The objective of the Regional Off-Grid Electrification Project for Western Africa is to increase electricity access to households and businesses using modern off-grid technology through a harmonized regional approach.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: policy dialogue at country and regional level technical assistance to governments to put in place specific e-waste management measures for solar industry; design and testing of private sector solutions; awareness raising of end users and implementing e-waste collection programs; creating awareness among the end users of the consequences of the increase in water usage as their operations increase; and enterprise involvement in the education of end users in the productive use of the technology.
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Myanmar, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has the least developed economy in the region(UNDP 2013) despite having some abundant natural resources and a relatively low populationdensity.
... See More + The current level of development is illustrated by Myanmar’s substantial shortfall in energy supply, with only 33 percent of households connected to grid electricity supply.Recognising that access to electricity is an important pillar in raising livelihoods (particularly in rural areas where 70 percent of Myanmar’s poor live) and achieving broad economic development, the Government of Myanmar (GoM) aims to rapidly increase power generation and electrification across the country over the next 10-20 years to provide affordable and reliable energy. Key sector targets include increasing national generation capacity by 500-1,000 MW per year over the next 10 years to reach 16,665 MW of installed capacity, and increasing the electrification rate to 75 percent by 2021/2022, then to 100 percent by 2030, and increasing increase energy exports to increase foreign exchange earnings. In response to the increasing challenges of hydropower planning in Myanmar, and recognising the opportunity to develop a sustainable hydropower sector, GoM, through a partnership between the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC), with support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Australian Government, conducted this Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the national hydropower sector as the first stage in basin-wide planning.Myanmar is in a unique position of being able to develop hydropower in an integrated and sustainable manner before significant impacts occur to river systems, balancing the generation of substantial renewable energy to drive the economy and improve livelihoods with the retention of important biophysical processes and values and socio-economic benefits for current and future generations.
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Working Paper 134197 JAN 30, 2019
Lazarus,Kate M.; Cardinale,Pablo; Corbett,Matthew; Lin,Naung San; Noeske,Tiffany Kay HackerDisclosed
Myanmar, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has the least developed economy in the region(UNDP 2013) despite having some abundant natural resources and a relatively low populationdensity.
... See More + The current level of development is illustrated by Myanmar’s substantial shortfall in energy supply, with only 33 percent of households connected to grid electricity supply.Recognising that access to electricity is an important pillar in raising livelihoods (particularly in rural areas where 70 percent of Myanmar’s poor live) and achieving broad economic development, the Government of Myanmar (GoM) aims to rapidly increase power generation and electrification across the country over the next 10-20 years to provide affordable and reliable energy. Key sector targets include increasing national generation capacity by 500-1,000 MW per year over the next 10 years to reach 16,665 MW of installed capacity, and increasing the electrification rate to 75 percent by 2021/2022, then to 100 percent by 2030, and increasing increase energy exports to increase foreign exchange earnings. In response to the increasing challenges of hydropower planning in Myanmar, and recognising the opportunity to develop a sustainable hydropower sector, GoM, through a partnership between the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC), with support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Australian Government, conducted this Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the national hydropower sector as the first stage in basin-wide planning.Myanmar is in a unique position of being able to develop hydropower in an integrated and sustainable manner before significant impacts occur to river systems, balancing the generation of substantial renewable energy to drive the economy and improve livelihoods with the retention of important biophysical processes and values and socio-economic benefits for current and future generations.
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Working Paper 134197 JAN 30, 2019
Lazarus,Kate M.; Cardinale,Pablo; Corbett,Matthew; Lin,Naung San; Noeske,Tiffany Kay HackerDisclosed
Environmental conditional cash transfers, or "payments for ecosystem services" are a centerpiece of global efforts to protect biodiversity, safeguard watersheds, and mitigate climate change by reducing forest loss.
... See More + This paper evaluates the impacts of Mexico's national payments for ecosystem services program, which provides five years of payments to landowners in exchange for maintaining and managing natural land cover. Using a regression discontinuity design, the paper studies impacts on environmental, socioeconomic, and social capital outcomes for the 2011-14 program cohorts. The analysis finds that treated communities increased management activities to protect land cover, such as patrolling for illegal conversion or combatting soil erosion (by 48 percent compared to controls). The program reduced the loss of tree cover in areas at high risk of deforestation (by 29 percent compared to controls), with effects being larger for those that have been in the program the longest (38 percent compared to controls). These results are similar to estimates of impact for earlier program cohorts and continue to highlight the importance of targeting the program to areas of high risk of land cover loss to increase environmental effectiveness. The program continued to reach poor communities and households, but estimated impacts on household wealth indicators are small in magnitude and not statistically significant. These results indicate that community-level conditional payments did not harm household-level socioeconomic indicators, a key safeguard requirement of conservation policies of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The data also show that payments for ecosystem services significantly increased community social capital -- the institutions, attitudes, and values that govern human interactions -- (by 9 percent compared to controls), and these externally provided incentives did not crowd out household contributions to other community work.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8707 JAN 17, 2019
Alix-Garcia,Jennifer M.; Sims,Katharine R. Emans; Orozco Olvera,Victor Hugo; Costica,Laura Elena; Fernandez Medina.Jorge David; Romo-Monroy,Sofia; Pagiola,Stefano P.Disclosed
Cost-effective allocation of conditional cash transfers (CCT) requires identifying recipients with low opportunity costs who might change behavior.
... See More + This paper develops a low-cost approach for improving program implementation by using a stated preference, referendum-style survey question to calculate willingness to accept (WTA) for CCT contracts. This is illustrated in the context of Mexico's Payments for Ecosystem Services Program, with the paper finding that the estimated social cost based on WTA is substantially lower than actual payments. Simulation of three geographic targeting approaches shows that joint selection using deforestation risk and WTA could increase program impact under the same budget. The paper also simulates modified payment schedules based on predicted WTA and demonstrates that these could reduce program cost.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8708 JAN 17, 2019
Alix-Garcia,Jennifer M.; Sims,Katharine R. Emans; Phaneuf,Daniel J.Disclosed
This Terms of reference (TOR) for Competitiveness and sector diversification project of Suriname establishes the scope for the strategic environmental and social assessment (SESA).
... See More + The SESA will be a consultative and participatory activity that seeks to strengthen institutional capacity, introduce good global practices, identify and inform specific reform efforts, and raise public awareness to integrate environmental and social concerns into mining and oil sector and developments for its long-term sustainable development.
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