Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Category
Social Sciences/Humanities
Abstract/Artist Statement
Protecting Life and Lung: Protected areas impact on respiratory disease in the Brazilian Amazon.
By Derek Sheehan, M.A. Candidate Economics
I am assessing the impacts of changes in upwind protected area coverage on local respiratory health within the Brazilian Amazon. One key mechanism is the legal prohibition of human ignited fires within protected areas, may reduce particulate matter pollution, which impacts downwind respiratory health. The connection between fires and respiratory diseases in the Amazon is well established (Smith et al. 2014; Rangel and Vogl 2019; Rocha and Sant’anna 2020). What is not well understood is the potential that government policies aimed at preventing ecosystem loss may also promote health and wellbeing, combining the UN sustainable development goals 3 and 15. Protected areas currently dominate government conservation efforts across the globe but empirical evidence of the health impacts of protected areas remains a small body of literature. I will utilize Brazilian government data for monthly municipal respiratory disease hospitalizations (DATASUS) and yearly upwind protected area coverage (ICMBIO). I will focus on protected areas within some distance from the municipal seat and divide this region into 45° wind directions. I will utilize a fixed effects model with socioeconomic and environmental controls to isolate the impacts of changes in upwind PA coverage on changes in respiratory disease hospitalizations. This research will highlight potential cross boundary effects of protected areas on health as well as the potential for government policy synergies between environmental conservation and public health. To my knowledge this will be the first paper to examine upwind protected areas impacts.
References
Rangel, Marcos A., and Tom S. Vogl. 2019. “Agricultural Fires and Health at Birth.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 101 (4): 616–30. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00806.
Rocha, Rudi, and André Sant’anna. 2020. “Winds of Fire and Smoke: Air Pollution and Health in the Brazilian Amazon.” www.ieps.org.br.
Smith, Lauren T., Luiz E.O.C. Aragão, Clive E. Sabel, and Tomoki Nakaya. 2014. “Drought Impacts on Children’s Respiratory Health in the Brazilian Amazon.” Scientific Reports 4: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03726.
Mentor Name
Katrina Mullan
Protecting Life and Lung: Protected areas impact on respiratory disease in the Brazilian Amazon.
Protecting Life and Lung: Protected areas impact on respiratory disease in the Brazilian Amazon.
By Derek Sheehan, M.A. Candidate Economics
I am assessing the impacts of changes in upwind protected area coverage on local respiratory health within the Brazilian Amazon. One key mechanism is the legal prohibition of human ignited fires within protected areas, may reduce particulate matter pollution, which impacts downwind respiratory health. The connection between fires and respiratory diseases in the Amazon is well established (Smith et al. 2014; Rangel and Vogl 2019; Rocha and Sant’anna 2020). What is not well understood is the potential that government policies aimed at preventing ecosystem loss may also promote health and wellbeing, combining the UN sustainable development goals 3 and 15. Protected areas currently dominate government conservation efforts across the globe but empirical evidence of the health impacts of protected areas remains a small body of literature. I will utilize Brazilian government data for monthly municipal respiratory disease hospitalizations (DATASUS) and yearly upwind protected area coverage (ICMBIO). I will focus on protected areas within some distance from the municipal seat and divide this region into 45° wind directions. I will utilize a fixed effects model with socioeconomic and environmental controls to isolate the impacts of changes in upwind PA coverage on changes in respiratory disease hospitalizations. This research will highlight potential cross boundary effects of protected areas on health as well as the potential for government policy synergies between environmental conservation and public health. To my knowledge this will be the first paper to examine upwind protected areas impacts.
References
Rangel, Marcos A., and Tom S. Vogl. 2019. “Agricultural Fires and Health at Birth.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 101 (4): 616–30. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00806.
Rocha, Rudi, and André Sant’anna. 2020. “Winds of Fire and Smoke: Air Pollution and Health in the Brazilian Amazon.” www.ieps.org.br.
Smith, Lauren T., Luiz E.O.C. Aragão, Clive E. Sabel, and Tomoki Nakaya. 2014. “Drought Impacts on Children’s Respiratory Health in the Brazilian Amazon.” Scientific Reports 4: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03726.