Property rights, investments and economic development in the context of climate change in semi-arid lands
Led by the Overseas Development Institute, with the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and Kenya Markets Trust, this research project focuses on Tanzania, Pakistan and Kenya. It assesses the influence of property rights on people’s ability to adapt to climate change impacts and on climate-resilient economic development, and the joint effects of climate risks and land tenure insecurity on people’s economic welfare, by asking the following research questions:
- What is the role of access to, and ownership of, land in reducing climate vulnerability and enhancing climate-resilient economic development in semi-arid lands?
- Do climate change and climatic extremes accelerate structural change; and do their interactions with land tenure insecurity affect short- and long-term economic wellbeing?
The Grantham Research Institute’s research under this project is led by Shaikh Eskander and focuses on Tanzania and Pakistan.
In Tanzania, we look at the income and welfare effects of climate change induced tenure insecurity and conservation investment. We investigate the degree to which stronger tenure security incentivises farmers to invest in land and soil conservation and improvement activities that improve their resilience to climate change, and whether farmers identify resilience and productivity as complements or substitutes to each other.
In Pakistan, we look at the impact of climate extremes on economic behaviour, investigating whether exposure to climatic extremes such as floods and storms affect farmer’s supply of farm and nonfarm labour as well as their savings.”
Related publications
Do Natural Disasters Change Savings and Employment Choices? Evidence from Bangladesh and Pakistan
Shaikh M.S.U. Eskander, Samuel Fankhauser, and Shikha Jha
ADB Economics Working Paper Series, December 2016