In 1989, Albania's rigid political
and socioeconomic structure shattered beyond repair.
Turbulence soon invaded every domain of life. As the state
imploded, so did the state-run economy. This review explores
ongoing consequences of this difficult transformation that
took place since 1989 and of policy initiatives to mitigate
or ameliorate its effects. Albania has been much studied;
the review addresses important information gaps. It

The acute water shortage, and pollution
problems in North China have been exacerbated by the
continued population growth, and the accelerated industrial
expansion over the past half-century, conducive to
increasingly severe freshwater shortages, and catastrophic
consequences for the future. Significant commitments need to
be made to rapidly implement strategies to bring water
resource utilization back into a sustainable balance. The

This report is intended to inform the
discussions of the Sri Lanka Development Forum.
Specifically, section One reviews recent economic
performance, the status of macroeconomic management and the
strategic directions outlined in Mahinda Chintana. It notes
that the recent acceleration in Sri Lanka's growth can
be partly attributed to large aid flows for tsunami
reconstruction and to rapid growth in domestic demand. While

Data from China's national rural
and urban household surveys are used to measure and explain
the welfare impacts of changes in goods and factor prices
attributable to accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The price changes are estimated separately using a
general equilibrium model to capture both direct and
indirect effects of the initial tariff changes. The welfare
impacts are first-order approximations based on a household

The report argues that Nicaragua's
best hope for sustained growth, and poverty reduction,
probably lies with agricultural exports, which have the
potential to gain from opportunities in world markets.
Despite the small share of farmland devoted to the
production of exports (25 percent of harvested area), the
total trade of agricultural goods (including the value of
both imports, and exports) accounted for almost eighty five

More than 90 percent of the population
in the Sahel lives on agriculture. The fact that crop
production has not kept up with population growth during the
last two decades is attributed to land degradation and
productivity decline resulting in increased levels of rural
poverty, food shortages and chronic food insecurity. In
response, since the 1980s, Sahelian farmers have
experimented with various soil and water conservation

Dry tropical woodlands provide around 80
percent of the energy needs of both urban and rural
populations in Africa and are of similar importance on a
more localized scale in other areas. They also provide
livestock fodder, building poles and many of the daily needs
of the rural people living in and around them. Concern about
the degradation and depletion of these woodlands date back a
long time. Large numbers of woodfuel projects were launched

The acute water shortage, and pollution
problems in North China have been exacerbated by the
continued population growth, and the accelerated industrial
expansion over the past half-century, conducive to
increasingly severe freshwater shortages, and catastrophic
consequences for the future. Significant commitments need to
be made to rapidly implement strategies to bring water
resource utilization back into a sustainable balance. The

The note examines the transfer of
knowledge from one generation to the next, and from country
to country, through trading ties, and social interactions
which has raised knowledge sharing activities within Africa,
and elsewhere. Such activities have reinforced the
universality of indigenous knowledge, and, despite
geographical differences, the note looks at the Sodic Lands
Reclamation Project in India, as a good example of

The authors focus on the timing of
marriages of women in rural Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean marriages
are associated with bride welath payments, which are
transfers from (the family of) the groom to the bride's
family. Unmarried daughters could therefore be considered
assets who, at time of need, can be cashed in. The authors
investigate to what extent the timing of a marriage of a
daughter is affected by the economic conditions of the

This study examines how environmental
issues have been addressed in the water sector in Brazil,
within the context of activities of the Federal Government,
generally, and those implemented under Bank sector
operations, in particular. The core focus of the study lies
in the management of water quality, as it affects both the
users of raw water, and those who are primarily concerned
with the disposal of wastewater. The report considers the

The main objective of the study is to
provide the Government of Senegal the analyses and
information to implement policies towards reducing the rural
poor's vulnerability. While during the latest years,
economic growth reduced poverty in the country, this has
been less noticeable among the rural population, who
actually account for 6 million people over a total
population of 10 million. The rural economy remains