Sustainable forest management (SFM)
certification emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as a mechanism
to promote responsible forest use and as an alternative to
boycotts of forest products amid growing concerns about
forest degradation and destruction. Since then, forest
certification has evolved into a multifaceted market-based
mechanism to promote compliance with sets of ecological,
social, and economic criteria to enhance sustainability.

The Latin America and Caribbean Region
has been at the forefront of global biodiversity
conservation, dedicating 20 percent of its land to protected
areas compared to 13 percent in the rest of the developing
world. This progress has stretched available budgets for
conservation with estimates indicating that a twofold
increase would be necessary to achieve optimal management of
existing protected areas based on 2008 data. Recognizing the

One objective of this paper is to
provide information and tools for policy makers and
development partners engaged in developing arrangements for
transferring REDD plus benefits. This paper is also intended
to help key stakeholders design a mechanism that is
appropriate for a country's context. Another objective
is to provide information and tools for assessing and
structuring benefit sharing mechanisms at national and sub

A reform in Burundi's coffee sector
is currently under way. Even though the reform was launched
by the government of Burundi in 1992, it was only in 2008
that implementation fully started. The purpose of the reform
is to restructure the coffee sector, focusing on the
following processes: privatization of the industrial units
(especially washing and hulling units), liberalization of
government control among the production and export agencies,

This paper includes the following
headings: education public, private, and partnerships, or
PPPs come of age; vouching for the future; mobile learning
dials up success; U.S. Secretary of Education by Arne
Duncan; perspective; compass; and legalese.

The objective of the Functional Review
of the Environment, Water and Forestry sector (FR-EWF) is to
help the Government of Romania (GoR) develop an action plan
for implementation over the short- and medium-term to
strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the sector
administration, and provide input to the Government National
Reform Program (NRP 2011- 2013) and beyond, especially in
relation to those functions that support Romania's

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 Country Environmental Analysis
(CEA) has been developed by the World Bank in cooperation
with the Government of Jordan. It aims to integrate
environment into development and poverty reduction
priorities. The CEA will be a vital instrument for designing
Jordans future policies, by integrating the economic policy
tools in our decision making processes. As the latest
economic crises and its implications have shown, an economic

The West African Mineral Sector
Strategic Assessment (WAMSSA) is a strategic environmental
and social assessment intended to identify policy,
institutional, and regulatory adjustments required to
integrate environmental and social considerations into
mineral sector development in Africa. The study focused on
three Mano River Union (MRU) countries, Guinea, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone, all categorized as mineral-rich countries

The study presents an analysis of the
situation of the Pygmies in Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), including their history and relations with the other,
mainly Bantu, populations. It provides a brief description
of their lifestyle, their socioeconomic status, and a
participatory diagnosis of the key factors that lead to
their current impoverishment and marginalization. The study
discusses the rationale for protecting Pygmy culture and

The country water resources assistance
strategy for Zambia provides an analysis of the role of
water in the economy and identifies the specific challenges,
development opportunities and policies which inform an
agreed framework for priority areas of assistance. Zambia
lies entirely within the catchments of the Zambezi and Congo
rivers and all internal runoff is shared by downstream and
parallel riparian countries. This strategic geographic

The Country Environmental Analysis,
presents a review of environmental priorities, public
environmental expenditures and the supporting institutional
framework and makes recommendations to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of public environmental
expenditure in Azerbaijan. The focus is to identify areas
for improvement and changes to ensure that the process of
establishing environment-related priorities is sufficiently