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 book provides a detailed and
comprehensive evaluation of water reform and water sector
performance from the perspectives of institutional economics
and political economy. It integrates institutional theory
with resource economics, and set against an exhaustive
review of the theoretical and empirical literature, the
authors develop an alternative methodology to quantitatively
assess the performance of institutions in the context of

This review systematically assesses the
focus of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on
environment-related issues. A total of 40 Interim and full
PRSPs from countries in Africa, Latin America and Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, Central and East Asia are reviewed.
Four major questions: are posed: (i) What issues of
environmental concerns and opportunities are identified in
the PRSPs?; (ii) To what extent are poverty-environment

This study was designed to go below the
radar of Zambia's macroeconomic developments to examine
trends, constraints, and opportunities in specific economic
subsectors. It sought to build upon existing and planned
analyses within the country in order to better understand:
1) the underlying bases for competitive advantage and
disadvantage in the evolving Zambian economy; 2) the likely
sustainability of those patterns of economic diversification

In conformity with its objective of
functioning as a local Government, Kathmandu Metropolitan
City (KMC) sought the assistance of the World Bank for the
preparation of a City Development Strategy (CDS) for
Kathmandu. The various sectoral as well as integrated
strategies presented in this document seem to be an
overwhelming demand on KMC with its limited manpower and
money. However, a CDS is essential if KMC is to focus its

This paper disaggregates the term
"biodiversity" into components (landscapes,
ecosystems, communities, species/populations, and genes) and
attributes (structure, composition, and function). It then
disaggrgates "logging" by detailing the vast range
of activities subsumed under the term including variation of
logging intensities, logging methods, collateral damage, and
silvicultural approaches. Using the richness present in both

The Center for International Forestry
Research (CIFOR) receives its major funding from
governments, international development organizations,
private foundations and regional organizations. This study
analyzed journal citations of CIFOR publications, using the
International Statistical Institute (ISI) web of Science
database. CIFOR research and publications have an impact on
the scientific community? One way to answer this question is

This environment strategy outlines the
current thinking in the World Bank Group Africa Region about
priorities and actions for the institution in the
environmental arena. The Africa Region Environment Strategy
(ARES) outlines the Bank's commitment to help its
clients achieve sustainable poverty reduction through better
environmental management. It identifies the most urgent
issues at the interface of environment and poverty and

In July 2001, the extractive industries
review (EIR) was initiated with the appointment of Dr. Emil
Salim, former Minister of the Environment for Indonesia, as
eminent person to the review. The EIR was designed to engage
all stakeholders-governments, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), indigenous peoples' organizations, affected
communities and community-based organizations, labor unions,
industry, academia, international organizations, and the

This study presents a detailed analysis
of the system of environmental expenditure in Ukraine with a
particular focus on public expenditures. It examines the
extent to which the present system meets national
environmental objectives and identifies ways in which it can
be improved and made more cost-effective. Since
environmental spending is closely tied to sources of
environmental revenues (partly a result of earmarking and

Infrastructure plays a crucial role in
supporting Cambodia's growth and development. Improving
access to efficient and affordable water, electricity,
transport, and telecommunications services has a major
impact on the living standards of individual households.
This Country Framework Report (CFR) is one of a series of
country reviews aimed at improving the environment for the
private sector involvement in infrastructure. This book

Structural reforms are often designed to
change the prices of key goods and services. Since the
overall intention of such reforms is the reduction of
poverty, it is important to understand how the resulting
price changes affect the poor. However, organizations
seeking to provide timely advice to policymakers in
developing countries often do not have the data and
resources needed to undertake the most sophisticated