The paper estimates the effects on presidential election returns in Mexico of a government climatic contingency transfer that is allocated through rainfall-indexed insurance.
... See More + The analysis uses the discontinuity in payments that slightly deviate from a pre-established threshold, based on rainfall accumulation measured at local weather stations. It turns out that voters reward the incumbent presidential party for delivering drought relief compensation. The paper finds that receiving indemnity payments leads to significantly greater average electoral support for the incumbent party of approximately 7.6 percentage points. The analysis suggests that the incumbent party is rewarded by disaster aid recipients and punished by non-recipients. The paper contributes to the literature on retrospective voting by providing evidence that voters evaluate government actions and respond to disaster spending.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6836 APR 01, 2014
The development objective of the Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) Management in the Power Sector Project for Lebanon is to assist in establishing a sound PCB management system that would minimize potential environmental and health risks from unmanaged PCB oils and equipment.
... See More + The project involves the handling, packaging, transportation of and disposal of PCB equipment and wastes, and remediation of sites contaminated with PCB hazardous chemicals. Negative impacts include: absence of adequate measures to handle increase in volume of hazardous waste; quality deterioration of segregated material coupled with increased risk of PCB release into the different environmental media; release of PCBs into the environmental media as a result of exposing the mixed waste to extreme weather conditions such as heat and rain and accelerating the release of PCB compounds into the environment through evaporation or leachate production; specific populations will be exposed to health risks by direct contact with the contaminated waste, inhalation or accidental ingestion. Mitigation measures for soil, air and water quality, waste generation, health and safety, biodiversity, traffic and socioeconomic issues include: proper storage and handling of hazardous materials; maintenance and wash down of vehicles; provision of adequate sanitary facilities; proper draining and packaging of contaminated transformers; careful handling and management of out-of-service capacitors and in-service transformers; monitoring of wells; dust suppression; conservation of existing vegetation; reuse and recycling wherever possible; access restriction to construction site; provision of potable water and first aid kits, training and fire prevention strategies.
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Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) is a multi-donor trust fund for climate change. The featured article in this issue of the newsletter, Bangladesh: the emerging hot spot where climate threats and action meet, explores a June 2013 World Bank report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience.
... See More + This newsletter also inlcudes the following headings: Putting local communities at the forefront of climate resilience; and Sheltering from Mahasen: preparing for the future.
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Ratings for the Fourth Montreal Protocol Ozone Depleting Substances Phaseout Project for China were as follows: outcomes were highly satisfactory; risk to development outcome was low; Bank performance was highly satisfactory and borrower performance was also highly satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned includes: Ozone Depleting Substance (ODS) production issues should be tackled in a more upstream manner within the context of ODS phaseout strategies. Addressing the phase-out of ODS at the sector level is a more rational and cost effective manner by which to curb large, non-uniform and dispersed consumption and production of ODS. The use of a three pronged phase-out approach that supports policy development, technical assistance activities and the financing of ODS phase-out on at enterprise level based on annual sector reduction targets addresses the key aspects of sustainable management of complex sectoral or national initiatives. The modular nature of the umbrella modality stipulated within the project's Grant Agreement (GA) was a key in supporting the aforementioned point, though it was strongly reinforced by the addition of a standardized sectoral phase-out approach. Performance-based programming, where funds are released annually based on pre-determined phase-out schedules, targets, and specific performance indicators having been met, provides an excellent implementation structure with which to motivate and incentivize stakeholders to find the most cost effective ways to convert to non-ODS technologies or to phase-out ODS production. Investment in the development and effective management of a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS), complemented by verification of both financial records (conducted by the national audit body) and technical results by World Bank experts, are key to gauging the accuracy of results generated.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR0413 DEC 17, 2013
Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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Climate change is happening faster and in a dramatically more visible way in the Earth's cryosphere than anywhere else on earth. Cryosphere is defined as elements of the Earth system containing water in its frozen state.
... See More + The average temperature has risen here at over twice the global mean in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and much of the Himalayas and other mountain regions. This report summarizes the changes already being observed in the following five major cryosphere regions: the Andes, Antarctica, Arctic, East African Highlands, and the Himalayas. It then provides a science-based assessment of the impact of addressing methane and black carbon to reduce the risk to the global environment and human societies, especially for the most vulnerable populations. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive assessment of the changes occurring in these five regions, based on the most recent literature, including the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2013). Chapter 3 describes the pollution and climate nexus and the evolving knowledge of how methane and black carbon impact climate specifically in cryosphere regions. Chapter 4 presents the background and methods used for new modeling work conducted as part of this study, building extensively the United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Ozone (2010). Chapter 5 presents the results of the new modeling in these five major cryosphere regions as well as globally for health, crop impacts, and climate. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications and new directions for the cryosphere regions emerging from these modeling results.
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The importance of weather, climate, and water1 information is rising because of the need to serve more elaborate societal needs, minimize growing economic losses, and help countries adapt to climate change.
... See More + Weather, climate, and water affect societies and economies through extreme events, such as tropical cyclones, floods, high winds, storm surges, and prolonged droughts, and through high-impact weather and climate events that affect demand for electricity and production capacity, planting and harvesting dates, management of construction, transportation networks and inventories, and human health. The key players are the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), which are the backbone of the global weather and climate enterprise. By international agreement under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), they are the government's authoritative source of weather, climate, and water information, providing timely input to emergency managers, national and local administrations, the public, and critical economic sectors. The report underscores the urgent need to strengthen NMHSs, especially those in developing countries, and provides cost-benefit estimates of the return that countries can hope to achieve. It also offers a recommended approach that has been tested and implemented in Europe, in Central and South Asia, and countries in other regions. The NMHSs make a significant contribution to safety, security, and economic well-being by observing, forecasting, and warning of pending weather, climate, and water threats.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, turn down the heat: why a 4 degree celsius warmer world must be avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2 degree celsius and 4 degree celsius warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability for affected populations.
... See More + It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and in some cases multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest. Climate-related extreme events could push households below the poverty trap threshold. High temperature extremes appear likely to affect yields of rice, wheat, maize and other important crops, adversely affecting food security. Promoting economic growth and the eradication of poverty and inequality will thus be an increasingly challenging task under future climate change. Immediate steps are needed to help countries adapt to the risks already locked in at current levels of 0.8 degree celsius warming, but with ambitious global action to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many of the worst projected climate impacts could still be avoided by holding warming below 2 degree celsius.
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This paper reviews the literature on the potential biophysical and economic impacts of climate change in the Himalayas. Existing observations indicate that the temperature is rising at a higher rate in Nepal and Chinese regions of the Himalayas compared with rest of the Himalayas.
... See More + A declining trend of monsoon in the western Indian Himalayas and an increasing trend in the eastern Indian Himalayas have been observed, whereas increasing precipitation and stream flow in many parts of Tibetan Plateau are noted. Glaciers in both the eastern and western Himalayas are mostly retreating, but the majority of the glaciers in Karakorum are either stable or advancing slowly. Expansion of glacier lakes is reported, with the highest rate in Nepal and Bhutan. Most literature predicts increases in temperature and monsoon precipitations and decreases in winter precipitations in the future thereby leading to monsoon flooding and increased sediments in stream flow. Available hydrological simulations indicate reduced rainfall and shrinkage of glacier thereby leading to shortage of water supply for power generation and irrigation in winter particularly in highly glaciated basins. Projected economic impacts of glacial lake outburst floods can be substantial on the developed river basin with infrastructures and population centers. However, there is a clear gap in knowledge of economic impacts of climate change in the Himalayas.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6516 JUN 01, 2013
Timilsina, Govinda R.; Acharya, Kumud; Gautam, Mahesh R.
Do household consumption-smoothing strategies in poor countries entail significant long-run costs in terms of reduced human capital? This paper exploits the timing of monsoon rainfall shocks and the seasonal nature of agriculture to isolate income effects on early childhood anthropometric outcomes in rural Nepal and to provide evidence on the persistence of these effects into later childhood.
... See More + Findings suggest that a 10 percent increase in rainfall from historic norms during the most recently completed monsoon leads to a 0.15 standard deviation increase in weight-for-age for children ages 0-36 months. This total impact consists of a negative "disease environment effect" of no more than 0.02 standard deviations and a positive "income effect" as high as 0.17 standard deviations. Consistent with this interpretation, excess monsoon rainfall also enhances child stature, but only if the monsoon rainfall shock is experienced in the second year of life. Moreover, this effect on child height is transitory, dissipating completely by age five.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6395 MAR 01, 2013