Urban agriculture for an inclusive green economy model in Tanzania

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

According to the inclusive green economy (IGE) model, no one should be left out of the green economy revolution. To support an IGE approach, the Tanzanian government must develop policies to support urban agriculture ecosystems because, firstly, Tanzania is an agricultural country. Secondly, agriculture provides many benefits for households, such as boosting livelihoods and improving food security. Third, urban agriculture enhances urban biodiversity and produces ecosystem services needed for urban resilience to climate change and increases tree cover which absorbs greenhouse gases.

Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, Policy Design, Urban

Association between long-term air pollution exposure and COVID-19 mortality in Latin America

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

Recent studies have shown a relationship between air pollution and increased vulnerability and mortality due to COVID-19. Most of these studies have looked at developed countries. This study examines the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19-related deaths in four countries of Latin America that have been highly affected by the pandemic: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Our results suggest that an increase in long-term exposure of 1 μg/m3 of fine particles is associated with a 2.7 percent increase in the COVID-19 mortality rate.

Air Quality, Covid-19

We can incorporate agriculture ecosystems into urban green economy in Tanzania: Dar es Salaam households are willing to pay

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

We are living in a crisis era, with competing land use for finite land and ill-informed myopic urban land-use policies that remain stagnant, in a world with a rapidly changing urban environment, such as the mushrooming urban agriculture. While smallholder farms in and around cities, in sub-Saharan Africa, provide many ecosystem services including boosting household income and nutrition, and access to land constraints these benefits. This paper examines the willingness to pay for urban farm plots, using a random parameter logit model.

Agriculture, Climate Change, Land, Policy Design, Urban

Shocks derived from mining windfalls and horizontal transfers: Exploring the permanent income hypothesis in Chilean municipalities from a spatial competition approach

Submitted by Cristóbal Vásquez on

We explore how spatial interaction affects the strategic use of municipal income when deciding between 1) an optimal long-run expenditure strategy versus 2) using the current income to finance current activities, a phenomenon known as the permanent income hypothesis. Even when this hypothesis is grounded in temporal logic, insufficient attention has been given to the impact of spatial dependence on this type of budget decision. Therefore, we present two reasons why spatial interaction adds new insight to this discussion.

Climate Change, Energy, Policy Design

Africa needs context-relevant evidence to shape its clean energy future

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

Aligning development and climate goals means Africa’s energy systems will be based on clean energy technologies in the long term, but pathways to get there are uncertain and variable across countries. Although current debates about natural gas and renewables in Africa are heated, they largely ignore the substantial context specificity of the starting points, development objectives and uncertainties of each African country’s energy system trajectory.

Energy, Policy Design