Larissa Chermont

Economic Aspects of Fire Use and Prevention in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

In this project empirical data will be used to identify and understand: a) The economic causes of household's decisions to use fire as a management tool; b) The costs & benefits of fire prevention activities; c) The valuation of fire in the Amazon to society as a whole; d) Practical changes in terms of public policies for the region. This economic model of land-user behaviour might predict both the incidence of fire and farm-level investment in fire prevention and control. Our hypothesis is that land users' propensity to set fires decreases, while their investment in fire prevention increases, as agriculture becomes more intensive and permanent. This will be tested in an econometric model based on theoretical framework of household behaviour modelling and portfolio management decision. We are currently testing this hypothesis through property-level interviews and analyses of satellite images, in which we compare the level of investment made in rural properties with the history of fire occurrence on that property.

Supervisors

• Dr Diana Weinhold (ID) and Dr Anthony Hall (Social Policy)

Research areas

• Environmental Economics
• Environmental Modelling

CV/Resume

• Read CV (PDF)

Papers

• Chermont, L S 1995a. A questão ambiental na Amazônia e o planejamento governamental. Panorama Econômico - Boletim Acadêmico no. 1 Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém
• Chermont, L S 1995b. Sobre o conceito de Desnvolvimento Sustentável. Panorama Econômico - Boletim Acadêmico n.2 Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém
• Chermont, L S 1998. Aspectos Econômicos da gestão integrada de resíduos sólidos in A Economia Brasileira em Perspectiva: 1998. Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), Rio de Janeiro
• Chermont, L S 2000a. A conceptual model for fire use and prevention in Amazonia in Scenarios for Amazonia, Woods Hole, USA
• Chermont, L S 2000b. Waste management in an Amazonian city: Belém do Pará. in International Society for Ecological Economics, Canberra, Australia

Languages

1 = basic; 2 = intermediate; 3 = fluent

• Portuguese (3S, 3W)
• Spanish (2S, 2W)
• French (2S, 2W)

Contact information

• ID, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London, WC 2A 2AE, United Kingdom
• Tel: + 44 207 955 6054
• Fax: +44 207 955 6844
• Email: l.chermont@lse.ac.uk