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The unintended impact of Colombia's covid-19 lockdown on forest fires

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  • Amador-Jiménez, Mónica
  • Millner, Naomi
  • Palmer, Charles
  • Pennington, R. Toby
  • Sileci, Lorenzo

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic led to rapid and large-scale government intervention in economies and societies. A common policy response to covid-19 outbreaks has been the lockdown or quarantine. Designed to slow the spread of the disease, lockdowns have unintended consequences for the environment. This article examines the impact of Colombia’s lockdown on forest fires, motivated by satellite data showing a particularly large upsurge of fires at around the time of lockdown implementation. We find that Colombia’s lockdown is associated with an increase in forest fires compared to three different counterfactuals, constructed to simulate the expected number of fires in the absence of the lockdown. To varying degrees across Colombia’s regions, the presence of armed groups is correlated with this fire upsurge. Mechanisms through which the lockdown might influence fire rates are discussed, including the mobilisation of armed groups and the reduction in the monitoring capacity of state and conservation organisations during the covid-19 outbreak. Given the fast-developing situation in Colombia, we conclude with some ideas for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Amador-Jiménez, Mónica & Millner, Naomi & Palmer, Charles & Pennington, R. Toby & Sileci, Lorenzo, 2020. "The unintended impact of Colombia's covid-19 lockdown on forest fires," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105686, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:105686
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    Cited by:

    1. Cappelli, Federica & Caravaggio, Nicola & Vaquero-Piñeiro, Cristina, 2022. "Buen Vivir and forest conservation in Bolivia: False promises or effective change?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    2. Roy Cerqueti & Raffaella Coppier & Alessandro Girardi & Marco Ventura, 2022. "The sooner the better: lives saved by the lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. The case of Italy," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 25(1), pages 46-70.
    3. Florence Bouvet & Roy Bower & Jason C. Jones, 2022. "Currency Devaluation as a Source of Growth in Africa: A Synthetic Control Approach," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(3), pages 367-389, June.
    4. Maraseni, Tek & Poudyal, Bishnu Hari & Aryal, Kishor & Laudari, Hari Krishna, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 in the forestry sector: A case of lowland region of Nepal," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Johanna Eklund & Julia P. G. Jones & Matti Räsänen & Jonas Geldmann & Ari-Pekka Jokinen & Adam Pellegrini & Domoina Rakotobe & O. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo & Tuuli Toivonen & Andrew Balmford, 2022. "Elevated fires during COVID-19 lockdown and the vulnerability of protected areas," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(7), pages 603-609, July.
    6. Gabriel Weber & Ignazio Cabras & Paola Ometto & Ana Maria Peredo, 2021. "Direct Management of COVID-19 at National and Subnational Level: The Case of the Western Amazon Countries," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 741-757, December.
    7. Hideki Shimada & Kenji Asano & Yu Nagai & Akito Ozawa, 2022. "Assessing the Impact of Offshore Wind Power Deployment on Fishery: A Synthetic Control Approach," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 791-829, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Covid-19; coronavirus; armed groups; Colombia; deforestation; forest fires; lockdown;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

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