Tourism provides a robust stream of
revenues for the country, with benefits that reverberate
widely through the economy. The sector generates the bulk of
exports for the country. As a relatively labor-intensive
sector, tourism serves as a robust source of good quality
jobs in the country, with the potential to alleviate
poverty. This report explores the contribution, the
potential, and the challenges that confront the sector. It

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,

This report presents a brief discussion
of indigenous peoples’ development as evidenced in a select
number of case studies about World Bank financed projects
that had a positive impact on indigenous peoples’
communities. The main objective of this study is to identify
and document good practices and lessons learned that can be
shared with World Bank staff, borrower governments, and
Indigenous Peoples’ organizations to help improve the design

The Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) defines biodiversity as the variability among living
organisms from all sources including, inter alia,
terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the
ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes
diversity within species, between species, and of
ecosystems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and TEEB
(The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) demonstrated

This issue of Handshake focuses on
natural resource PPPs that are making a difference. In
Cartagena, Colombia, a hybrid public-private agency is
profiled that has standardized water service to residents
while restoring the coast, and in the process, contributed
to political stabilization. Around Africas Lake Victoria, an
environmental management initiative with the potential to
reduce the pollution and resource footprint of industrial

This paper presents a somewhat novel
approach to explore the economic contribution of ecosystems.
It develops linked models to capture connections between
resource stocks and flows and the resulting microeconomic
and macroeconomic impacts. A bioeconomic model is developed
that is imbedded into a computable general equilibrium (CGE)
model. Incorporating imperfect regulation, the bioeconomic
model characterizes optimal policies, while the CGE model

This strategic environmental assessment
(SEA) is a technical piece intended to assist in the current
and future identification of priority industrial pollutants
and economic instruments to minimize industrial waste. This
industrial sector SEA is one of six pieces of technical
support envisioned by the Himachal Pradesh (HP) inclusive
green growth (IGG) development policy loan (DPL) to fill
knowledge gaps and strengthen operational success of the

Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) have
been introduced in Romania as a prerequisite for accessing
EU funds under the Regional Operational Program (ROP). The
IDPs designed for growth poles represent a specific category
of strategic planning documents as: 1) they need to be
considered within the frame of the national policy to whose
implementation they contribute; and 2) they represent a
first endeavor to think of development across functional

This study, policy and investment
priorities to reduce environmental degradation of the Lake
Nicaragua watershed, has assessed the sources and the
magnitude of the pressures that threaten Lake Cocibolca. It
was accomplished by applying a hydrological and land use
model to the lake's watershed and by conducting
additional estimates of nutrients generated from wastewater
sources and tilapia farming. The study has confirmed that

Pollution management is at the top of
the development agenda of Bolivia, and this program helps
address it in a cross-sectoral manner. In the context of the
implementation of the program environmental management in
Bolivia: innovations and opportunities which was conducted
from September 2010 until October 2012, the World Bank has
implemented a technical assistance program and supported a
multisectoral analysis in order to help the Bolivian

This report presents a case study on
groundwater governance in Kenya. The objectives of the study
were to: (a) describe groundwater resource and socioeconomic
settings for four selected aquifers; (b) describe governance
arrangements for groundwater management in Kenya; and (c)
identify the relevance of these arrangements for planning
and implementing climate change mitigation measures. The
report provides a comprehensive strategy to develop

Biodiversity, a property of natural
areas, provides a range of benefits to the economy including
bioprospecting rents, knowledge and insurance, ecotourism
fees, and ecosystem services. Many of these values can be
broken out in the System of National Accounts, leading to
better estimates of the economic losses when natural areas
are degraded or destroyed. Developing countries harbor the
great majority of biodiversity, and this diversity provides