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Does Forest Loss Increase Human Disease? Evidence from Nigeria

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  • Julia Berazneva
  • Tanya S. Byker

Abstract

We examine the impact of forest loss on three infectious diseases attributed to modifiable environmental factors in the last decade in Nigeria. Geolinking a new high-resolution dataset of global forest change to child-level health data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys from 2008 and 2013, we find that forest loss significantly increases the incidence of malaria, though it does not affect the incidence of diarrhea and respiratory diseases. The impact of forest loss on malaria is large and the dynamic pattern of the impact suggests a temporary ecological disturbance consistent with findings in the tropical medicine literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Berazneva & Tanya S. Byker, 2017. "Does Forest Loss Increase Human Disease? Evidence from Nigeria," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 516-521, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:516-21
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171132
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jones, Benjamin A. & McDermott, Shana M., 2018. "The economics of urban afforestation: Insights from an integrated bioeconomic-health model," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 116-135.
    2. Diana De Alwis & Ilan Noy, 2019. "The Cost of Being Under the Weather: Droughts, Floods, and Health-Care Costs in Sri Lanka," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(2), pages 185-214, September.
    3. Luiza M Karpavicius & Ariaster Chimeli, 2023. "Forest Protection and Human Health: The Case of Malaria in the Brazilian Amazon," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2023_08, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), revised 26 Jul 2023.
    4. Rozo, Sandra V., 2020. "Unintended effects of illegal economic activities: Illegal gold mining and malaria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    5. Jones, Benjamin A. & Goodkind, Andrew L., 2019. "Urban afforestation and infant health: Evidence from MillionTreesNYC," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 26-44.
    6. Garg, Teevrat, 2019. "Ecosystems and Human Health: The Local Benefits of Forest Cover in Indonesia," IZA Discussion Papers 12683, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Pagel, Jeff, 2022. "A natural resource curse: the unintended effects of gold mining on malaria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115532, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Miller, Daniel C. & Hajjar, Reem, 2020. "Forests as pathways to prosperity: Empirical insights and conceptual advances," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    9. Gibson, John, 2018. "Forest Loss and Economic Inequality in the Solomon Islands: Using Small-Area Estimation to Link Environmental Change to Welfare Outcomes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 66-76.
    10. Fergusson, Leopoldo & Saavedra, Santiago & Vargas, Juan F., 2020. "The perils of misusing remote sensing data: The case of forest cover," Working papers 41, Red Investigadores de Economía.
    11. Jones, Benjamin A., 2023. "Can invasive species lead to sedentary behavior? The time use and obesity impacts of a forest-attacking pest," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Bauhoff, Sebastian & Busch, Jonah, 2020. "Does deforestation increase malaria prevalence? Evidence from satellite data and health surveys," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. Bevis, Leah & Kim, Kichan & Guerena, David, 2023. "Soil zinc deficiency and child stunting: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    14. Jones, Benjamin A., 2021. "Planting urban trees to improve quality of life? The life satisfaction impacts of urban afforestation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    15. Kuschnig, Nikolas & Vashold, Lukas, 2023. "The economic impacts of malaria: past, present, and future," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 338, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    16. Annie Mwai Mapulanga and Hisahiro Naito, 2018. "The Effect of Deforestation on the Access to Clean Drinking Water: A Study of Malawi's Deforestation," Tsukuba Economics Working Papers 2018-004, Economics, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba.
    17. Aguirre, Julio & De La Torre Ugarte, Daniel G. & Yu, Tun-Hsiang E. & Accinelli, Roberto & Rojas, Eduardo & Paucar, Marcos & Heros, Carlos, 2023. "Less deforestation, more savings, and more health: spillovers from the implementation of national commitments to mitigate climate change by 2050," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335603, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Karpavicius, Luiza & Chimeli, Ariaster, 2023. "Forest Protection and Human Health: The Case of Malaria in the Brazilian Amazon," TD NEREUS 6-2023, Núcleo de Economia Regional e Urbana da Universidade de São Paulo (NEREUS).
    19. Chakrabarti, Averi, 2021. "Deforestation and infant mortality: Evidence from Indonesia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    20. Garg, Teevrat, 2019. "Ecosystems and human health: The local benefits of forest cover in Indonesia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    21. Heidi J. Albers & Katherine D. Lee & Jennifer R. Rushlow & Carlos Zambrana-Torrselio, 2020. "Disease Risk from Human–Environment Interactions: Environment and Development Economics for Joint Conservation-Health Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 929-944, August.
    22. Salemi, Colette, 2021. "Refugee camps and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry

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