Person:
Sánchez-Triana, Ernesto
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
environmental economics,
environmental policy,
air quality,
green growth,
poverty assessment
Degrees
External Links
Departments
Global Practice on Environment and Natural Resources, The World Bank
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Ernesto Sánchez-Triana is Global Lead for Environmental Health and Pollution Management for the World Bank. He has worked on projects in Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bhutan, India, Mexico, Pakistan and Peru. Prior to joining the Bank in 2002, he worked for the Inter-American Development Bank and served as Director of Environmental Policy at Colombia’s National Department of Planning. He has lead numerous operations including analytical work on Climate Change and Environmental Priorities in Yucatan, Mexico, which served as the basis for this book. Dr. Sánchez-Triana holds two MS and one PhD degrees from Stanford University and has authored numerous publications on environmental economics, environmental policy, organizational learning, poverty assessment, and green growth.
Publication Search Results
1 - 10 of 17
-
Publication
Greening Growth in Pakistan through Transport Sector Reforms : Strategic Environmental, Poverty, and Social Assessment
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013)The Government of Pakistan's (GoP's) 2011 Framework for Economic Growth seeks to place Pakistan on a sustained high economic growth path of 7 percent per year through measures to reduce the cost of doing business, improve the investment climate, and strengthen institutions. Trade and transport reforms are central to achieve the Framework's goals. The transport sector constitutes 10 percent of Pakistan's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides 6 percent of the employment in the country. The sector plays an important role in linking other sectors in the economy, contributes to both domestic and international trade, and helps facilitate the spatial transformation occurring in Pakistan. The present patterns in transport and trade logistics generate inefficiencies that are costing Pakistan's economy roughly 4-6 percent of GDP per year, which is a major constraint on the aspirations set out in the Framework. This report examines the poverty, social, and environmental aspects associated with trade and transport sector reforms aimed at increasing the freight transport sector's productivity to meet the Framework's goals. This report is organized as follows. Chapter 1 provides the objectives and methodology of this work. Chapter 2 discusses the sector status and the trade and transport policy reforms. Chapter 3 establishes the priority issues associated with freight transport reform. Chapters 4 and 5 focused on the social and environmental aspects of the reform, respectively. And chapters 6 and 7 conclude the report by discussing policy options to promote environmentally and socially sustainable trade and transport and an agenda to advance environmentally and socially sustainable trade and transport reforms in Pakistan. -
Publication
Cleaner Production in Pakistan's Leather and Textile Sectors
(Elsevier, 2014-04)This study evaluates the dissemination of cleaner production in Pakistan’s industrial sector by assessing the performance of two of Pakistan’s three cleaner production (CP) centers. The study examines the adoption of CP measures by firms, as well as firms’ compliance with Pakistan’s National Environmental Quality Standards and certification to ISO 14001. A survey of 80 leather tanneries and textiles processing firms served by a CP center is the primary data source. Surveyed firms adopted the majority of CP measures proposed by the centers, even though firms had little understanding of CP concepts. Many of the commonly reported factors motivating CP adoption were present, but one was conspicuously absent: the need to meet ambient environmental quality standards. Survey results also indicate that firm size and engagement with foreign business customers are correlated with: the adoption of CP, the establishment of environmental management systems and certification to ISO 14001. -
Publication
Cleaning Pakistan's Air : Policy Options to Address the Cost of Outdoor Air Pollution
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014-06-26)Pakistan's urban air pollution is among the most severe in the world and it engenders significant damages to human health and the economy. Air pollution, inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene are the top environmental priority problems in Pakistan. Industrialization and urbanization, in conjunction with motorization, can result in further deterioration of urban air quality. This book examines policy options to strengthen the Pakistan clean air program (PCAP) to better address the cost imposed by outdoor air pollution upon Pakistan's economy and populace. The approach provided in this book recommends that the federal and provincial environmental protection agencies (EPAs) take on a limited number of high return, essential, and feasible interventions drawn largely from the PCAP. The objective of this book is to examine policy options to control outdoor air pollution in Pakistan. The findings of the analysis aim at assisting the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in the design and implementation of reforms to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Pakistan's ambient air quality institutions. The overarching theme of this book is that prioritizing interventions is essential to address the cost of outdoor air pollution, given current resource limitations. The book also includes a review of secondary sources, focusing on recent analysis of the effects of different air pollutants on human health, as well as lessons learned from ongoing regional and international efforts to improve ambient air quality. This book has seven chapters. Chapter one gives overview. Chapter two identifies major trends in ambient air pollution, including concentration levels of main pollutants and the identification of principal sources. Chapter three examines the evolution of Pakistan's air quality management (AQM) framework over the period 1993 to 2013. Chapter four examines options to control air pollution from mobile sources, the main contributors of several air pollutants, including noxious fine particulate matter (PM) and its precursors. Chapter five addresses measures to tackle pollution from industrial sources. Chapter six identifies synergies of interventions for air pollution control and climate change mitigation. Chapter seven summarizes the main conclusions of the book. -
Publication
Revitalizing Industrial Growth in Pakistan : Trade, Infrastructure, and Environmental Performance
(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2014-07-24)Pakistan s population is growing and becoming more urbanized. By 2020, Karachi and Lahore will each have a population of well over 10 million people and several other cities will have a population of at least one million. These trends offer both risks and opportunities. Badly managed urban centers with poor services and slim opportunity for gainful employment could become centers of discontent and social conflict. Alternatively, properly managed and well-connected cities can help firms become more competitive, and with the right set of policies, promote industrialization and life-changing employment opportunities. In order to capitalize on these opportunities, Pakistan will need to take decisive steps to deepen the pool of skills, strengthen the commercial environment, upgrade infrastructure, diversify production, and climb up the technology ladder. Revitalizing Industrial Growth in Pakistan: Trade, Infrastructure, and Environmental Performance addresses ways in which Pakistan can revitalize its manufacturing by reducing the cost of doing business, improving the investment climate, and strengthening institutions to facilitate the flow of people, goods, and ideas and thus stimulate medium-term growth and job creation. Such revitalization is sorely needed to place the country on a sustained path of high economic growth. The authors lay out priorities and strategies for greening Pakistan s industrial growth and provide a comprehensive analysis of issues in the debate on this strategy. They examine the ways in which Pakistan can encourage and assist its private sector to fill the void in low-skilled labor-intensive manufacturing left by other economies and do so while creating and distributing new wealth. To increase the chances of success, appropriate actions will need to come from different actors in government, the private sector, and civil society. This book will be of interest to government officials and academic researchers working in the fields of industry, the environment, and energy, as well as to the general public. -
Publication
Sustainability and Poverty Alleviation: Confronting Environmental Threats in Sindh, Pakistan
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-07-14)The underlying goal of this book is to facilitate and stimulate sharing of information on these phenomena and to provide an interdisciplinary framework for bringing about improved environmental conditions in Sindh. The book offers methods to identify environmental and climate change priority problems; analyzes interventions to address such problems; establishes a social learning mechanism to continuously improve Sindh’s responses and build resilience to climate variability and change; and provides opportunities for stakeholders to be involved in decisively tackling climate change and deteriorating environmental conditions. -
Publication
Strategic Environmental Assessment for Policies : An Instrument for Good Governance
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)Contents of this report are: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and policy formulation by Kulsum Ahmed, and Ernesto Sanchez-Triana. Policy-level strategic environmental assessments: process integration and incentives of policy proponents by Leonard Ortolano. The continuous process of policy formation by Martha S. Feldman, and Anne M. Khademian. Toward environmental priority setting in development by Richard D. Morgenstern. Giving the most vulnerable a voice by Caroline Kende-Robb, and Warren A. Van Wicklin III. Building and reinforcing social accountability for improved environmental governance by Harry Blair. Learning in environmental policy making and implementation by Alnoor Ebrahim. Using strategic environmental assessments to design and implement public policy by Kulsum Ahmed, and Ernesto Sanchez-Triana. -
Publication
Strategy for Adapting to Climate Change and Conserving Biodiversity in the Bangladesh Sundarbans
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-05-14)The Bangladesh Sundarbans region is a difficult place to live and the region will become increasingly inhospitable over time. Sea level rise, cyclonic storms, and embankment failures are constant hazards and the biodiversity of the mangrove forest is being reduced. In addition, increased waterlogging and soil and water salinization pose serious threats to agriculture, a livelihood option for a majority of residents. Research was undertaken to answer the following question: what strategy could the Government of Bangladesh consider in order to enhance the security of inhabitants of the Bangladesh “Sundarbans Impact Zone (SIZ)” and conserve the biodiversity of the Sundarbans mangrove forest? The proposed strategy, which was based on data and analyses from a team of social and natural scientists and engineers, includes two central elements: incentives to encourage migration out of the SIZ successfully and measures to reduce dangers from natural hazards for inhabitants who choose to remain. In addition, the strategy includes measures to conserve biodiversity and actions to strengthen government agencies operating in the Sundarbans so that other elements of the strategy can be implemented effectively. -
Publication
Managing Water-Related Risks in the West Bengal Sundarbans: Policy Alternatives and Institutions
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-07-12)Persistent pressures from water-related threats – sea-level rise, soil and water salinization, and flooding due to embankment overtopping and failure – have made the West Bengal Sundarbans a challenging place to live, and effects of global climate change will only worsen conditions. Four alternative policy directions are examined: business as usual; intensive rural development; short-term out-migration of residents; and embankment realignment and facilitation of voluntary, permanent out-migration. The last of these is the recommended approach. Study findings have informed ongoing deliberations to build consensus on future policy directions for reducing the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters. -
Publication
Energy Subsidy Reform Assessment Framework: Local Environmental Externalities Due to Energy Price Subsidies — A Focus on Air Pollution and Health
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06-30)This note aims to provide an overview and guidance on the use of tools to assess the environmental and health effects of changes in the levels of fine particulate matter caused by higher consumption of energy due to subsidized prices at the country level. It also provides information to help practitioners develop reliable estimates even in the absence of data and with limited resources. The topic of the note is highly complex and involves multiple fields and disciplines. The note attempts to reduce such complexity by breaking the assessment down into several distinct steps, each with its own methodologies. The note is intended to serve as a source of resources and practical advice to guide practitioners along each of these steps. This note focuses the analysis of price subsidies on primary and secondary fine particulate matter (PM2.5, atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns), the pollutant with the largest health effects worldwide, and using intake fractions to estimate population exposure to PM2.5 from fossil fuels and solid biomass. This approach is like that of recent global studies of energy price subsidies and taxes. The intake fractions are combined with the relative-risk functions for major health outcomes of air pollution from the Global Burden of Disease study to estimate the health effects associated with energy price subsidies. The note proposes three geographic-demographic scales: urban areas with a population over 100,000, urban areas with a population less than 100,000, and rural areas. The note also discusses the availability of monitoring measurement data and alternative options for determining ambient PM2.5 concentrations at the proposed geographic-demographic scale, as well as approaches to deal with data scarcity. The method for estimating the economic value of mortality caused by air pollution follows a recent World Bank report, using a cross-country transfer method of the value of statistical life (VSL). In addition, the note proposes methods for incorporating valuation of increased illness, although morbidity is generally found to constitute a relatively minor share of the health costs of air pollution. -
Publication
Opportunities for Environmentally Healthy, Inclusive, and Resilient Growth in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)Approximately 4.1 million people live in the three states of the Yucatán Peninsula: Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Campeche. Some 30 municipalities are in a coastal territory of almost 2,000 linear kilometers, spanning the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico to the world-renowned beaches of Cancún, just north of the second-largest barrier reef in the world. The peninsula's natural assets also include notable Mayan temples. With poverty far from eliminated, and economic development opportunities beckoning in agriculture, manufacturing, and hydrocarbon development, the region faces growing risks from environmental hazards. Oil spills, hurricanes, coral bleaching, extreme flooding, and erosion have all been experienced over the past decade. Based on preliminary identification of environmental priorities, this report explores selected topics that aim to inform decision-making in the region. A general context of integrated coastal zone management is used to explore issues, constraints, and potential solutions. The role of geomorphology is examined with a view to identifying how shore management plans can contribute to improved coastal management. Economic studies find that the main environmental health risks in the peninsula result in more than 1,000 premature deaths every year and in more than 9.36 million days lost to illnesses. These risks generate substantial economic losses, representing 2.2–3.3 percent of gross regional income. Scenarios relating to the economic cost of extreme weather events generate similar levels of damages: 1.4–1.5 percent of GDP in 2020 and 1.6–2.3 percent of GDP in 2050. A social accounting matrix examines the social and environmental interconnectedness to the various parts of the economy. An institutional analysis considers the mandates of existing institutions in the states, and of the potential role that regulatory measures may contribute to environmentally sustainable development without undermining economic growth prospects. The report concludes with options for consideration in the years ahead.