The reform of China's collectively owned forest land, began in 2008, is arguably the largest land-reform undertaking in modern times in terms of area and people affected. Under the reform, forest lands have been contracted to rural households, allowing them more independence in exercising their rights and interests in the forest lands, giving them more opportunities to improve family incomes, and creating incentives for them to cultivate, conserve, and manage forests. These lands are home to some 610 million people, many of them poor.

This report responds to a request from the Government of Timor-Leste (GoTL) and Dr. Mari Alkatiri. The request was for World Bank assistance to collaborate on a range of studies relating to opportunities in the special economic zone, including community development, trade and competitiveness, and regional integration. The analysis builds on a situation analysis prepared by the Zona Especial de Economia Social de Mercado (ZEESM) authority in March 2014.

Moldova has experienced rapid economic growth in the past decade, which has been accompanied by reductions in poverty and good performance in shared prosperity. Nonetheless, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and faces challenges in sustaining the progress. The challenges for progress include spatial and cross-group inequalities, particularly because of unequal access to assets, services and economic opportunities.

Despite myriad challenges, Kenya has emerged in recent years as one of Africa’s frontier economies, with headline growth in the most recent decade propelling the country toward middle-income status. Less well understood is how risk dynamics associated with production, markets, and policy adversely impact sector performance, in terms of both influencing ex ante decision making among farmers, traders, and other sector stakeholders and causing ex post losses to crops, livestock, and incomes - destabilizing livelihoods and jeopardizing the country’s food security.

Romania aims to be a country in which all citizens are provided with an equal opportunity toparticipate in society, where their basic needs are met and their differences respected, and whereall people feel valued and can live in dignity.Our society is still far from this ideal. One in every five Romanian people is income poor. Most of the people living in relative poverty in Romania are in persistent poverty, meening that they have been in poverty for at least the last three years.

The performance of the Malian economy is largely dependent on the performance of the agricultural sector. The overall good growth in the Malian economy over the last several years is attributed to the agricultural GDP growth. Since 1995, the economy grew at about 5 percent per year until 2010, but a global recession, the military coup and terrorist activity caused a noticeable slowdown in GDP to about 1.2 percent in 2011-2012. The economic growth has resumed at a slow pace since 2013 and is currently estimated around 4.5 percent for 2014-2015.

The agricultural and food production sector plays a key role in fighting poverty and food insecurity in Moldova, but is facing critical challenges to modernize and integrate into the international market. This paper focuses on smallholder farms, which make up 95 percent of all farms, and explores their potential for growth and the poverty links. Findings reveal that structural change is slow and smallholder farm growth in Moldova is an exception, not the rule.

This South African Agricultural Public Expenditure Review (AgPer) is one of a series of similar studies undertaken in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) of the African Union’s (AU) New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) which encourages governments and development partners (DPs) to target public expenditure on the agriculture sector as the most effective way of stimulating growth.

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, argued that the Doha Round presents an opportunity to rewrite the rules of an unfair trading system that holds back the potential of the poorest people. As important as aid is, as important as debt relief is, the opportunities generated by trade are far more significant. Unless the people of Africa and other poor countries have access to markets to sell their products, they will not escape poverty or be able to give their children a better future.

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, and Ambassador Andrew Young engaged in a roundtable discussion on economic development, moderated by Dean Bahl of Georgia State. Wolfowitz has made Africa the first priority of the Bank. There is really a chance for Africa to turn the corner. It’s going to have to start with the best performers, doing what the so-called Tigers did in East Asia, showing the way for other countries. Young said you can make more money honestly in a growing economy, than you can steal in a dying economy. Wolfowitz gave examples of the turnaround in Africa.

Transport plays a crucial role in connecting people to goods and services and fostering sustainable development. The literature links improved transport infrastructure to economic growth and poverty reduction through five key mechanisms: (1) reducing transport and production costs, (2) creating jobs, (3) expanding productive capacity, (4) improving access to markets and basic services like health and education, and (5) reducing prices of final goods and services.

In his speech, President A. W. Clausen reviews the economic and debt crisis of the last five years and shares his expectations for the next five years. The World Bank will play a vital role in a successful transition from recession to sustained economic growth. The Bank’s operational strategy rests on twin pillars: assisting borrowers in formulating adjustment programs, and helping mobilize external resources to sustain these programs. Heavily indebted middle-income countries need help to grow out of their debts.