation of EfD-CA host institution CATIE as a lecturer in a workshop targeted at directors and professors of the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica (MEP), as well as to extension agents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica (MAG), in order to train them in the subject of climate change and the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) approach. The objective of the workshop was to consider Climate Change issues and implement them in the curriculum of four Professional Technical Colleges (CTP) of the Region Brunca, from Costa Rica. This is part of a strategic regional pilot that takes place in the area.
As Cape Town faces the worst drought in a century, the city may need to shut off running water to homes and businesses in an effort to crisis-manage the last remaining water in the metropole's dams. ‘Day Zero’, as it has become known, is expected to arrive on 9 July, and may need to stay in place for three months.
Hello, Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics, who was invited to Paris last week to testify to French ministers how the Swedish carbon dioxide tax works, because France is about to introduce a carbon dioxide tax on Swedish level to bring down its greenhouse gas emissions.
EfD’s flagship educational program: Collaborative Program in Climate Change and Development Economics (3CDE) linking local and international students and teachers with hands on experience and case studies kicked off its first pilot in CATIE, EfD Central America´s host institution in February.
"We need more citizens who are angry”, said Isabella Lövin, Swedish minister of Development Cooperation and Climate, during a discussion about how politics, technology and individuals can contribute to a smarter climate policy.
A group of technicians and researchers from the governments of Ghana and Liberia conduct a study tour at EfD Central America host institution CATIE. The objective of the visit was to learn about experiences with Payments for Environmental Services and other incentives to promote the conservation of natural resources that are implemented in agricultural landscapes in the country.
The award-winning paper by Fuente et al. (2016) is a product of collaboration between EfD and Nairobi City Water and Sewer Company. It uses data on household socioeconomic status and metered water use in order to evaluate the distributional incidence of subsidies delivered through the water tariff in Nairobi.
VILLAGERS and forest managers are key players for protecting forest reserves in Tanzania, and they should therefore work closely.
The support from Sida to EfD in 2018 is growing. The new agreement constitutes an increase of 30% of the original budget of MSEK 133, i.e. an additional MSEK 38.6. More than half of this will go to a new collaborative marine program that will involve at least 10 EfD centers and which will be led by Håkan Eggert.
EfD researchers are writing review papers on economic policy instruments for chemical management and chemical risk assessment.
The Indian Statistical Institute held its Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, Dec 18-20 in Delhi.
The ESAforD (Ecosystem Services Accounting for Development) research team, led by Dr Juha Siikamӓki, presented eight of their case studies at the 11th Annual Meeting of the EfD (Environment for Development) Initiative held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 27 to 30 October 2017.
In 2018, EfD will launch a new collaborative research program. The two focus areas are effective managment and marine plastic waste.
The EfD Tanzania researchers participated in a two-day National Level Post-Harvest Management conference that was held at the Nkrumah Hall, University of Dar es Salaam from 8th to 9th November 2017. It was officiated by Hon Dr. Hon Mary Mwajelwa (MP), Deputy Minister Ministry of Agriculture.
On 13 November, Thomas Sterner and his American colleagues published the article "Policy sequencing toward decarburization", in the prestigious journal Nature Energy.
Back-to-back with the 11th EfD Annual meeting in Addis Abeba, the EfD secretariat organized a two day workshop for communication officers and researchers at all EfD centers, with the specific aim of boosting skills in Policy Interaction and Communication.
The 11th Annual Meeting of the Environment for Development Initiative ended with a general assembly that looked backward and forward from four busy days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 26-30, 2017.
With the goal to “teach climate change to our future leaders,” Francisco Alpízar of Costa Rica and Erik Sterner Erik Sterner, doctoral candidate at Chalmers University, Sweden, introduced EfD’s international graduate program in Climate Change and Environmental Economics.
The cost of generating electricity from wind and solar power is falling so dramatically that low-carbon economic growth can become a reality in most parts of the world.
Turn on the water tap in Cape Town, South Africa in March, and nothing will come out. For the Environment for Development researchers at the University of Cape Town, there’s nothing faraway about their work to help the city conserve water during this drought emergency.
With a blunt warning that “the bad guys can’t hide anymore because we’re seeing them from the sky,” Kitty van der Heijden, Deputy Director of the World Resources Institute, told the 11th Annual Meeting of the EfD Initiative how the data revolution can be used to hold powerful interests accountable when they misuse natural resources.
Making a change from working as a farmer to starting a small business is sometimes a good choice, but it works best if it’s a real choice instead of a response to poor conditions on the farm.
Clean and reliable energy is a “golden thread” in sustainable development, according to experts who gathered at the EfD Policy Day Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 26, 2017. Kicking off EfD’s 11th annual meeting, Policy Day brought together researchers and government officials to discuss the theme of “Carbon pricing and energy transition in developing countries.”
Missing or imperfect markets in several economic sectors explain the reality of the economic problems in developing countries. A market failure in any sector can lead to inefficient allocation of resources and these failures are often resulted in an unequal distribution of income or wealth.
This year the EfD annual meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from: October 27-30, 2017. It is hosted by the Environment and Climate Research Center (EfD - Ethiopia) and the EfD Secretariat. The EfD annual meeting is a forum to bring together researchers from all EfD centers and their collaborators. EfD would also like to attract key stakeholders for exchange of research ideas. Updates for participants will be displayed here.
Energy is arguably one of the major challenges in developing countries. Much research has been done on energy production, consumption and access, however energy reliability has been given less focus.
Healthy natural landscapes such as veld, wetlands, rivers, and estuaries across South Africa generate value to the economy amounting to at least R275 billion per year, a new study by economists at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has found.
The Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA), a 3 000 hectare piece of green open space that is still zoned exclusively for agriculture within Cape Town’s urban sprawl, may take up space that could be used for housing, but its value to the city could well justify this, according to a University of Cape Town resource economist.
Turrialba, Costa Rica. This past 22nd of August, the EfD policy interaction workshop gathered host researchers, practitioners and decision-makers from the coffee sector, to present EEfD research and its contribution to policy discussions on agricultural and environmental issues.
A smart water metering device, developed by EPRU research associate Ass Prof Thinus Booysen from Stellenbosch University's Electrical & Electronic Engineering Department, features in The Conversation this month. The device 'measures and reports water use by the minute,' he writes in the Africa edition of the online magazine.