This review aims to provide the
Government of Madagascar with a situation assessment and
insights and guidance on how to position the rural and
environment sector as an engine for inclusive and
sustainable economic growth. The review has cast the
analytical net quite widely with the aim to come up with a
comprehensive overview of the sector. In view of the
intimate linkages between rural development and the

This report discusses the affects of
rapid economic growth and increased urbanization on the
environmental quality of the Dominican Republic's
natural resource base (e.g., water resources
management--water quality, quantity and watershed management
and solid waste collection and disposal have become major
environmental concerns). It notes that the lack of
systematic data limits an accurate and detailed assessment

This Policy and Strategy Paper
contributes to an ongoing policy debate-within the Bank but
also with its client governments-about the role of tree
crops in various production systems, and as key commodities
in the trade portfolio of various African nations. It
attempts to answer the following questions: a) What is the
role of tree crops in a rural development strategy focused
on smallholders? B) Under what conditions can small-holder

Farming households that differ in their
ability, or willingness to take on risks are likely to make
different decisions when allocating resources, and effort
among income-producing activities, with consequences for
productivity. The authors measure voluntary, and involuntary
departures from efficiency for rice-producing households in
Bicol, Philippines. They take advantage of a panel of
household observations from 1978, 1983, and 1994. The

What are linkages between rural
infrastructure investments, and household welfare? In the
past, most of the evaluations to assess the effectiveness of
a project, focused on physical outputs, and success of
project implementation. In recent years, more attention has
been given to the impact of investments, particularly its
effect on the poor, both in economic, and non-economic
terms. The author presents findings from a survey of the

This review aims to provide the
Government of Madagascar with a situation assessment and
insights and guidance on how to position the rural and
environment sector as an engine for inclusive and
sustainable economic growth. The review has cast the
analytical net quite widely with the aim to come up with a
comprehensive overview of the sector. In view of the
intimate linkages between rural development and the

This study aims to assess the extent to
which reforms have actually been implemented, the impact
they have had on the rural population, and the challenges
which, as a consequence, need to be addressed by the new
administration. This report is organized as follows: Section
1 describes Mexico's rural economy. It reviews the
broad context of macro, trade, and sector-level reforms, the
strengths and weaknesses of both the productive and

This study identifies several factors
that inhibit efficiency improvements in the farming sector,
both in themselves and through the dynamics of their mutual
interaction. The study observes that incentives faced in the
labor market have important implications for the land
structure and, and in many ways, are at the heart of the
problem of low labor productivity in agriculture. The study
finds that, while rural households are increasingly

The worldwide concern with deforestation
of Brazilian Amazonia is motivated not only by the
irreversible loss of this natural wealth, but also by the
perception that it is a destructive process in which the
social and economic gains are smaller than the environmental
losses. This perception also underlies the diagnosis,
formulation and evaluation of public policies proposed by
government and non-governmental organizations working in the

This handbook intends to document the
essential steps for best practice in the design, and
implementation of resettlement action plans. Given that
involuntary resettlement entails both the physical
displacement of peoples, and the disruption of their
livelihoods, social development specialists at the
International Finance Corporation (IFC), worked together
with project developers to ensure consistent, and pragmatic