The recent surge in food and fuel prices
has prompted countries with high dependence on food imports
to try and lock in future food supplies through direct
investment in agricultural production in other countries.
The price surges also led to a wave of proposals to invest
in biofuels investments in agricultural land. While such
investment can provide large benefits, it also carries
considerable risks both to investors and citizens in the

A watershed is an area that supplies
water by surface or subsurface flow to a drainage system or
body of water. Watersheds vary from a few hectares to
thousands of square kilometers. Watershed management (WSM)
is the integrated use of land, vegetation, and water in a
specific drainage area with the objective of conserving
hydrologic services and reducing or avoiding damage
downstream or underground. The first generation of WSM

Developing countries are most exposed to
the impact of climate change and within these countries, the
poor face the brunt of the burden. Climate change is not a
discrete problem that can be dealt with through isolated
reforms: impacting economic growth, health, and
institutional capacity, it represents a full-frontal
challenge to development. This note traces the
multi-dimensional impacts of climate change, particularly on

Reversing Africa's decades-long
decline in soil productivity levels poses a major challenge,
and one that cannot be addressed without increased use of
appropriate fertilizer nutrients. The 2006 World Bank Africa
Fertilizer Strategy Assessment was undertaken to inform
policy makers, providing them with guidelines on measures to
effectively raise fertilizer use. This Note draws upon the
material prepared for the above fertilizer strategy

Communities supported by World Bank
rural development projects often cite support for the
development of income-generating activities (IGAs) as a
critical need. This note identifies some of the core
problems encountered by Bank task teams that attempt to
respond to this need, outlines the issues involved, and
offers suggestions on some of the points that should be kept
in mind when designing grant programs for this purpose.

The Andean region of Puno, known as the
altiplano, is located at 3,830 meters above sea level. The
terrain is prone to flooding, and thus difficult to
cultivate. In order to deal with this situation, Andean
indigenous populations displaced huge amounts of soil in
order to create raised fields that were better adapted to
agricultural use. Raised fields resolved many of the
problems that affect agriculture at high altitude. The

Drought is a normal part of climate for
virtually every country. This paper notes that in response,
a risk-based management approach is more cost effective
because it emphasizes improved monitoring and early warning
systems; development of strong decision-support systems;
identification and implementation of mitigation actions;
education and training of policy makers, natural resources
managers, and the public; and drought mitigation plans that

With a population of seven million,
Honduras is the second most populous country in Central
America. It is also the second poorest country in the region
with an annual per capita income of less than US$ 1,000. Two
out of every three people in Honduras are poor (per capita
income less than US$ 1.50/day); and three out of every four
poor people are extremely poor (per capita income less than
US$ 1.00/day). Social indicators such as child malnutrition

Soil fertility never used to be a major
constraint due to the age-old practices of recycling
agricultural residues in several ways. However, in these
days of inorganic fertilizers and quick returns, the problem
of soil management and its related constraints are
surfacing. In this context, indigenous practices related to
soil and water conservation which can also be termed
resource-conserving technologies need to be documented in a

The primary objective of this article is
to present nugormesese as an indigenous mechanism of social
capital in Buem-Kator, a farming community on the Ghana side
of the Ghana-Togo border area. The concept of social capital
will be minimally defined to refer to the capability of
social norms and customs to hold members of a group together
by effectively setting and facilitating the terms of their
relationships. Unlike physical capital (machineries, bank

This note deals with the extent to
which, and the means by which, project level distributional
analysis of benefits can be undertaken and how poverty
impact indicators can be developed. Section 1 sets out the
issues associated with using traditional cost benefit
analysis for the appraisal of pro-poor projects. Section 2
discusses the techniques and analysis available to consider
the distributional consequences of a transport change,

This article intends to summarize
findings from a study carried out by the author between the
winter of 1995 and spring of 1996 among the Buems on the
Ghana side of the Ghana-Togo border. The objective in this
paper is to identify and discuss the main philosophical
contexts within which the indigenous Buem conflict
management system operates. The paper also assesses the
relevance of these principles to the management of modern