The impacts of indoor temperature and cool roofs on food security and behavior of vulnerable groups in rural Burkina Faso.

• Applicant: Dr. Mekdim D. Regassa, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Policy, Agricultural Sociology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 561403614

Rising global temperatures and extreme heat significantly impact health and socioeconomic well-being, disproportionately and severely affecting low-income countries. Rural areas in these countries are more vulnerable, with fewer opportunities for adaptation. Within those populations, vulnerable groups such as the poor, women, children, the elderly, and those with preexisting health issues often have limited access to essential resources, education, and healthcare, severely limiting their ability to mitigate or adapt to extreme heat. Considering people spend much time indoors, a key adaptation strategy against heat stress is to reduce indoor temperatures, allowing the body to recover from high outdoor temperatures. Empirical evidence mostly from high income settings indicates that lower indoor temperatures improve food security, health, social behavior, and cognitive performance. However, energy-intensive strategies like air-conditioning increase energy demand and emissions and may be inaccessible in resource-poor rural areas in the Global South. Passive cooling technologies, such as cool roofs, offer a cost-effective option to reduce indoor temperature, potentially improving food security, health, and overall welfare. Despite their potential, the impacts of passive cooling technologies on food security, welfare, and social behavior remain largely understudied. To address this knowledge gap, we utilize extensive micro-level household and individual data gathered in a clustered randomized control trial (cRCT), in combination with fine-grained high-frequency data on indoor and outdoor weather parameters, which allow us to identify causality. Building on an ongoing DFG-funded research program focusing on public health, our work aims to provide empirical evidence on the causal impacts of indoor temperature and passive cooling technologies on food security, intra-household tension, human capital development, and mental health in a poor rural setting in Burkina Faso. These topics were chosen for their academic relevance and crucial roles in shaping well-being in climate-sensitive, low-income countries. Their interrelated and mutually reinforcing nature makes them essential to understanding broader developmental and public health outcomes.We will also identify and rigorously test the potential mechanisms that underlie the impact of indoor temperature and passive cooling technologies on welfare and behavior for five distinct vulnerable groups; namely, the poor, women, children, the elderly, and those with preexisting mental health conditions. This approach is crucial not only for quantifying the diverse impacts of indoor temperature in vulnerable communities but also for providing valuable insights for designing targeted interventions and adaptive strategies in response to changing climatic conditions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Tilman Brück; Dr. Aditi Bunker; Professor Dr. Till Bärnighausen, Ph.D.