The Cambodian Land Law (2001) provides
indigenous ethnic minority groups with a right to register
their traditional residential and agricultural lands under
communal title. To date, however, this right has remained
unrealized. While the government has been working on a pilot
registration process in three villages and drafting
implementing regulations under the land law, Cambodia's
once remote highlands have become increasingly exposed to

This report evaluates the legal
framework for rural land rights, the regulations of rural
housing sites, the effects of land requisition on farmers
who lose land, and some selected issues affecting urban land
rights. The focus of this report is how to enhance property
rights in a number of different contexts. The report makes a
series of specific policy recommendations for rural
agricultural land, rural housing land, to protect rights in

The aim of this discussion paper is to
ascertain the government of Lao's (GoL) current
practices in negotiating, awarding, and managing land
concessions; enhance GoL understanding and commitments to
develop national capacities targeting improved land
management, that will generate revenues for GoL, and ensure
sustainable development as an urgent priority; and provide a
basis for dialogue within the government to enable its

This report directly provide
recommendations for improvement of the quality of the
regional master socio-econsomic development plan and
national laud use plans for Vietnam, to the year 2020. It
provides analysis and assessment of the
reviewed-adjusted-ammended socio-economic development plan
for the Mekong Delta, which is aimed at improvement of the
quality and feasibility of regional socio-economic

This report centers on the problems
stemming from land issues in Nicaragua. The report's
main recommendations deal with four priority actions:
institutional reform; adjustments to the legal framework;
systematic regularization of land rights; and, firmly
addressing previous land invasions, and preventing future
invasions. The issue of land distribution, and ownership is
especially critical in Nicaragua; indeed, the country

The major role tropical forests play in
biodiversity and climate change has led the world to search
for effective ways to slow down deforestation. Community
forest management (CFM) is an example of the broader concept
of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). As
part of the decentralization policy in many countries,
mainly in Africa and Asia, CFM was expected to promote: (i)
a more effective stewardship of the resources by involving

The West African coastal zone hosts
critical natural resources and habitats that provide
important ecosystem services. The area’s natural resources
play vital roles in the functioning of the shoreline,
providing natural protection against erosion, pollution, sea
level rise, and extreme weather events. Coastal and marine
ecosystems, including cold-water coral reefs, sea¬grass
meadows, mangrove forests, and coastal wetlands and lagoons,

The world's urban population is
expected to increase by about 2.7 billion by
2050.Virtually all of the increased population
will be in developing countries, leading to massive needs
for new and improved housing and urban infrastructures
(UNDESA 2012). The planning and design of these new
developments will reshape or create new urban landscapes
with significant implications for energy consumption,

Coastal erosion is a naturally occurring
process that is accelerated by human impacts. Artificial
stabilization of the shoreline, the deterioration of natural
formations, the construction of infrastructure, the
extraction of materials, and the proliferation of dams
deprive fragile coastal areas of important sediment
deposits, which leads to erosion. Degradation of the
shoreline reduces the natural protection of coastal areas to

Rapid urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa
places immense pressure on urban services to meet the needs
of the burgeoning urban population. Although several
country- or city-level reports offer insight into the
housing challenges of specific places, little is known about
regional patterns affecting housing markets. This lack of
clear knowledge on the relative importance of the factors
influencing households' housing demand in countries in

The purpose of this paper is to outline
an approach for Bank engagement in forests, trees, and
woodlands on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa for the coming five
years. The paper takes the framework of the Africa
development strategy, which has two main pillars: supporting
employment and competitiveness, and building resilience and
reducing vulnerability; and one underlying foundation:
strengthening capacity and governance. It is consistent with

Building Urban Resilience in East Asia
is a World Bank program that aims to increase the resilience
of cities to disasters and the impacts of climate change by
using a risk-based approach to making public investment
decisions. The objective is to demonstrate a scalable
methodology and practical tools for risk assessment that can
be used for city-level investment decisions. Working closely
with the stakeholders involved in land use planning and