Understanding dynamics and policy for renewable energy diffusion in Colombia

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

Colombia has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 20% by 2030 with respect to business-as-usual in the COP21. One policy is the Renewable Energy (RE) law launched in 2014, aiming “to promote the development and use of non-conventional energy sources” with indirect incentives, such as tax reduction or exemptions. Direct incentives, such as price-based, are not included in the law. Experiences in other countries have proven that direct incentives are more efficient than indirect ones to promote RE.

Energy

The effects of biofuels on food security: A system dynamics approach for the Colombian case

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

There has been a growing interest in biofuel production to reduce oil dependence in the transportation sector. However, this has also sparked a debate on how the introduction of biofuels may jeopardize food security. In this paper we evaluate the effects of biofuel production on food security using system dynamics. First, we developed a system dynamics model to understand the long-term interaction between food production, biofuel production and livestock farming. Then, we calibrated and applied the model to the Colombian case.

Energy

Implementation proposal for an ancillary service for Island Operation Capability in Colombia: A system dynamics approach

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

The Island Operation Capability service allows operators to split the system (in case of an accident, for instance) and operate as an integral isolated subsystem. This, in turn, increases reliability, resilience, efficiency, and reduces restoration times after a blackout in the islands power systems. The provision of this kind of service from distributed energy resources has recently been introduced in different power systems. This paper outlines a proposal for the implementation of Island Operation Capability in the Colombian electricity market.

Energy

Ecosystem Services Approach in Latin América: from theoretical promises to real applications.

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

Highlights

Expected mainstreaming of the Ecosystem Services Approach (ESA) has not been fulfilled.

Sectors involved in ESA and their relationships drive pathways of mainstreaming in Latin America.

Incorporation of knowledge and consensus over values are key factors for mainstreaming.

Researchers need to adopt new roles for an effective mainstreaming of ESA.

Opportunities for new roles lay in the interfaces among sectors involved in ES management.

 

Conservation

Soil natural capital vulnerability to environmental change. A regional scale approach for tropical soils in the Colombian Andes

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

In recent decades, the literature on ecosystem services has pointed to the need to quantify and characterise Soil Natural Capital (SNC) under different types of land use and cover. This points to the need of understanding the SNC processes which define the provision of ecosystem services, as well as their changes through anthropogenic time. Tropical regions are subjected to a high rate of land use transformation which may change the properties of the soil, and consequently the potential provision of ecosystem services.

Agriculture

Chipping in for a cleaner technology: Experimental evidence from a framed threshold public good game with students and artisanal miners.

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

We analyze whether the decisions made by university students in a framed threshold public good game meet what artisanal gold miners decided in a lab-in-the-field experiment. This work contrasts with current literature in which the comparison between lab and lab-in-the-field has considered context-free situations. In general, we find more behavioral convergences than divergences between students and miners. Similar to a set previous literature, these results show lab experiments on social dilemmas can be externally valid.

Experiments

A social vulnerability index to changes in ecosystem services provision at local scale: A methodological approach.

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

Understanding the influence of social variables on a beneficiary´s vulnerability to environmental change might improves the design of policies of mitigation and adaptation to global, regional and local environmental change. In the context of socio-ecological systems, there is a wide variety of conceptual and methodological approaches for the assessment of social vulnerability in face of environmental change. However, there is a need for making these approaches more operational.

Conservation

Social perception of risk in socio-ecological systems. A qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on

Literature in the vulnerability of socio-ecological systems has highlighted the need for considering Social Perception of Risk (SPR) as a determinant of social vulnerability. This paper combines quantitative and qualitative approaches for analyzing SPR in the context of a socio-ecological system. We analyze the SPR of loss or degradation of water provision and erosion control in the Northern Andes (Riogrande basin, Antioquia-Colombia).

Conservation

Incentivizing sustainable rangeland practices and policies in Colombia’s Orinoco región.

Submitted by Manuela Fonseca on
EfD Authors:

Livestock grazing, along with agriculture, are key drivers of deforestation and land degradation that subsequently affect ecosystem service provision in the tropics. Although environmental and agricultural policies may curtail these negative effects, information is needed on how specific programs and instruments could be used to incentivize ranchers into adopting rangeland practices to achieve land conservation. We examine what encourages livestock ranchers to adopt more sustainable rangeland practices with various technical and conservation attributes in Colombia’s Orinoco region.

Land, Policy Design