A product of decades of industrialization, urbanization, and motorization, chronic severe air pollution is now a global phenomenon. Today, 90 percent of the world’s people live in places that do not meet World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards. The consequences for human health have been grave. Each year, air pollution causes 5 to 9 million premature deaths and … [Read more...] about Breathe Easy: smartphone apps can reduce exposure to air pollution
Allen Blackman
Allen Blackman is Principal Economic Advisor in the Inter-American Development Bank’s Climate and Sustainable Development Sector. His research focuses on urban environmental issues, agricultural supply chains, and land use and land cover change.
Using informational nudges to slow the spread of Covid-19 becomes more challenging over time
Until vaccines or effective treatments are widely available, face masks, social distancing, and other nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) will continue to be Latin American and Caribbean’s frontline defense against Covid-19. Many countries in the region have used strategically formulated information campaigns to try to boost compliance with NPI recommendations. According … [Read more...] about Using informational nudges to slow the spread of Covid-19 becomes more challenging over time
Empowering local communities to manage their forests: what are the ecological and socioeconomic effects?
Probably the most important trend in developing countries’ forest policy over the past several decades has been decentralization—the transfer of management authority from the national level to the states, villages, and local communities. More than a quarter of all developing countries’ forests are now managed by local communities, well over twice the share for protected … [Read more...] about Empowering local communities to manage their forests: what are the ecological and socioeconomic effects?
Can timber extraction permits help conserve tropical forests?
“Use tropical forests or lose them”—that is the mantra of a growing set of researchers and practitioners who argue, somewhat counterintuitively, that permits for timber extraction can help conserve tropical forests. They claim that permits strengthen land managers’ incentives to use forests so as to generate a long-term stream profits. That, in turn, requires discouraging … [Read more...] about Can timber extraction permits help conserve tropical forests?
Latin American and Caribbean forests in the 2020s: Four teams of experts weigh in
Forests are the crown jewels of Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC’s) ecological endowment. The region boasts roughly half of the world’s tropical forests and a quarter of its mangroves. But LAC forests face extraordinary challenges in the 2020s. They are being cleared and degraded at an alarming rate. Climate change is altering forest functioning, plant growth, and tree … [Read more...] about Latin American and Caribbean forests in the 2020s: Four teams of experts weigh in