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Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia.

ABSTRACT: Solutions to poverty and ecosystem degradation are often framed as conflicting. We ask whether Indonesia's national anti-poverty program, which transfers cash to hundreds of thousands of poor households, reduced deforestation as a side benefit. Although the program has no direct link to conservation, we estimate that it reduced tree cover loss in villages by 30% (95% confidence interval, 10 to 50%). About half of the avoided losses were in primary forests, and reductions were larger when participation density was higher. The economic value of the avoided carbon emissions alone compares favorably to program implementation costs. The program's environmental impact appears to be mediated through channels widely available in developing nations: consumption smoothing, whereby cash substitutes for deforestation as a form of insurance, and consumption substitution, whereby market-purchased goods substitute for deforestation-sourced goods. The results imply that anti-poverty programs targeted at the very poor can help achieve global environmental goals under certain conditions.

SUBMITTER: Ferraro PJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292618 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia.

Ferraro Paul J PJ Simorangkir Rhita R

Science advances 20200612 24

Solutions to poverty and ecosystem degradation are often framed as conflicting. We ask whether Indonesia's national anti-poverty program, which transfers cash to hundreds of thousands of poor households, reduced deforestation as a side benefit. Although the program has no direct link to conservation, we estimate that it reduced tree cover loss in villages by 30% (95% confidence interval, 10 to 50%). About half of the avoided losses were in primary forests, and reductions were larger when partici ...[more]

PMID: 32582848

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Project description:BackgroundLack of nutrition, inadequate housing, low education and limited access to quality care can negatively affect children's health over their lifetime. Implemented in 2003, the Bolsa Familia ("Family Stipend") Program (PBF) is a conditional cash transfer program targeting poor households in Brazil. This study investigates the long-term benefits of cash transfers through intergenerational transmission of health and poverty by assessing the early life exposure of the mother to the PBF.MethodsWe used data from the 100M SINASC-SIM cohort compiled and managed by the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), containing information about participation in the PBF and socioeconomic and health indicators. We analyzed five measures of newborn health: low (less than 2,500 g) and very low (less than 1,500 g) birth weight, premature (less than 37 weeks of gestation) and very premature (less than 28 weeks of gestation) birth, and the presence of some type of malformation (according to ICD-10 codes). Furthermore, we measured the early life exposure to the PBF of the mother as PBF coverage in the previous decade in the city where the mother was born. We applied multilevel logistic regression models to assess the associations between birth outcomes and PBF exposures.ResultsResults showed that children born in a household where the mother received BF were less likely to have low birth weight (OR 0.93, CI; 0.92-0.94), very low birth weight (0.87, CI; 0.84-0.89), as well as to be born after 37 weeks of gestation (OR 0.98, CI; 0.97-0.99) or 28 weeks of gestation (OR 0.93, CI; 0.88-0.97). There were no significant associations between households where the mother received BF and congenital malformation. On average, the higher the early life exposure to the PBF of the mother, the lower was the prevalence of low birth weight, very low birth weight and congenital malformation of the newborn. No trend was noted for preterm birth.ConclusionThe PBF might have indirect intergenerational effects on children's health. These results provide important implications for policymakers who have to decide how to effectively allocate resources to improve child health.

Project description:ImportanceConditional cash transfers (CCTs) have been consistently associated with improvements to the determinants of maternal health, but there have been insufficient investigations regarding their effects on maternal mortality.ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between being a Bolsa Família program (BFP) beneficiary and maternal mortality and to examine how this association differs by duration of BFP receipt, maternal race, living in rural or urban areas, the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI), and municipal primary health care coverage.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional analysis was nested within the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort. Girls and women aged 10 to 49 years (hereinafter referred to as women) who had at least 1 live birth were included, using data from Brazilian national health databases linked to the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort (January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2015). Propensity score kernel weighting was applied to control for sociodemographic and economic confounders in the association between BFP receipt and maternal mortality, overall and stratified by different subgroups (race, urban or rural area, and MHDI), and duration of BFP receipt. Data were analyzed from July 12, 2019, to December 31, 2022.Main outcome(s) and measuresMaternal death.ResultsA total of 6 677 273 women aged 10 to 49 years were included in the analysis, 4056 of whom had died from pregnancy-related causes. The risk of maternal death was 18% lower in women who received BFP (weighted odds ratio [OR], 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71-0.93]). A longer duration receiving BFP was associated with an increased reduction in maternal mortality (OR for 1-4 years, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.75-0.97]; OR for 5-8 years, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.60-0.82]; OR for ≥9 years, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.53-0.88]). Receiving BFP was also associated with substantial increases in the number of prenatal appointments and interbirth intervals. The reduction was more pronounced in the most vulnerable groups.Conclusions and relevanceThis cross-sectional analysis nested within the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort found an association between BFP receipt and maternal mortality. This association was of greater magnitude in women with longer exposure to BFP and in the most vulnerable groups. These findings reinforce evidence that programs such as BFP, which have already proven effective in poverty reduction, have great potential to improve maternal survival.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Empirical evidence suggests that the uptake of maternal and child health (MCH) services is still low in poor rural areas of China. There is concern that this low uptake may detrimentally affect child health outcomes. Previous studies have not yet identified the exact nature of the impact that a conditional cash transfer (CCT) has on the uptake of MCH services and, ultimately, on child health outcomes. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between CCT, uptake of MCH services, and health outcomes among children in poor rural areas of western China. METHODS:We designated two different sets of villages and households that were used as comparisons against which outcomes of the treated households could be assessed. In 2014, we conducted a large-scale survey of 1522 households in 75 villages (including 25 treatment and 50 comparison) from nine nationally designated poverty counties in two provinces of China. In each village, 21 households were selected based on their eligibility status for the CCT program. Difference-in-difference analyses were used to assess the impact of CCT on outcomes in terms of both intention-to-treat (ITT) and average-treatment-effects-on-the-treated (ATT). RESULTS:Overall, the uptake of MCH services in the sample households were low, especially in terms of postpartum care visits, early breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and physical examination of the baby. The uptake of the seven types of MCH services in the CCT treatment villages were significantly higher than that in the comparison villages. The results from both the ITT and ATT analyses showed that the CCT program had a positive, although small, impact on the uptake of MCH services and the knowledge of mothers of MCH health issues. Nonetheless, the CCT program had no noticeable effect on child health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:The CCT program generated modest improvements in the uptake of MCH services and mothers' knowledge of MCH services in poor rural areas of Western China. These improvements, however, did not translate into substantial improvements in child health outcomes for two potential reasons: poor CCT implementation and the low quality of rural health facilities.

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Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia.

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Conditional cash transfers to alleviate poverty also reduced deforestation in Indonesia.

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