The objective of this Systematic Country
Diagnostic (SCD) is to identify the priority constraints
Bolivia faces in sustaining its gains on reducing poverty
and enhancing shared prosperity over the next years. It will
analyze the dynamics behind the progress achieved in the
past decade on inclusive growth, and identify a number of
key constraints for sustaining and consolidating this
progress. The SCD begins, in Chapter two, with a

Tajikistan’s economy exceeded
expectations during the first six months of 2015 despite a
challenging external environment. According to official
data, GDP growth slowed only moderately from 6.7 percent in
the first half of 2014 to 6.4 percent year on year (y/y) in
the first half of 2015, even as remittances from Russia
fell, global demand weakened, and prices for the country’s
key export commodities such as aluminum and cotton dropped

This report presents the water and
climate adaptation plan (WATCAP) developed for the Sava
river basin (SRB) as result of a study undertaken by the
World Bank. The WATCAP is intended to help to bridge the gap
between the climate change predictions for the SRB and the
decision makers in current and planned water management
investment projects that will be affected by changing
climate trends. The purpose of the report is to: (i) assist

Biochar is the carbon-rich organic
matter that remains after heating biomass under the
minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis.
There are a number of reasons why biochar systems may be
particularly relevant in developing-country contexts. This
report offers a review of what is known about opportunities
and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a
state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge regarding

This paper conducts an integrated
assessment of climate change impacts and climate mitigation
on agricultural commodity markets and food availability in
low- and middle-income countries. The analysis uses the
partial equilibrium model GLOBIOM to generate scenarios to
2080. The findings show that climate change effects on the
agricultural sector will increase progressively over the
century. By 2030, the impact of climate change on food

This issue includes the following
headings: Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods in
Bangladesh; Natural Disasters and Household Well-Being; Road
Improvement and Deforestation, Pathways toward Zero-Carbon
Electricity; The Need for Broader Information in Climate
Change Assessment; Effectiveness of Protected Areas; and
Vulnerability to Malnutrition in the West African Sahel

Liberia had an estimated 4.3 million
hectares of forests in 2011, comprising approximately 50
percent of Liberia’s landmass. These forests support very
high levels of biodiversity, provide a wide range of
ecosystem services (for example, bush meat, medicines,
construction materials, and charcoal), and generate
employment and revenue from commercial and chainsaw logging.
Encouraging inward investment while striking a sound balance

This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD)
covers eight small Pacific island countries (PIC8):
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of
Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The
objective of the SCD is to identify the most critical
constraints and opportunities facing the PIC8 to meet the
global goals of ending absolute poverty and boosting shared
prosperity in a sustainable manner. The report is intended

Mauritius has been a success story since
independence, moving from low income to uppermiddle-income
status. Close public-private partnerships facilitated
private sector-led growth in astable macroeconomic and
institutional environment. The government implemented an
activeindustrial policy to support private sector
competitiveness while exploiting global trade nichescreated
by preferential access arrangements. As a result, savings

The lessons learned from the
implications of the global crisis for the Armenian economy
led the Government of Armenia to refine its approach to
economic development policy. The business environment, the
market structure, and the incentive pattern had not fostered
reallocation of resources into more productive areas or the
emergence of internationally competitive products and
services. Despite numerous initiatives and multiple efforts,

This report presents some figures
exploring the way Romanian installations have been operating
under the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
At the request of the Government of Romania, a two-year
Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) Program on climate
change and low-carbon green growth was launched by the World
Bank in July 2013. The RAS project focuses on
operationalizing Romania’s national climate change strategy

A new generation of information and
communication technologies (ICTs) is finding a small
foothold among poor, small-scale farmers in developing
countries. Even so, many barriers still prevent poor rural
people from accessing, using, and benefiting from new ICT
tools and platforms, and those barriers are arguably higher
for rural women. The relationship between gender and
agriculture has been studied intensively over the years, and