More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover

More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularit...

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Autores principales: Hirvonen, Kalle, Machado, Elia A., Simons, Andrew M., Taraz, Vis
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141144
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author Hirvonen, Kalle
Machado, Elia A.
Simons, Andrew M.
Taraz, Vis
author_browse Hirvonen, Kalle
Machado, Elia A.
Simons, Andrew M.
Taraz, Vis
author_facet Hirvonen, Kalle
Machado, Elia A.
Simons, Andrew M.
Taraz, Vis
author_sort Hirvonen, Kalle
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularity, the environmental impacts of public works programs remain largely undocumented. We quantify the impact on tree cover of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), one of the world’s largest and longest-running public works programs, using satellite-based data of tree cover combined with difference-in-differences and inverse probability treatment weighting methodologies. We find that the PSNP increased tree cover by 3.8% between 2005 and 2019, with larger increases in less densely populated areas and on steep-sloped terrain. As increasing tree cover is considered an important strategy to mitigate global warming, our results suggest a win–win potential for social safety net programs with an environmental component.
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spelling CGSpace1411442025-10-26T13:01:34Z More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover Hirvonen, Kalle Machado, Elia A. Simons, Andrew M. Taraz, Vis difference-in-differences public institutions programmes remote sensing canopy climate change mitigation climate change adaptation food security social safety nets poverty environmental impact assessment climate change More than one billion people worldwide receive cash or in-kind transfers from social protection programs. In low-income countries, these transfers are often conditioned on participation in labor-intensive public works to rehabilitate local infrastructure or natural resources. Despite their popularity, the environmental impacts of public works programs remain largely undocumented. We quantify the impact on tree cover of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), one of the world’s largest and longest-running public works programs, using satellite-based data of tree cover combined with difference-in-differences and inverse probability treatment weighting methodologies. We find that the PSNP increased tree cover by 3.8% between 2005 and 2019, with larger increases in less densely populated areas and on steep-sloped terrain. As increasing tree cover is considered an important strategy to mitigate global warming, our results suggest a win–win potential for social safety net programs with an environmental component. 2022-07 2024-04-12T13:37:21Z 2024-04-12T13:37:21Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141144 en Open Access Elsevier Hirvonen, Kalle; Machado, Elia A.; Simons, Andrew M.; and Taraz, Vis. 2022. More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover. Global Environmental Change 75(July 2022): 102549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102549
spellingShingle difference-in-differences
public institutions
programmes
remote sensing
canopy
climate change mitigation
climate change adaptation
food security
social safety nets
poverty
environmental impact assessment
climate change
Hirvonen, Kalle
Machado, Elia A.
Simons, Andrew M.
Taraz, Vis
More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title_full More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title_fullStr More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title_full_unstemmed More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title_short More than a safety net: Ethiopia’s flagship public works program increases tree cover
title_sort more than a safety net ethiopia s flagship public works program increases tree cover
topic difference-in-differences
public institutions
programmes
remote sensing
canopy
climate change mitigation
climate change adaptation
food security
social safety nets
poverty
environmental impact assessment
climate change
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/141144
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