Environment Department Papers

52 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18025

These discussion papers are produced primarily by the Environment Department, on occasion jointly with other departments. Papers in this series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are circulated to encourage thought and discussion. The use and citation of this paper should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 23

Assessing the Permanence of Land Use Change Induced by Payments for Environmental Services: Evidence from Nicaragua

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05) Pagiola, Stefano ; Honey-Rosés, Jordi ; Freire-González, Jaume

There have been few efforts to evaluate whether the positive land use changes induced by conservation interventions such as Payments for Environmental Services (PES) persist once the interventions end. Since gains achieved by conservation interventions may be lost upon termination of the program, even apparently successful interventions may not result in longterm conservation benefits, a problem known as that of permanence. This paper examines the permanence of land use changes induced by a short-term PES program implemented between 2003 and 2008 in Matiguas-Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. This PES program had been found to have a positive and highly significant impact on land use, and particularly on the adoption of silvopastoral practices. To assess the long-term permanence of these changes, participants were re-surveyed in 2012, four years after the last payment was made. We find that the land use changes that had been induced by PES were broadly sustained in intervening years, with minor differences across specific practices and sub-groups of participants. The patterns of change in the period after the PES program was completed help us understand the reasons for the program's success, and rule out alternative explanations for the program's success. Our results suggest that, at least in the case of productive land uses such as silvopastoral practices, PES programs can be effective at encouraging land owners to adopt environmentally beneficial land use practices and that the benefit will persist after payments cease.
Analysis of Community Forest Management in Madagascar

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-09-24) World Bank Group

The major role tropical forests play in biodiversity and climate change has led the world to search for effective ways to slow down deforestation. Community forest management (CFM) is an example of the broader concept of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). As part of the decentralization policy in many countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, CFM was expected to promote: (i) a more effective stewardship of the resources by involving the local communities in the management of the resources, and (ii) a more locally-driven development with them tapping most of the derived benefits. The precursors of CBNRM and CFM in Madagascar are the centrally-led compensation-based mechanisms to conservation. Madagascar is one of the first countries in the southern hemisphere to have put in place a legal framework for CBNRM and CFM. The CBNRM implementation process starts with the creation of a local natural resources management group. The government has identified the protection of natural capital and the harnessing of its value as a key pillar in its national development plan for 2015-2019. The plan identifies poor governance as a major constraint to achieving the country’s development objectives. It puts strong emphasis on the roles of both natural capital and the necessity for a more inclusive economy to achieve sustainable development. This report will help the Bank take stock of the nearly two-decades of implementation of the national environmental action plan and provide nation-wide facts that will inform future investment in renewable natural resources management, biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction, and local development in the future. The present work is targeted to decision makers and stakeholders involved in CFM policy with the objective of taking stock of almost 20 years of implementation and advise on future directions in policy formulation. The report is organized as follows: section one presents community forest management (CFM) in Madagascar. Section two provides the result of an impact evaluation analysis conducted on the application of CFM policy. Section three provides an analysis of the legal and institutional aspects of the application of CFM policy in Madagascar. Section four presents recommendations for the short, medium, and longer term. Section five concludes.
Investing in Natural Capital for Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity : A Biodiversity Roadmap for the WBG

(Washington, DC, 2014-06) World Bank Group

The World Bank Group (WBG) has a long experience in engaging in biodiversity with world-class expertise in the field. It has been the single largest funder of biodiversity investments since the late 1980s. The WBG investments have largely been of two kinds: (1) investments in biodiversity, aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of species, habitats, and ecosystems that sustain healthy ecosystems, while enhancing people's livelihoods and safety nets. These investments have also been providing jobs and economic development in frequently impoverished rural areas for example by supporting protected areas and an increasingly important tourism industry; and (2) investments that add value to projects in other sectors, such as irrigation, hydropower, and infrastructure, by increasing their environmental sustainability. The WBG is a global center of excellence that provides economy wide technical and economic knowledge and expertise on biodiversity and ecosystems. It has the standing and convening power to facilitate participatory dialogue between client countries and networks of other relevant stakeholders on matters of biodiversity and climate change concern, such as loss of ecosystem resilience, forest law enforcement and governance, wildlife trade, and overexploitation of natural resources.
Reducing Climate-Sensitive Disease Risks

(Washington, DC, 2014-04) World Bank

Disease risks to humans, animals, and plants are determined by interconnected environmental variables that affect incidence, transmission, and outbreak. Climate change affects many of the environmental variables that lead to disease. Regardless of the species involved, the impacts can ultimately affect the health, livelihood, and economic security of humans. The objective of this World Bank economic and sector work is to build on scientific and operational knowledge of early action tools to help practitioners reduce the risks of key climate-sensitive infectious diseases by strengthening risk management systems for disease outbreaks. The report includes an assessment of known interventions such as the establishment of surveillance systems, the development of region and nation-specific disease outlooks, the creation of climate-sensitive disease risk maps, and the construction and implementation of early warning advisory systems. This research highlights the need for better understanding of the evolving interactions between the environment and emerging and reemerging disease pathogens. It also points to the inseparable interactions between animal health and human health, which climate change appears to be reinforcing and even diversifying. The assessment looks at investments that can lead to the development of these tools, working toward reducing global climate-sensitive disease risk. Because of the breadth of species affected by climate-sensitive disease, it has been helpful to select a model through which the specific impact of climate change and disease can be traced. In this instance, livestock has been chosen, given its significant global presence, economic importance, and susceptibility to disease outbreak. The livestock sector plays a vital role in the economies of many developing countries. Globally it accounts for 40 percent of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP).
Watershed Development in India : An Approach Evolving through Experience

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-03) Symle, Jim ; Lobo, Crispino ; Milne, Grant ; Williams, Melissa

This report analyses the experiences and lessons from three World Bank-Supported watershed development projects in the Indian states of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.5 The primary reason for the analysis was to guide the development and execution of new watershed programs in India, including new Bank-supported state-level operations in Uttarakhand and Karnataka, and a proposed national project now under preparation. Accordingly, it was important to deepen the knowledge base about large-scale, community-led watershed development in order to share that knowledge with key stakeholders both inside and outside of the World Bank. Another important reason was the immediate and growing concern over water resources and their management in India and the question of how well watershed development programs internalize these concerns. A third impetus was the nexus between rural poverty and rainfed agriculture and the important role that watershed development programs are to fulfill in the development of sustainable rural livelihoods.
Climate Change and Agriculture : A Review of Impacts and Adaptations

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep ; Rosenthal, Shane

The vulnerability of the agricultural sector to both climate change and variability is well established in the literature. The general consensus is that changes in temperature and precipitation will result in changes in land and water regimes that will subsequently affect agricultural productivity. Research has also shown that specifically in tropical regions, with many of the poorest countries, impacts on agricultural productivity are expected to be particularly harmful. The vulnerability of these countries is also especially likely to be acute in light of technological, resource, and institutional constraints. Although estimates suggest that global food production is likely to be robust, experts predict tropical regions will see both a reduction in agricultural yields and a rise in poverty levels as livelihood opportunities for many engaged in the agricultural sector become increasingly susceptible to expected climate pressures
The Status and Impact of Bio Safety Regulation in Developing Economies Since Ratification of the Cartagena Protocol

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06) McLean, Morven ; Foley, Mary-Ellen ; Pehu, Eija

The World development report 2010: development and climate change highlights the link between biotechnology, development, and environment. Aside from recognizing biotechnology's potential to improve crop productivity, increase crop adaptation to climatic stresses such as drought, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the report emphasizes the need to establish science-based regulatory systems 'so that risks and benefits can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, comparing the potential risks with alternative technologies' (World Bank 2010). This paper explores how the Cartagena protocol to the convention on biological diversity, as well as other important drivers, have affected the regulation of Genetically engineered (GE) crops in developing countries. It examines the impact of biosafety regulation on research and development of GE crops and on product approvals. Finally, it identifies opportunities to advance biosafety regulation in those developing countries that wish to access the potential benefits of agricultural biotechnology. As is true for capacity development in other regulatory arenas, progress in biosafety regulation in developing countries is often impeded by limited political and financial commitments from national governments and by insufficient technical, human resource, and institutional capacity for implementation. It is also confounded by competing or redundant capacity building projects and the absence of products to regulate.
Mitigating Climate Change through Restoration and Management of Coastal Wetlands and Near-shore Marine Ecosystems : Challenges and Opportunities

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-03) Crooks, Stephen ; Herr, Dorothée ; Tamelander, Jerker ; Laffoley, Dan ; Vandever, Justin

There is overwhelming consensus amongst climate scientists that the Earth's warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. To mitigate the most serious impacts of climate change a range of different strategies to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere are required. Building on outcomes and recommendations from various coastal carbon activities, this report explains the GHG dynamics of coastal wetlands and marine ecosystems (chapter two). The importance of coastal wetland and near-shore marine ecosystem carbon pools for climate change mitigation are described in chapter three, with a brief overview of the status of these systems, including drivers of change and implications of degradation of carbon pools, provided in Chapter four. Chapter five gives an overview of policy opportunities under ongoing United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations and through revision of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) carbon accounting methodologies and eligible mitigation activities for developing as well as developed countries. The main recommendations for action are summarized in chapter six.
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Climate Change : The Economic Problem

(Washington, DC, 2010-11) World Bank

Climate change is both a cause and an effect of biodiversity change. Along with anthropogenic dispersion, climate change is the main driver of change in the geographical distribution of both beneficial and harmful species, crops, livestock, harvested wild species, pests, predators and pathogens. And the capacity of ecosystems to adapt to climate change depends on the diversity of species they currently support. This paper considers the connection between climate, biodiversity and ecosystem services. The impact of climate change on human wellbeing is measured by the change in ecosystem services caused by climate related change in biodiversity. Similarly, the role of species richness and abundance in climate change mitigation or adaptation is measured by the change in the climate-related services of biodiversity. The categories of ecosystem services are those applied in the millennium ecosystem assessment. The paper first considers how climate and biodiversity have been linked in recent attempts to link the two things. From the side of the natural sciences, this covers the consequences of climate change for various dimensions of biodiversity. From the side of the social sciences, it covers the value of biodiversity in the carbon cycle. It then uses insights from the economic treatment of the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem services to re-evaluate the connection between biodiversity and climate change, and to draw conclusions for climate policy.
Agricultural Development under a Changing Climate: Opportunities and Challenges for Adaptation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-08) Padgham, Jon

Climate change presents a profound challenge to food security and development. Negative impacts from climate change are likely to be greatest in regions that are currently food insecure and may even be significant in those regions that have made large gains in reducing food insecurity over the past half-century. Adaptation in the agricultural sector is being given a high priority within this effort because of the inherent sensitivity of food production to climate and the strong inter-linkages that exist between climate, agriculture, and economic growth and development. The purpose of this report is to review the major effects of climate change on the agricultural sector; to examine the causes of vulnerability; and to suggest a range of potential options and investment opportunities for supporting adaptation efforts and, more generally, for building adaptive capacity. This report primarily focuses on appropriate strategies for adapting to climate change impacts that are projected to occur over the next one to two decades, although several issues covered in this report are important for long-term adaptation needs as well. This report also describes opportunities for linking adaptation and mitigation, and it discusses the importance of mainstreaming adaptation into development.