Jeanne de Montalembert

The Health Cost of Conservation: Impact of Protected Areas on Child Health

How does conservation policy shape child health? Using repeated cross-sectional household surveys from 2008 to 2021 and a newly database on Protected Areas (PAs) in Madagascar, I examine the impact of PAs on childhood anemia through a difference-in-differences estimation strategy. Results indicate that PAs reduce hemoglobin levels and increase anemia rates by 6 pp, with boys and children from poor households being more severely affected. This negative health impact is partly caused by a rise in malaria occurrence and a reduced intake of iron-rich foods, despite the improvements in access to drinking water and poverty reduction. These findings highlight the complex relationship between conservation efforts and health conditions in local communities.

Presented at: FAERE PhD Workshop (2024); Environmental Economics : A Focus On Natural Resources (2024); AFEPOP (2024); Canadian Economic Conference, online (2024); Novafrica PhD Workshop (2024); International Conference of Development Economics (2024); International Conference of Agricultural Economics (2024); French Association of Environmental and Resources Economists (2024); North East Universities Development Consortium (2024); DIAL seminar (2024); CEE-M seminar (2025).

Received the Nils Westermarck Prize for Best Poster at ICAE (2024)