This review of the active portfolio of
World Bank projects aimed at improving urban environmental
quality was carried out during 2002-03 in order to assess
the level of commitment of the institution to urban
sustainability. The review focuses on the contributions of
key sectors to urban environmental improvements, in
particular on those belonging to the Infrastructure
Vice-Presidency, and on how projects are contributing to

Economic progress in Macedonia has been
variable and slow during the last 10 years. This slow
progress is attributable to the succession of political and
economic shocks, and the failure to complete economic
reform. Agriculture is an important sector in the Macedonia
economy, with production and processing contributing around
18% of GDP. As a small economy with a structural deficit in
most food commodities, agricultural trade is essential for

Economic development has brought about,
the decline in contribution of the agricultural sector to
the economy of Sri Lanka, and, consistent with this economic
transformation, the structure of employment also changed.
Thus, as labor migrates away from agriculture, the
productivity, for those who remain in the land, needs to
increase significantly. This report examines the constraints
to promoting more rapid agricultural, and rural non-farm

Timor-Leste has achieved enormous
progress in rehabilitating its economy, reconstructing its
infrastructure, reintegrating its refugees and building the
key elements of a sustainable political process in an
environment of internal peace. It now faces many challenges
of nation-building and of overcoming the deprivation
affecting the lives of the poor. This report written in two
volumes lays out the challenge of poverty reduction in

The report identifies the challenges,
and opportunities the forestry sector faces in Turkey, where
twenty five percent of the country's land area is
covered by forests, with significant economic,
environmental, and cultural functions. The challenges
identified in the review include poverty, land tenure, the
need to establish multi-purpose, participatory forest
management planning, and, to control soil erosion in

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) for
FY00, provided support to the Government of Tanzania in the
preparation of its budget, and Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF), and performed as well an external
evaluation of the country's budget performance. The
report contains two volumes, the Main Report (v. I) first
describes the main features of the PER process, to then
present the main findings emerging from a review of fiscal

This staff sector assessment note
accompanies the recently completed national environmental
action plan for sustainable development (NEAP-SD), which, as
an output of the Industrial Pollution Control Project in
Algeria, focused on charting a new course for environmental
management in the country, based on an objective assessment
of past policy, and institutional failures, on a new
consensus on the need for mainstreaming the environment into

The report's objectives are i) to
better understand the nature and magnitude of urban
transport problems, particularly in respect of the poor, and
ii) to articulate a strategy by which the World Bank and
other agencies can assist national and city governments to
address these problems. The first part of the report
considers how urban transport can be used as an instrument
of urban development and poverty reduction. Chapter 2

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) for
FY00, provided support to the Government of Tanzania in the
preparation of its budget, and Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF), and performed as well an external
evaluation of the country's budget performance. The
report contains two volumes, the Main Report (v. I) first
describes the main features of the PER process, to then
present the main findings emerging from a review of fiscal

The review focuses on development and
the environment in Yemen, particularly analyzing the
environment resource base, where renewable fresh water is
scarce, mainly ground water, and its over exploitation is
one of the country's major environmental problems.
Fisheries resources are also important, while oil and gas
are significant resources contributing to some eighty five
percent of Yemen's export revenues. Environmental

The book examines the impacts of medium-
and large-scale mines on local communities, through six case
studies, analyzing both the socioeconomic and cultural
effects, as well as environmental impacts of mining
operations on the communities. From a multidimensional
perspective, studies investigate mining operations costs,
and benefits, with an emphasis on the sustainability of
benefits, and the outcomes of the legal, and consultative

The importance of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) function within public administration
has been magnified by the growing voice of civil society,
which has brought the issues of good governance and more
effective public administration to the fore. The global
trend towards more accountable, responsive and efficient
government has bolstered the appeal for M&E capacity
development, which has been the central focus of efforts to