Building Road Safety Institutions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Case of Argentina.

Traffic injuries remain a leading health concern in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, most LMICs have not established institutions that have the legislative mandate and financial resources necessary to coordinate large-scale interventions. Argentina provides a counterexample. Argentina is a federal country where the decentralization of authority to provincial governments was a key barrier to effective national interventions. In 2008, Argentina passed a law establishing a national road safety agency and subsequently received a World Bank loan to build the agency's capacity to coordinate actions. Although traffic injuries in Argentina have not yet begun to decline, these developments raise important questions:Why did Argentina come to view road safety as aproblem?Why was institutional reform the chosen solution? What was the political process for achieving reform? What are the broader implications for institutional reform in LMICs?We explore these questions using a descriptive case study (single-case, holistic design) of Argentina. The case illustrates that focusing events, like the Santa Fe tragedy that killed nine children, and advocacy groups are important for raising political attention and creating an opportunity for legislative reform. It highlights the importance of policy entrepreneurs who used the opportunity to push through new legislation. Though the political dynamic was predominantly local, international actors worked with local advocates to build demand for safety and develop solutions that could be deployed when the opportunity arose. Most important, the case emphasizes the importance of developing institutions with the resources and authority necessary for managing national road safety programs.

Explaining Chile's traffic fatality and injury reduction for 2000-2012.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the current study is to determine the contribution of Chile's 2005 traffic law reform, police enforcement, and road investment infrastructure to the reduction of traffic fatalities and severe injuries from 2000 to 2012. METHODS: Analyses based on structural equation models were carried out using a unique database merging aggregate administrative data from several Chilean public institutions. The sample was balanced (13 regions, over 13 years; N=169). Dependent variables were rates of traffic fatality (total, drivers, passengers, and pedestrians), severe injuries, and total number of crashes per vehicle fleet. Independent variables were (1) traffic law reform, (2) police enforcement, and (3) road infrastructure investment. Oil prices, alcohol consumption, proportion of male population 15-24 years old, unemployment, years' effects and regions' effects, and lagged dependent variables were entered as control variables. RESULTS: Empirical estimates from the structural equation models suggest that the enactment of the traffic law reform is significantly associated with a 7% reduction of pedestrian fatalities. This association is entirely mediated by the positive association the law had with increasing police enforcement and reducing alcohol consumption. In turn, police enforcement is significantly associated with a direct decrease in total fatalities, driver fatalities, passenger fatalities, and pedestrian fatalities by 17%, 18%, 8%, and 60%, respectively. Finally, road infrastructure investment is significantly associated with a direct reduction of 11% in pedestrian fatalities, and the number of total crashes significantly mediates the effect of road infrastructure investment on the reduction of severe injuries. Tests of sensitivity indicate these effects and their statistical significance did not vary substantively with alternative model specifications. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that traffic law reform, police enforcement, and road infrastructure investment have complex interwoven effects that can reduce both traffic fatalities and severe injuries. Though traffic reforms are ultimately designed to change road user behaviors at large, it is also important to acknowledge that legislative changes may require institutional changes--that is, intensification of police enforcement--and be supported by road infrastructure investment, in order to effectively decrease traffic fatalities and injuries. Furthermore, depending on how road safety measures are designed, coordinated, and implemented, their effects on different types of road users vary. The case of Chile illustrates how the diffusion of road safety practices globally promoted by the World Health Organization and World Bank, particularly in 2004, can be an important influence to enhance national road safety practices.

Reservoirs and human well being: new challenges for evaluating impacts and benefits in the neotropics / Reservatórios e o bem estar humano: novos desafios para avaliar os impactos e os benefícios nas regiões neotropicais

As in many other continents, neotropical ecosystems are impacted by the construction of reservoirs. These artificial ecosystems change considerably the natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity. The multiple uses of reservoirs promote benefits for the human beings in terms of economic development, income, jobs and employment. Services of reservoirs are important assets for the regional ecosystem. Evaluation of ecosystem services produced by artificial reservoirs, are new challenges to the understanding of the cost/benefit relationships of reservoir construction in the neotropics. Regulating and other services promoted by reservoirs lead to new trends for "green technology" and the implementation of ecohydrological and ecotechnological developments. This approach can be utilized with better success as a substitute for the usual impact/benefit evaluation of the reservoirs. Better and diversified services can be achieved with "green technology" applied to the construction.

Regiões neotropicais são impactadas pela construção de reservatórios em várias bacias hidrográficas. Estes sistemas artificiais produzem consideráveis alterações nos sistemas naturais terrestres e aquáticos e na biodiversidade. Os múltiplos usos dos reservatórios proporcionam muitos benefícios para as comunidades humanas, como desenvolvimento econômico, emprego, e renda. Os serviços proporcionados pelos reservatórios são inúmeros e diversificados e são importantes bases sociais e econômicas para o ecossistema regional. A avaliação destes serviços produzidos pelos reservatórios artificiais apresenta novos desafios para a compreensão da complexa relação custo/beneficio da construção de reservatórios nos neotrópicos. Serviços de regulação, e outros serviços produzidos pelos reservatórios, podem ser uma rota fundamental para o desenvolvimento de tecnologias sustentáveis e a implementação de conceitos de ecohidrologia e ecotecnologias. Esta abordagem pode ser utilizada com sucesso na substituição da abordagem usual de balanços benefícios/impactos da construção de reservatórios e proporciona novas oportunidades para avaliação adequada dos reservatórios construídos e das novas construções.

Reservoirs and human well being: new challenges for evaluating impacts and benefits in the neotropics.

As in many other continents, neotropical ecosystems are impacted by the construction of reservoirs. These artificial ecosystems change considerably the natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity. The multiple uses of reservoirs promote benefits for the human beings in terms of economic development, income, jobs and employment. Services of reservoirs are important assets for the regional ecosystem. Evaluation of ecosystem services produced by artificial reservoirs, are new challenges to the understanding of the cost/benefit relationships of reservoir construction in the neotropics. Regulating and other services promoted by reservoirs lead to new trends for 'green technology' and the implementation of ecohydrological and ecotechnological developments. This approach can be utilized with better success as a substitute for the usual impact/benefit evaluation of the reservoirs. Better and diversified services can be achieved with 'green technology' applied to the construction.

An ecological economics approach to estimate the value of a fragmented wetland in Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul state)

The Upper Paraná River floodplain is the last lotic stretch of an ecosystem seriously threatened given that circa 50 percent of the original ecosystem has been converted into reservoirs. To assess the recreational value of the Upper Paraná River floodplain, 174 tourists were interviewed using the Willingness to Pay - WTP and Travel Cost - TC methods. The annual aggregated WTP attributed by tourists was US$ 122.50 million and the variables which determine the decision in willingness to pay for the Floodplain are: 'consider oneself as a Floodplain natural resources consumer' and 'marital state'. If the single person considers her/himself as a consumer of floodplain natural resources, the WTP increases by a multiplicative factor of 38.8. The value aggregated by the TC method was US$ 234 millions and decreased by zone as the distance increases. Higher income and traveling farther increases the travel cost, which is inversely related to annual trip frequency. The total recreational value (356.5 millions per year) is high and representative since it refers to an environment fragmented by dams and with many anthropogenic effects. Therefore, the progressive changes on the landscape are a threat to local tourism, since half of the visitors are attracted solely by the scenic beauty, thereby overtaking those factors considered more important by public decision makers and managers, such as recreational fishery or boating.

A planície de inundação do Alto Rio Paraná é o último trecho de um ecossistema seriamente ameaçado, visto que 50 por cento deste ambiente foi convertido em reservatórios. Para estimar o valor agregado pela recreação à planície, foram usados o Método de Valoração Contingente (Disposição à paga - DAP) e o Método do Custo de Viagem - CV pela entrevista de 174 turistas. A disposição a pagar anual agregada pelos turistas foi US$ 122,50 milhões, 'considerar-se um usuário dos recursos da planície' e 'estado civil' são as variáveis que determinam a decisão em pagar pela planície. Se o turista solteiro se considera um consumidor dos recursos da planície, a DAP aumenta por um fator multiplicativo de 38,8. O valor agregado pelo CV foi US$ 234 milhões e diminui por zona com o aumento da distância. Maior renda e viagens mais longas também aumentam o custo de viagem que, no entanto, é inversamente relacionado à freqüência anual de viagens. O valor recreativo total (356.5 milhões por ano) é alto e representativo por se tratar de um ambiente fragmentado por barragens e com muitos efeitos antropogênicos. Assim, as progressivas alterações na paisagem são uma ameaça ao turismo local, pois a metade dos visitantes entrevistados declarou ser atraída somente pela beleza cênica, sobrepujando outros bens e serviços naturais considerados importantes por gestores e administradores públicos, como a pesca recreativa e o passeio de barco.

An ecological economics approach to estimate the value of a fragmented wetland in Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul state).

The Upper Paraná River floodplain is the last lotic stretch of an ecosystem seriously threatened given that circa 50% of the original ecosystem has been converted into reservoirs. To assess the recreational value of the Upper Paraná River floodplain, 174 tourists were interviewed using the Willingness to Pay--WTP and Travel Cost--TC methods. The annual aggregated WTP attributed by tourists was US$ 122.50 million and the variables which determine the decision in willingness to pay for the Floodplain are: 'consider oneself as a Floodplain natural resources consumer' and 'marital state'. If the single person considers her/himself as a consumer of floodplain natural resources, the WTP increases by a multiplicative factor of 38.8. The value aggregated by the TC method was US$ 234 millions and decreased by zone as the distance increases. Higher income and traveling farther increases the travel cost, which is inversely related to annual trip frequency. The total recreational value (356.5 millions per year) is high and representative since it refers to an environment fragmented by dams and with many anthropogenic effects. Therefore, the progressive changes on the landscape are a threat to local tourism, since half of the visitors are attracted solely by the scenic beauty, thereby overtaking those factors considered more important by public decision makers and managers, such as recreational fishery or boating.

BR-319: Brazil's Manaus-Porto Velho highway and the potential impact of linking the arc of deforestation to central amazonia.

Brazil's BR-319 Highway linked Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, to Porto Velho, Rondônia, until it became impassable in 1988. Now it is proposed for reconstruction and paving, which would facilitate migration from the "Arc of Deforestation" in the southern part of the Amazon region to new frontiers farther north. The purpose of the highway, which is to facilitate transport to São Paulo of products from factories in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, would be better served by sending the containers by ship to the port of Santos. The lack of a land connection to Manaus currently represents a significant barrier to migration to central and northern Amazonia. Discourse regarding the highway systematically overestimates the highway's benefits and underestimates its impacts. A variety of changes would be needed prior to paving the highway if these potential impacts are to be attenuated. These include zoning, reserve creation, and increased governance in various forms, including deforestation licensing and control programs. More fundamental changes are also needed, especially the abandonment of the long-standing tradition in Brazil of granting squatters' rights to those who invade public land. Organizing Amazonian occupation in such a way that road construction and improvement cease to lead to explosive and uncontrolled deforestation should be a prerequisite for approval of the BR-319 and other road projects for which major impacts are expected. These projects could provide the impetus that is needed to achieve the transition away from appropriation of public land by both small squatters and by grileiros (large-scale illegal claimants). A delay in reconstructing the highway is advisable until appropriate changes can be effected.

[Economic evaluation and decision making in environmental health]. / Evaluación económica y toma de decisiones en salud ambiental.

Due to the increasing deterioration of the environment and its possible consequences for the health of the population the design and implementation of policies for the control of economic activities according to criteria for the protection of human health and the environment itself have become an unquestionable need. Such policies would include the economic feasibility of existing alternatives for protection. Due to the huge interests involved, however, other factors, both social and political should also be taken into consideration. Economic evaluation has been seen as a promising foundation for the decision making process in this subject. This tool's capacity systematically to organize and compare the costs and the benefits of the alternatives for the solution of environmental problems is analysed. The main characteristics of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness studies are summarized, as well as the possible forms of economic evaluation, of the environment and the details of this field for the application of such techniques of analysis. The limits of these tools for the quantification of the non-monetary costs of environmental risks and the consequent damage to health, whether as pain, suffering or the disability of non-economic ally active persons are set out as these constitute the methodological challenge of the economic evaluation in the area. The importance of the enhancement of information input for the decision-making process relating to environmental health issues such as the distributions of costs and benefits among the different social groups is scrutinized. Lastly, the growing political concern with environment issues is stated, as well as the technical possibility of the manipulation of these analytical tools. On the basis of these elements, the need for evaluators to be conscious on the political implications of their studies, as well as the importance of their relationship with the decision-makers in view of the need for effective relevance to current environmental issues.