Climate change is already a reality.
This is evidenced by the acceleration of global temperature
increases, the melting of ice and snow covers, and rising
sea levels. Latin America and the Caribbean region (LCR) are
not exempt from these trends, as illustrated by the changes
in precipitation patterns that are already being reported in
the region, as well as by observations of rising
temperatures, the rapid melting of Andean tropical glaciers,

Wastewater use in agriculture is a
growing practice worldwide. Drivers include increasing water
stress, in part due to climate change; increasing
urbanization and growing wastewater flows; and more urban
households engaged in agricultural activities. The problem
with this trend is that in low-income countries, but also in
many middle-income countries, it either involves the direct
use of untreated wastewater or the indirect use of polluted

The little green data book 2010 show
wide disparities across regions. For example, urban air
pollution declined in most countries between 2000 and 2006
(the most recent year for which data is available), with the
greatest progress in low-income and lower middle-income
countries. But concentration levels are still nearly three
times higher in these countries than in high-income
countries. The book also estimates adjusted net savings,

During the past several months, the
Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development
of Colombia has been researching potential indicators that
would be useful to assess and possibly adopt among which
included the ecological footprint. This work was
commissioned in order to provide the Ministry with a deeper
understanding of the ecological footprint and to train a
number of its staff on the scope of the footprint in order

Six emerging economies, Brazil, China,
India, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa, are proactively
seeking to identify opportunities and related financial,
technical, and policy requirements to move towards a low
carbon growth path. With the help of the Energy Sector
Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), the governments of
these countries have initiated country-specific studies to
assess their development goals and priorities, in

The Dominican Republic-Central American
Free Trade Agreement with the United States aims to create a
free trade zone for economic development. The Agreement is
expected to intensify commerce and investment among the
participating countries. This paper analyzes the changes in
the production and trading patterns in 2-digit manufacturing
sectors with the goal of understanding the short-term
environmental implications of the Dominican Republic-Central

This year's edition introduces a
new green national accounting aggregate, adjusted Net
National Income (aNNI), into the set of environment and
development indicators. Using the underlying methodology of
the Adjusted Net Saving (ANS) measure, which has been
published since the first edition in 2000, aNNI provides a
broader measure of national income that accounts for the
depletion of natural resources. The standard measure of

Solid waste management (SWM) is a major
environment and health hazard in the urban areas of
Pakistan. The World Bank is of the opinion that as cities
economies are fast growing, business activity and
consumption patterns are driving up solid waste quantities.
In Pakistan the collection of waste is sporadic and the
disposal is poor. Despite the fact that solid waste services
represent the single largest expenditure item, less than 50

This policy note analyzes the
composition of public expenditures that support devolved
services (including the resource allocation decisions that
support these expenditures), an assessment of the quality of
local service delivery based on available local data, and an
evaluation of the interactions between various public
entities that finance and provide local services. The report
includes reviews of local capital investments, local road

Ningbo serves as the Chinese pilot city
for the World Bank Climate Resilient Cities (CRC) Program.
The CRC program aims to, prepare local governments in the
East Asia region to better understand the concepts and
consequences of climate change; how climate change
consequences contribute to urban vulnerabilities; and what
is being done by city governments in East Asia and around
the world to actively engage in learning capacity building,

Since the cessation of conflict,
Mozambique has achieved impressive economic growth and has
become an example of successful post conflict reconstruction
and development, moving from a one-party state to a
multiparty democracy and from a socialist, command economy
to a market-based economy. Mozambique’s development has been
strongly supported by foreign aid, and since 2001 average
annual disbursements of official development assistance