Allen Blackman

Web-tools for Targeting and Evaluating Forest Conservation Policy

November 19, 2:30 – 4:00 pm, Dana Building 1046

Allen Blackman will discuss alpha versions of two web-tools that he and colleagues at Resources for the Future (RFF) are developing for NASA’s SERVIR program. The first aims to help policy makers target forest conservation policies like protected areas and payments for environmental services so as to generate the greatest conservation bang-for-the-buck. It takes into account spatial variation in deforestation risk, three forest ecosystem services, and conservation costs. The second web-tool evaluates the effectiveness of forest conservation policies in stemming deforestation. It uses Global Forest Watch data on 2001-2012 forest loss along with statistical matching techniques. Both web-tools are designed to be accessible to non-technical users and have all the requisite data on-board. Allen will also provide a brief overview of recent RFF work evaluating forest conservation policies in Latin America.

Allen Blackman is Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future, a non
profit, nonpartisan environmental policy research institute in Washington DC. His research focuses on environmental and natural resource issues in developing countries, principally tropical forest conservation policy in Latin America. He is the author of three books and more than 60 journal articles and book chapters, and serves as Associate Editor of Environmental and DevelopmentEconomics and of the Latin American Economic Review.