Contaminated sites associated with
economic growth and development and increased urbanization
pose a growing public health and environmental problem.
Emissions and discharges, particularly uncontrolled ones,
onto land can pollute the soil and the groundwater beneath,
and can also affect surface water quality and sediments in
nearby rivers and streams. This document is intended to
summarize the rationale and the major policy, regulatory,

Disease risks to humans, animals, and
plants are determined by interconnected environmental
variables that affect incidence, transmission, and outbreak.
Climate change affects many of the environmental variables
that lead to disease. Regardless of the species involved,
the impacts can ultimately affect the health, livelihood,
and economic security of humans. The objective of this World
Bank economic and sector work is to build on scientific and

North Africa's coastal cities, long
benefitting from their ready access to commerce and culture,
also face distinct vulnerabilities due to their location.
Natural hazards and extreme weather patterns impose risks on
coastal areas that inland areas seldom encounter. North
Africa's increasingly populous cities face tangible
risks today, but these will be amplified as the impacts of
global climate change further manifest themselves over the

The policy notes have two objectives:
(i) to present the incoming government team with a menu of
policy options in areas where the World Bank has local and
international experience; and (ii) to provide a framework
for the dialogue between the new governments and the World
Bank on the new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS). As such,
the discussion of these notes with the authorities was also
an opportunity to undertake preliminary consultations on the

This focus note presents key findings of
a 2008 report on implementing Financial Action task Force
(FATF) standards in developing countries The Financial
Sector Reform and Strengthening(FIRST) Initiative funded a
five-country study to analyze the effects of anti-money
laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism
(CFT) regulation on access to finance, especially in
low-income populations. Standard AML and CFT measures

The policy note builds on experience
from both Tanzania and other Sub-Saharan African countries
with similar socioeconomic and environmental contexts. This
policy note puts forward and discusses a range of policy
measures along the entire charcoal value chain in Tanzania.
The development of this policy note benefited from a variety
of recent studies on charcoal utilization and trade
conducted in the country. This policy note is structured as

A Educação Ambiental surge como política pública no
Brasil com o estabelecimento da Política Nacional
de Meio Ambiente – PNMA (Lei nº 6.938, de 1981),
no contexto da Conferência Intergovernamental de Educação Ambiental de Tbilisi (1977), que destacou o processo educativo como dinâmico, integrativo, permanente e transformador, justamente porque possibilita a aquisição de conhecimentos e habilidades de forma participativa. Desde então, outros marcos legais foram estabelecidos.

In Southeast Asia, shifting cultivation is still predominantly practiced by the poorest segment of the population. Around 40 million people living in forest-agricultural lands from the ASEAN countries still depend considerably on shifting cultivation, also referred to as swidden farming and rotational farming, for income and livelihoods. Traditionally considered as a sustainable practice, it is now fast becoming one of the causes of forest degradation.

Uno de los temas de negociación en la Convención Marco de Naciones Unidas sobre Cambio Climático (CMNUCC) que ha atraído una atención preferente de los países de América Latina es el que dice relación con la instalación de un mecanismo, dentro de este convenio internacional, que pudiera movilizar recursos financieros para hacer frente a los procesos de deforestación y degradación que ocurren en los bosques del mundo, particularmente en las naciones en desarrollo, incluyendo actividades de conservación y/o el aumento del stock de carbono de la masa forestal.

Urbanization deserves urgent attention from policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, and social reformers of all stripes. Nothing else will create as many opportunities for social and economic progress. The urbanization project began roughly 1,000 years after the transition from the Pleistocene to the milder and more stable Holocene interglacial. In 2010, the urban population in developing countries stood at 2.5 billion. The developing world can accommodate the urban population growth and declining urban density in many ways.

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities that government officials face in designing coherent 'rules of the game' for achieving urban sustainability during times of growth. Sustainability is judged by three criteria. The first involves elements of day-to-day quality of life, such as having clean air and water and green space. The provision of these public goods has direct effects on the urban public's health and productivity. The second focuses on the city's greenhouse gas emissions.

This document focuses on Harnessing innovations, technologies and management of Africa’s natural resources for transformation: strategic approaches, results, challenges and opportunities.