Global Economic Intersection
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Investments
    • Invest in Amazon $250
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Best Bitcoin Accounts
    • Bitcoin Robot
      • Quantum AI
      • Bitcoin Era
      • Bitcoin Aussie System
      • Bitcoin Profit
      • Bitcoin Code
      • eKrona Cryptocurrency
      • Bitcoin Up
      • Bitcoin Prime
      • Yuan Pay Group
      • Immediate Profit
      • BitQH
      • Bitcoin Loophole
      • Crypto Boom
      • Bitcoin Treasure
      • Bitcoin Lucro
      • Bitcoin System
      • Oil Profit
      • The News Spy
      • Bitcoin Buyer
      • Bitcoin Inform
      • Immediate Edge
      • Bitcoin Evolution
      • Cryptohopper
      • Ethereum Trader
      • BitQL
      • Quantum Code
      • Bitcoin Revolution
      • British Trade Platform
      • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Reddit
    • Celebrities
      • Dr. Chris Brown Bitcoin
      • Teeka Tiwari Bitcoin
      • Russell Brand Bitcoin
      • Holly Willoughby Bitcoin
No Result
View All Result
Global Economic Intersection
No Result
View All Result

Bolivia: Deforestation Reduced

admin by admin
August 6, 2014
in Uncategorized
0
0
SHARES
19
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Mission Accomplished or Too Good to be True?

by Lykke E. Andersen, INESAD

During the last decade, Bolivia had one of the highest per capita deforestation rates in the World (1). Apart from this being decidedly unkind to Mother Earth and exacerbating problems of wild fires, droughts and flooding in Bolivia, this also caused Bolivians to be among the biggest contributors to CO2 emissions in the World (approximately 11 t/CO2/person/year – more than almost all European countries and more than twice the global average) (2).

This was obviously a major problem in Bolivia, and at INESAD we have been working for several years on promoting policies to reduce deforestation. Thus, we should be thrilled by the recent news from ABT showing that Bolivia has reduced deforestation by 64% since 2010 (see Figure 1).

Info-niveles-disminucion_LRZIMA20140723_0021_11

Figure 1: ABT reports sharp reductions in deforestation in Bolivia between 2010 and 2013.
Source: La Razon, 23 July 2014 (http://www.la-razon.com/sociedad/ABT-Bolivia-redujo-deforestacion-bosques-anos_0_2093790639.html#.U9I6T0RWunI.facebook).

But it almost seems too good to be true. I suspect that everybody working in this area are asking themselves: Can this really be true?

To shed some light on this question, in Figure 2 we compare official deforestation data reported by the Bolivian government (3) with independent deforestation data calculated by the Global Forest Change project at University of Maryland (4). While the two sources use different definitions of both forest and deforestation, both do indeed show a sharp drop in Bolivian deforestation rates since 2010.

Figure2DeforestationBolivia
Figure 2: Annual deforestation rates in Bolivia, 2001-2013.
Source: Author’s elaboration based on official deforestation data (3) and data from Hansen et al. (2013) processed by the Center for Global Development (4).

But otherwise, there is not much in common between the two data series. Indeed the correlation coefficient is negative (-0.29).

From the official data (the blue and green bars), the recent drop looks like a systematic and sustained reduction starting just about the time Bolivia decided to reject the international REDD+ mechanism (2010) and instead develop an alternative mechanism called the Joint Mitigation and Adaptation Mechanism for the Integral and Sustainable Management of Forests and Mother Earth. The drop was further supported by the Framework Law for Mother Earth (2012), which basically made deforestation illegal; by the increase in monitoring, enforcement and fines on illegal deforestation implemented by the Bolivian Authority on Forests and Land (ABT) in recent years; and by educational initiatives like Amazonia sin Fuego.

From the Hansen et al. data (red line), on the other hand, one gets the impression that there is a general upward trend in deforestation in Bolivia, with increasing random variation from year to year. One would need at least two more years of observations to be convinced that the recent drop really represents a sustained reduction in deforestation.

Which one to believe so far?

Personally, I would love the official data to be true. Just the climate change mitigation benefits of the reduced deforestation over the last three years would be staggering. Assuming a conservative damage value of USD 10 per ton CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, the global value of reduced carbon emissions in Bolivia in just three years would amount to more than USD 2.5 billion dollars (5).

Between all the institutions that have worked very hard to reduce deforestation in Bolivia over the last five years, including parts of the Bolivian Government, I don’t think the total investment amounted to more than USD 25 million. This means that the global social return to those investments has been at least 100 to 1. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But…. ABT needs to provide a lot more detail about how those official deforestation numbers were calculated. One press release with a few aggregate numbers is not enough. A systematic and comprehensive monitoring system with total transparency and access to the processed data is necessary to: a) convince us that it is really true, and b) to figure out what made it possible.

After all, there are not that many climate change mitigation investments in the world that yield a 100 dollar return to a 1 dollar investment in just a few years, so if we can understand how this happened and replicate it in other countries, we might just save the planet.

* Dr. Lykke E. Andersen is the Director of the Center for Economic and Environmental Modeling and Analysis (CEEMA) at the Institute of Advanced Development Studies (INESAD), La Paz, Bolivia.

Footnotes:

(1) UN-REDD Programme (2010) National Programme Document – Bolivia. http://www.unredd.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=1685&Itemid=53

(2) Andersen, L. (2009) “Bolivia’s high CO2 emissions” http://inesad.edu.bo/developmentroast/2009/03/bolivias-high-co2-emissions/

(3) The first 9 years are the official numbers reported by the Bolivian Superintendencia Forestal for the 2010 FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment: FRA (2010) “EVALUACIÓN DE LOS RECURSOS FORESTALES MUNDIALES 2010: INFORME NACIONAL BOLIVIA” FRA 2010/025. http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/al461s/al461s00.pdf . The last 4 years are the numbers reported by ABT in Figure 1.

(4) Hansen, M.C. et al. (2013) “High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st Century Forest Cover Change.” Science 342: 850-853. The data was tabulated using a 25% tree cover threshold and kindly made available by Jens Engelmann and Jonah Busch at the Center for Global Development.

(5) Assuming a baseline level of deforestation of 300,000 hectares per year, the reduction in deforestation over the last three years amounts to just over 500,000 hectares. The average CO2 emissions from each hectare deforested is about 500 tCO2, so in total we have reduced CO2 emissions from deforestation by 250 million tons in just three years. Assuming a conservative value of USD 10 per ton CO2, this amounts to global benefits of USD 2.5 billion.

Previous Post

How to Profit in the Bond Market

Next Post

Recession Safeguards Are Coming Under Heavy Attack

Related Posts

Bitcoin Has Been ‘Killed’ 474 Times But Its Still Alive And Kicking
Economics

Bitcoin Has Been ‘Killed’ 474 Times But Its Still Alive And Kicking

by John Wanguba
June 5, 2023
Japanese Regulators Issue Stern Warning To OpenAI For Data Collection
Business

Japanese Regulators Issue Stern Warning To OpenAI For Data Collection

by John Wanguba
June 5, 2023
What Are BRC-30 Tokens?
Econ Intersect News

What Are BRC-30 Tokens?

by John Wanguba
June 2, 2023
XRP Explosive Boom Results In Record-Breaking Address Activity
Economics

XRP’s Explosive Boom Results In Record-Breaking Address Activity

by John Wanguba
June 1, 2023
What To Consider When Evaluating Low-Code And No-Code Platforms
Business

What To Consider When Evaluating Low-Code And No-Code Platforms

by John Wanguba
June 1, 2023
Next Post

Recession Safeguards Are Coming Under Heavy Attack

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tags

adoption altcoins bank banking banks Binance Bitcoin Bitcoin adoption Bitcoin market blockchain BTC business China crypto crypto adoption cryptocurrency crypto exchange crypto market crypto regulation decentralized finance DeFi Elon Musk ETH Ethereum Europe Federal Reserve finance FTX inflation investment market analysis Metaverse NFT nonfungible tokens oil market price analysis recession regulation Russia stock market technology Tesla the UK the US Twitter

Archives

  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • August 2010
  • August 2009

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized
Global Economic Intersection

After nearly 11 years of 24/7/365 operation, Global Economic Intersection co-founders Steven Hansen and John Lounsbury are retiring. The new owner, a global media company in London, is in the process of completing the set-up of Global Economic Intersection files in their system and publishing platform. The official website ownership transfer took place on 24 August.

Categories

  • Business
  • Econ Intersect News
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Bitcoin Has Been ‘Killed’ 474 Times But Its Still Alive And Kicking
  • Japanese Regulators Issue Stern Warning To OpenAI For Data Collection
  • What Are BRC-30 Tokens?

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Bitcoin Robot
    • Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Code
    • Quantum AI
    • eKrona Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Up
    • Bitcoin Prime
    • Yuan Pay Group
    • Immediate Profit
    • BitIQ
    • Bitcoin Loophole
    • Crypto Boom
    • Bitcoin Era
    • Bitcoin Treasure
    • Bitcoin Lucro
    • Bitcoin System
    • Oil Profit
    • The News Spy
    • British Bitcoin Profit
    • Bitcoin Trader
  • Bitcoin Reddit

© Copyright 2021 EconIntersect - Economic news, analysis and opinion.

en English
ar Arabicbg Bulgarianda Danishnl Dutchen Englishfi Finnishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekit Italianja Japaneselv Latvianno Norwegianpl Polishpt Portuguesero Romanianes Spanishsv Swedish