Smallholder farmers are one of the most vulnerable groups to climate change, yet efforts to support farmer adaptation are hindered by the lack of information on how they are experiencing and responding to climate change. More information is needed on how different types of smallholder farmers vary in their perceptions and responses to climate change, and how to tailor adaptation programs to different smallholder farmer contexts.

En marzo del 2016, se entregó un reporte al PNUD denominado “Viabilidad de un TSA para el sector piñero costarricense”. Este reporte buscaba testear el supuesto de que si la producción piñera se hace de forma social y ambientalmente responsable, la actividad generaría un mayor bienestar para la población al fungir como motor de desarrollo rural.

Successfully implemented payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs can provide both conservation of nature and financial support to rural communities. In this paper, we explore how PES programs can be designed so as to maximize the amount of additional ecosystem services provided for a given budget. We also provide a brief summary of the use of auction mechanisms in real world PES programs.

Little is known about the cost of environmental regulations that target households instead of firms, partly because of significant methodological and data challenges. We use the contingent valuation method to measure the costs of Mexico City’s Day without Driving program, which seeks to stem pollution and traffic congestion by prohibiting vehicles from being driven one day each week. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to focus directly on using stated preference methods to isolate and estimate the private costs of an existing environmental regulation.

The EfD in Central America is an integral part of the thematic Research Program in Economics and Environment for Development (EEfD) of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE, by its Spanish acronym)1. EEfD fosters the encouragement of environmental and economic conditions in the Central American region by improving policy design and increasing the impact of research activities through their alignment with national and regional policy needs.

Air pollution from cars costs Costa Rica millions in health care

by Eugenia León

The EfD Central America Report 2017 gives you an excellent overview of the centres´ achievements during 2017 ranging from interesting policy stories on how economic research is put to use around the world to collaborative research programs, a wide range of publications, and our academic capacity efforts. 

Este manual forma parte de los materiales de fortalecimiento de capacidades técnicas en materia de adaptación de la agricultura al cambio climático del Proyecto CASCADA. Los materiales, que constan de 4 módulos de capacitación, tienen como objetivo diseminar información práctica de la aplicación del concepto de Adaptación basada en Ecosistemas para extensionistas.