Impact of trade reform and other policies on rural poverty and the environment: Integrating environmental process models with economic models: Case Study: Boyaca, Colombia (1998-2000)

Prof. H. Hurni, CDE University of Bern, 3003 Bern
Dr. R. Knapp, CIAT, Cali, Colombia
Mr. J. Diaz, Fondacion Universitaria de Boyaca, Colombia
Prof. R. Lopez, University of Maryland, USA

Objectives
The main objective of this project is to develop an instrument to evaluate the impact of trade reform and other policies on poor farmers and their natural resource base. This instrument allows for understanding the relationsship between rural poor and their environmental resource base, quantifying of the environmental impacts of trade reform and other policies, evaluating economic instruments to mitigate some of these impacts, evaluating the effect of these changes on poor farmers’ income (differentiating between male and female labor allocation), and estimating qualitatively the importance of institutions regulating the access of poor farmers to resources.

This project will also strengthen the partnership among the Center of Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern and the International Center for Tropical Agricultrue (CIAT) and the Fondacion Universitaria de Boyaca (FUB); develop new links between CDE, CIAT and the Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland, USA: foster South-South cooperation and capacity building by promoting the cooperation between CIAT and FUB; and increase the research capacity of FUB in the asreas of system modeling, soil Analysis, evaluation of soil management practices and economic analysis of poor farmers’ households.