Small-scale farms in the western Brazilian Amazon: can they benefit from carbon trade?

Recently scientists have started to examine how land-uses and land-use technologies can help mitigate carbon emissions. The half million small-scale farmers inhabiting the Amazon frontier sequester large stocks of carbon in their forests and other land uses that they might be persuaded to maintain or even increase through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. On average, small-scale farmers in the Pedro Peixoto settlement project of Acre (Western Brazilian Amazon), had a stock of 10,067 tons of above- and below-ground carbon on their farms in 1994, 88 percent of which was stored in their forest reserves. The income and carbon mitigation effects of three types of carbon payments are analyzed in this paper: (1) above- or total-carbon stock payments paid for carbon retained in the forest or stored in all land-uses, (2) above- or total-carbon flow payments paid for carbon stored in all land-uses, and (3) above- or total-carbon net stock payments paid for carbon stored in all land-uses. The main conclusions are that carbon payments can be effective in preserving forest and carbon, but should be based on carbon stocks or net carbon stock rather than carbon flows. Payments tied to forest carbon or carbon in all land-uses provide inexpensive carbon offset potential, and payments based on total instead of above-ground carbon only slightly dilute the forest preservation effect of carbon payments. One-time carbon payments as low as R$15/t of carbon stock would preserve half of the existing forest carbon on these farms. Carbon flow payments, on the other hand, do not provide an adequate economic incentive to slow deforestation because forests are more or less in equilibrium and thus do not sequester additional carbon. If the Kyoto Protocol were amended to allow for conservation of forest carbon, a few potential CDMs could provide inexpensive carbon offsets, alleviate poverty, and preserve biodiversity. Sustainable forest management, for instance, increases both farm income and carbon and forest preservation and could provide inexpensive carbon offsets. Other projects could also provide inexpensive carbon offsets and preserve biodiversity, but would require additional income and technology transfers to compensate farmers for their lost incomes.Land use., Brazil Economic policy.,

EPTD DISCUSSION PAPER NO. 67 SMALL-SCALE FARMS IN THE WESTERN BRAZILIAN AMAZON: CAN THEY BENEFIT FROM CARBON TRADE?

Recently scientists have started to examine how land-uses and land-use technologies can help mitigate carbon emissions. The half million small-scale farmers inhabiting the Amazon frontier sequester large stocks of carbon in their forests and other land uses that they might be persuaded to maintain or even increase through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. On average, small-scale farmers in the Pedro Peixoto settlement project of Acre (Western Brazilian Amazon), had a stock of 10,067 tons of above- and below-ground carbon on their farms in 1994, 88 percent of which was stored in their forest reserves. The income and carbon mitigation effects of three types of carbon payments are analyzed in this paper: (1) above- or total-carbon stock payments paid for carbon retained in the forest or stored in all land-uses, (2) above- or total-carbon flow payments paid for carbon stored in all land-uses, and (3) above- or totalcarbon net stock payments paid for carbon stored in all land-uses. The main conclusions are that carbon payments can be effective in preserving forest and carbon, but should be based on carbon stocks or net carbon stock rather than carbon flows. Payments tied to forest carbon or carbon in all land-uses provide inexpensive carbon offset potential, and payments based on total instead of above-ground carbon only slightly dilute the forest preservation effect of carbon payments. One-time carbon payments as low as R$15/t of carbon stock would preserve half of the existing forest carbon on these farms. Carbon flow payments, on the other hand, do not provide an adequate economic incentive to slow deforestation because forests are more or less in equilibrium and thus do not sequester additional carbon. If the Kyoto Protocol were amended to allo..

Associations of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and post-partum with maternal cognition and caregiving

Pregnant and post-partum women require increased nutrient intake and optimal cognition, which depends on adequate nutrition, to enable reasoning and learning for caregiving. We aimed to assess (a) differences in maternal cognition and caregiving between women in Malawi who received different nutritional supplements, (b) 14 effect modifiers, and (c) associations of cognition and caregiving with biomarkers of iron, Vitamin A, B-vitamin, and fatty acid status. In a randomized controlled trial (n = 869), pregnant women daily received either multiple micronutrients (MMN), 20 g/day lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS), or a control iron/folic acid (IFA) tablet. After delivery, supplementation continued in the MMN and LNS arms, and the IFA control group received placebo until 6 months post-partum, when cognition (n = 712), caregiving behaviour (n = 669), and biomarkers of nutritional status (n = 283) were assessed. In the full group, only one difference was significant: the IFA arm scored 0.22 SD (95% CI [0.01, 0.39], p = .03) higher than the LNS arm in mental rotation. Among subgroups of women with baseline low hemoglobin, poor iron status, or malaria, those who received LNS scored 0.4 to 0.7 SD higher than the IFA arm in verbal fluency. Breastmilk docosahexaenoic acid and Vitamin B12 concentrations were positively associated with verbal fluency and digit span forward (adjusting for covariates ps < .05). In this population in Malawi, maternal supplementation with MMN or LNS did not positively affect maternal cognition or caregiving. Maternal docosahexaenoic acid and B12 status may be important for post-partum attention and executive function

Associations of maternal nutrition during pregnancy and post-partum with maternal cognition and caregiving.

Pregnant and post-partum women require increased nutrient intake and optimal cognition, which depends on adequate nutrition, to enable reasoning and learning for caregiving. We aimed to assess (a) differences in maternal cognition and caregiving between women in Malawi who received different nutritional supplements, (b) 14 effect modifiers, and (c) associations of cognition and caregiving with biomarkers of iron, Vitamin A, B-vitamin, and fatty acid status. In a randomized controlled trial (n = 869), pregnant women daily received either multiple micronutrients (MMN), 20 g/day lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS), or a control iron/folic acid (IFA) tablet. After delivery, supplementation continued in the MMN and LNS arms, and the IFA control group received placebo until 6 months post-partum, when cognition (n = 712), caregiving behaviour (n = 669), and biomarkers of nutritional status (n = 283) were assessed. In the full group, only one difference was significant: the IFA arm scored 0.22 SD (95% CI [0.01, 0.39], p = .03) higher than the LNS arm in mental rotation. Among subgroups of women with baseline low hemoglobin, poor iron status, or malaria, those who received LNS scored 0.4 to 0.7 SD higher than the IFA arm in verbal fluency. Breastmilk docosahexaenoic acid and Vitamin B12 concentrations were positively associated with verbal fluency and digit span forward (adjusting for covariates ps < .05). In this population in Malawi, maternal supplementation with MMN or LNS did not positively affect maternal cognition or caregiving. Maternal docosahexaenoic acid and B12 status may be important for post-partum attention and executive function

Lipid-based nutrient supplements plus malaria and diarrhea treatment increase infant development scores in a cluster-randomized trial in Burkina Faso

Background: Adequate nutrition is necessary for the rapid brain development that occurs during infancy. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that the provision of small-quantity, lipid-based nutrient supplements (SQ-LNSs) plus malaria and diarrhea treatment positively affects infant development. We also tested the effect of various doses of zinc provided in SQ-LNSs or in a tablet. Methods: In a partially masked, cluster-randomized controlled trial, communities in rural Burkina Faso were stratified by selected characteristics and then randomly assigned within strata to the intervention (IC; 25 communities, 2435 children) or the nonintervention (NIC; 9 communities, 785 children) cohorts. IC children were randomly assigned to 4 groups. As secondary outcomes, a subsample of 3 of these 4 groups (n = 747) and of the NIC (n = 376) were assessed for motor, language, and personal-social development at age 18 mo by using the Developmental Milestones Checklist II. The 3 IC groups received 20 g SQ-LNSs/d containing 0 or 10 mg added zinc with a placebo tablet or 20 g SQ-LNSs/d containing 0 mg added zinc with a tablet containing 5 mg Zn. All IC groups received treatment of malaria and diarrhea from age 9 to 18 mo. Data collectors and participants were aware of allocation to the IC or NIC but did not know the particular IC subgroup. Results: Children in the IC scored 0.34 (95% CI: 0.21, 0.46), 0.30 (95% CI: 0.15, 0.44), and 0.32 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.48) SDs higher in motor, language, and personal-social development, respectively, than did children in the NIC (All P < 0.001). Children who received different amounts of zinc did not differ significantly in any of the scores. No effect on caregiver-child interaction was found. Conclusion: In rural Burkina Faso, the provision of SQ-LNSs to infants from age 9 to 18 mo, regardless of added zinc content, plus malaria and diarrhea treatment positively affected motor, language, and personal-social development at age 18 mo. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00944281