Person: Heger, Martin Philipp
Loading...
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics, Development Economics, Applied Econometrics
Degrees
External Links
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated: February 21, 2024
Biography
Martin Philipp Heger is a Senior Environmental Economist at the World Bank, where he focuses on environmental and natural resource issues. He has worked in several geographical regions at the World Bank, including Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and (currently) South Asia. He works closely with governments and development partners on developing policies and projects improving air quality, marine and coastal zone management, forest management, and climate resilience. He maintains a rigorous evidence-based focus in his country policy work. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked for UNDP, the European Commission, and an NGO in Panama. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Economics from the London School of Economics, and Master’s degrees in economics as well as natural resource management.
6 results
Publication Search Results
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
Publication Nature's Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-27) Damania, Richard; Polasky, Stephen; Ruckelshaus, Mary; Russ, Jason; Amann, Markus; Chaplin-Kramer, Rebecca; Gerber, James; Hawthorne, Peter; Heger, Martin Philipp; Mamun, Saleh; Ruta, Giovanni; Schmitt, Rafael; Smith, Jeffrey; Vogl, Adrian; Wagner, Fabian; Zaveri, EshaThe great expansion of economic activity since the end of World War II has caused an unprecedented rise in living standards, but it has also caused rapid changes in earth systems. Nearly all types of natural capital—the world’s stock of resources and services provided by nature—are in decline. Clean air, abundant and clean water, fertile soils, productive fisheries, dense forests, and healthy oceans are critical for healthy lives and healthy economies. Mounting pressures, however, suggest that the trend of declining natural capital may cast a long shadow into the future. "Nature’s Frontiers: Achieving Sustainability, Efficiency, and Prosperity with Natural Capital" presents a novel approach to address these foundational challenges of sustainability. A methodology combining innovative science, new data sources, and cutting-edge biophysical and economic models builds sustainable resource efficiency frontiers to assess how countries can sustainably use their natural capital more efficiently. The analysis provides recommendations on how countries can better use their natural capital to achieve their economic and environ mental goals. The report indicates that significant efficiency gaps exist in nearly every country. Closing these gaps can address many of the world’s pressing economic and environmental problems—economic productivity, health, food and water security, and climate change. Although the approach outlined in this report will entail demanding policy reforms, the costs of inaction will be far higher.Publication Blue Skies, Blue Seas: Air Pollution, Marine Plastics, and Coastal Erosion in the Middle East and North Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-07) Vashold, Lukas; Palacios, Anabella; Alahmadi, Mala; Bromhead, Marjory-Anne; Acerbi, Marcelo; Heger, Martin PhilippThis book shows how virtually all forms of natural capital, but particularly “blue” natural capital – skies and seas – has been degrading in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the last three decades, and focuses on the three challenges of air pollution, marine plastics, and coastal erosion. MENA’s cities are on average more than 5 times as air-polluted as recommended by the WHO guidelines, and not a single MENA city, which reported data, meets them. MENA’s seas are amongst the most plastics-polluted in international comparison, particularly so the Mediterranean. Coastal erosion relentlessly eats away at the coastline, particularly so in the Maghreb region, where coastal erosion is about 10 times faster than the global average, which is 7 mm per year. This natural capital degradation has effects on people and the economy, which are assessed in this book. In terms of health impacts, ambient air pollution causes about 270,000 premature mortalities each year and is responsible for about 60 days of disease over the lifetime of the average MENA resident. In addition, the book reviews the evidence on the detrimental effects of microplastics, not only for the ecosystem, but also for human health. In terms of livelihood impacts, the effects or marine plastics and coastal erosion are reviewed and the costs to the blue economy, especially the tourism and the fisheries sectors, are assessed. The economic damages from the three priority areas, air pollution, marine plastics, and coastal erosion are estimated to amount to about 3 percent of regional GDP every year. Policy recommendations for getting to clean blue skies and blue seas are prepared. The recommendations elaborate on (a) how monitoring the degradation and providing information about its sources can be improved, (b) how market-based incentives for more sustainable blue resource use can be designed, (c) the kinds of regulatory reforms needed to strengthen institutions, and (d) the types of investments needed to move towards blue skies and blue seas.Publication Air Pollution in Tehran: Health Costs, Sources, and Policies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-04) Heger, Martin; Sarraf, Maria; Heger, Martin PhilippTehran, the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), is located in the north of the country with a population of about 8.5 million. The population can reach over 12.5 million during the day, with people from nearby cities commuting daily to Tehran for work. There are more than 17 million vehicular trips per day in Tehran, and many of the vehicles have outdated technology. Thus, the air in Tehran is amongst the most polluted in the world. Topography and climate add to the pollution problem. Tehran is at a high altitude and is surrounded by the Alborz Mountain Range, which traps polluted air. Temperature inversion, a phenomenon particularly occurring during the winter months, prevents the pollutants from being diluted. Several recent trends indicate that reducing air pollution will not be straight forward: rapid population growth (partially due to migration from other cities), industrial development, urbanization, and increasing fuel consumptionare pressure points for clean air in Tehran. To design an effective approach to air pollution management, it is important to diagnose the problem, determine its sources, and identify affordable and sustainable solutions. This discussion paper provides an overview of the seriousness of air pollution in the city of Tehran; quantifies its impact in terms of health and economic costs; identifies the sources of pollution; and, finally, provides a framework to addressthe problem.Publication Motor Vehicle Density and Air Pollution in Greater Cairo: Fuel Subsidy Removal and Metro Line Extension and Their Effect on Congestion and Pollution(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-10-01) Heger, Martin; Wheeler, David; Zens, Gregor; Meisner, Craig; Heger, Martin PhilippThis report answers two questions: What is the statistical relationship between vehicle density in the streets of Greater Cairo and ambient air pollution in the city? And what are the effects of—one, the opening in recent years of another metro line and an extension to it, and two, the recent increases in fuel prices—on vehicle density and ambient air pollution?Publication Particulate Matter, Ambient Air Pollution, and Respiratory Disease in Egypt(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01) Heger, Martin; Zens, Gregor; Meisner, Craig; Heger, Martin PhilippAir pollution is known to be a risk factor for personal health and an important determinant of various diseases. Numerous studies exist that examine the effects of an increase in air pollution on the risk of disease and mortality from cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary causes. One possible way to quantify air pollution is to measure the concentration of particles with a specific diameter between 2.5 and 10 micrometers are referred to as (PM10).The authors assess the effects of air pollutants (PM10) on hospital admissions for respiratory diseases in Egypt in 2016. They use a retrospective design and employ a generalized additive model (GAM) to conduct our analysis. Daily hospital admission data for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and chronic bronchitis were collected from specialized chest hospitals and matched to air pollution data. The results suggest that the concentration of PM10 in the air is an important predictor of respiratory disease. The authors find that a 10 μg/Publication Does the Environment Matter for Poverty Reduction?: The Role of Soil Fertility and Vegetation Vigor in Poverty Reduction(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-08) Heger, Martin; Zens, Gregor; Bangalore, Mook; Heger, Martin PhilippThe debate on the environment-poverty nexus is inconclusive, with past research unable to identify the causal dynamics. This paper uses a unique global panel data set that links (survey and census derived) poverty data to measures of environmental quality at the subnational level. The analysis uses vegetation vigor as a proxy for above-ground environmental quality and soil fertility as proxy for below-ground environmental quality. Rainfall is used to account for endogeneity issues in an instrumental variable approach. This is the first global study using quasi-experimental methods to uncover to what degree environmental quality matters for poverty reduction. The paper draws three main conclusions. (1) The environment matters for poverty reduction. The panel regression suggests that a 10 percent increase in vegetation vigor is associated with a poverty headcount ratio reduction of nearly 0.7 percentage point in rural areas, and 1 percentage point in Sub-Saharan Africa. A 10 percent increase in soil quality leads to a roughly 2 percentage point decrease in poverty rates in rural areas and in Sub-Saharan Africa. (2) The effects of environmental quality on poverty are stronger than its effects on average income, suggesting that the poor benefit disproportionately from environmental quality. (3) In situ environmental quality improvements are pro-poor, in contrast to urbanization. Although urbanization has highly significant and sizable correlations with GDP per capita, it is not significantly correlated with poverty reduction.