This note builds on the proactive
measures taken by the Government of China as announced in:
(i) the Decree of the state council of the people's
Republic of China, issued on 9 June 2008, providing
regulations on post-Wenchuan earthquake reconstruction; (ii)
the Directive on Counterpart Assistance (Directive) of 11
June 2008; and (iii) the land policies to support the
reconstruction of Wenchuan (land policies) of 11 June 2008

This paper focuses on the experience of
the national-level adaptation planning efforts and the
lessons that can be derived for more effective adaptation
from an examination of local governance of development and
natural resources. After examining national level adaptation
plans, particularly the NAPAs (National Adaptation
Programmes of Action), the paper analyzes the range of
institutional instruments and relationships visible in

The emergence of city-regions in England
offers some useful lessons for the World Bank partners in
developing countries. The city-region approach, as applied
in England touches upon issues of decentralization,
intergovernmental fiscal relations, governance, and the need
to realign outdated administrative arrangements with a
metropolitan area's economic footprint, among other
highly relevant topics for rapidly urbanizing cities in

Housing is one of the most important
sectors of the economy -- in developing countries as in
richer ones -- with large positive externalities in terms of
economic growth, public health and societal stability. It is
the primary form of asset accumulation for the poor -- often
representing more than 50 percent of the assets of
households. However, housing systems in developing countries
are dominated by badly designed, poorly targeted, and

The Bank has been involved in a number
of urban upgrading projects over the last three decades,
which have demonstrated that quality of life in slums can be
improved through realistic policies, investments and
implementation processes. This note reviews community-driven
development (CDD) in World Bank-assisted urban upgrading
projects. The note identifies how CDD approaches have been
applied in such projects. The review focuses on a small

The note looks at poverty in Ecuador,
assessing macroeconomic developments through its policies to
maintain stability with fiscal discipline, and increase
economic productivity and competitiveness, in particular,
the 1998/99 crisis, the 2000 dollarization and their effect
on poverty. From 1990 to 2001, national consumption-based
poverty rose from 40 to 45 percent, and the number of poor
people increased from 3.5 to 5.2 million. Poverty increased

The proliferation of urban slums is due
in large part to obsolete regulatory, legal and
institutional frameworks at the local level governing land
use, development standards, land registration and titling.
These regulations are often exclusionary, insisting on
development norms and standards that are outside the realm
of the poor to pay and subdivision procedures are often over
burdensome, leading to informal land subdivision, thus

This note puts figures behind the notion
of poverty resulting from war. Using simulation models, the
author estimates the economic and social costs of the El
Salvadorian conflict. The calculations suggest that had
conflict been avoided, income per capita would have been
almost the double of its actual value in 2002, the poverty
rate lower by 15 percentage points, and Millenium
Development Goals (MDG) indicators substantially better.

Environmental degradation primarily
affects the poor, both in rural and urban areas. Reversing
the downward spiral of this degradation is essential to any
strategy for reducing poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. This
study outlines the World Bank's strategy for improving
its assistance to SSA countries as they move toward
environmentally sustainable development (ESD). It assesses
the environmental situation and long-term trends in Africa,

This article addresses the problems of
governance in municipalities in Africa. The concern has been
to adapt traditional systems of governance to the needs of
modern urban management. This article investigates the need
for a new analysis of the twin problems of urban land and
urban management in sub-Saharan Africa. This need is based
on the apparent paradox between the dynamic, city-creating
activities of civil societies in all of these countries, and

Unplanned and unregulated urban
development is not unique to Swaziland, but addressing the
issue through direct consultations with beneficiaries is an
important improvement toward resolving this persistent
problem. The Swaziland Urban Development Project includes
standard infrastructure work, such as increasing urban
roads, rehabilitating and expanding water and sewage
services, and developing a solid waste facility However, in

Nigeria's urban infrastructure is
crumbling. Water supply, sewerage, sanitation, drainage,
roads, electricity, and waste disposal-all suffer from years
of serious neglect. Periodic and routine maintenance, by far
the most cost-effective infrastructure spending, is almost
zero. It has become the norm in Nigeria to wait for a
capital infusion to rehabilitate, replacing instead of
maintaining the infrastructure. But declining financial