Nearly half the world's population and about 81 percent of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) households rely on wood-based biomass energy (fuel wood and charcoal) for cooking. This degree of reliance is far greater than in any other region. While the use of biomass fuels in China, India and much of the developing world has peaked or will do so in the near future, SSA's consumption will either remain at very high levels or even grow over the next few decades.

This is the address to the Board of Governors, delivered by Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, in Hong Kong, China, on September 23, 1997. This year's core theme is the challenge of inclusion, bringing people into society who have never been part of it before, the main reason why the World Bank Group exists. On reviewing the state of development circa 1997: despite improved social indicators, the rapid rise in life expectancy levels, and freedom ascending, much still needs to be improved.

Pacific island countries continue to be among the most vulnerable in the world: they combine high exposure to frequent and damaging natural hazards with low capacity to manage the resulting risks. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by poorly planned socioeconomic development, which has increased exposure and disaster losses, and by climate change, which has increased the magnitude of cyclones, droughts, and flooding. Currently, inefficient management of risks negates development gains and incurs large costs for national and local governments.

Vietnam's rapid and sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in the last two decades benefitted from the policy and legal reforms embodied in the Land Laws of 1987, 1993 and 2003 and subsequent related legal acts. This note outlines reforms related to four main themes. The first relates to the needed reform for agriculture land use to create opportunity to enhance effectiveness of land use as well as to secure farmers' rights in land use. Prolonging the duration of agricultural land tenure would give land users greater incentives to invest and care for the land.

Global agriculture will face multiple challenges over the coming decades. It must produce more food to feed an increasingly affluent and growing world population that will demand a more diverse diet, contribute to overall development and poverty alleviation in many developing countries, confront increased competition for alternative uses of finite land and water resources, adapt to climate change, and contribute to preserving biodiversity and restoring fragile ecosystems.

Dzud is the Mongolian term for a winter weather disaster in which deep snow, severe cold, or other conditions render forage unavailable or inaccessible and lead to high livestock mortality. Dzud is a regular occurrence in Mongolia, and plays an important role in regulating livestock populations. However, dzud, especially when combined with other environmental or socio-economic stresses and changes, can have a significant impact on household well-being as well as local and national economies.

The authorities' determined implementation of stabilization measures over the past year has helped to avert a macroeconomic crisis. If the deterioration of the macroeconomic environment in 2010-11 was rapid, the improvement in the situation in the past twelve months has been equally swift. Regaining macroeconomic stability has been costly, but not stabilizing the economy would have led to even bigger losses.

This toolkit is the first of its kind to provide information on promoting and protecting the nutritional status of mothers and children in crises and emergencies. Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world to major crises and emergencies. This toolkit aims to improve the resilience of the most vulnerable in times of intensified nutritional needs, most notably pregnant and lactating mothers as well as children less than two years of age.

Infrastructure can be an agent of change in addressing the most systemic development challenges of today s world from social stability to rapid urbanization, climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural disasters, and global issues such as food and energy security. Transformation through Infrastructure the updated World Bank Group Infrastructure Strategy FY12-15 - lays out the framework for transforming the Bank Group s engagement in infrastructure.

The global financial roller coaster, with the Euro zone as its lead car, has hit economic prospects across the globe. The South African economy, with its close links to the world economy, has suffered, too, resulting in weakened growth prospects, lower fiscal revenues, lower and more volatile valuation of the rand, and dampened external financing. This further compounds the policy challenges facing the authorities, on top of their preoccupation with unyielding unemployment, which requires higher and more inclusive economic growth.

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa is on the rise and Ethiopia is at the forefront of this trend. On request of the Government, the World Bank surveyed 69 Chinese enterprises doing business in Ethiopia with a 95-question survey in May/June 2012. The survey covered various aspects of the foreign direct investment climate in Ethiopia, including infrastructure, sales and supplies, land, crime, competition, finance, human resources, and questions about general opportunities and constraints for doing business in Ethiopia.

This paper describes forced displacement in the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA) and the vulnerabilities associated with being a displaced person. It analyzes the development challenges of forced displacement particularly protracted displacement in the region and the prospects for durable solutions. Displaced persons face challenges related to recovery of or access to housing and land, employment and livelihoods, access to services and public goods including health, education, and infrastructure, and accountable and responsive governance.