The question of whether biofuels help
mitigate climate change has attracted much debate in the
literature. Using a global computable general equilibrium
model that explicitly represents land-use change impacts due
to the expansion of biofuels, this study attempts to shed
some light on this question. The study shows that if biofuel
mandates and targets currently announced by more than 40
countries around the world are implemented by 2020 using

This study analyzes the long-term
impacts of large-scale expansion of biofuels on land-use
change, food supply and prices, and the overall economy in
various countries or regions using a global computable
general equilibrium model, augmented by a land-use module
and detailed representation of biofuel sectors. The study
finds that an expansion of global biofuel production to meet
currently articulated or even higher national targets in

This report analyzes land issues in Sri
Lanka, which cannot be seen in isolation from the ethnic and
political conflict and, at the same time, even though land
conflict is often linked with the ethnic conflict in Sri
Lanka, a large number of land conflicts in the North and
East can be resolved prior to a full and national political
solution to the ethnic situation. This report analyzes
constraints and opportunities for an effective governance

The city of Kampala has undergone a
period of rapid urbanization that has contributed to the
degradation of the city’s natural environment. The urban
environmental profile for Kampala has been prepared as the
first component of the assignment promoting green urban
development in Africa: enhancing the relationship between
urbanization, environmental assets, and ecosystem services,
a project being conducted under the leadership of the World

Adaptation to climate change includes
addressing sea level rise and increased storm surges in many
coastal areas. Mangroves can substantially reduce the
vulnerability of the adjacent coastal land from inundation
and erosion. However, climate change poses a large threat to
mangroves. This paper quantifies the coastal protection
provided by mangroves for 42 developing countries in the
current climate, and a future climate change scenario with a

Liberia had an estimated 4.3 million
hectares of forests in 2011, comprising approximately 50
percent of Liberia’s landmass. These forests support very
high levels of biodiversity, provide a wide range of
ecosystem services (for example, bush meat, medicines,
construction materials, and charcoal), and generate
employment and revenue from commercial and chainsaw logging.
Encouraging inward investment while striking a sound balance

A rainforest can be modeled as a dynamic
asset subject to various risks, including risk of fire. Any
small part of the forest can be in one of two states: either
untouched by forest fire, or already damaged by fire, in
which case there is both a local forest loss and increased
dryness over a broader area. In this paper, two Bellman
equations are constructed, one for unharmed forest and a
second for already burnt forest. The analysis solves the two

Climate change is a core development
challenge in Tanzania, and the potential costs of inaction
are significant. Current climate variability (including
extreme events such as droughts and floods), already leads
to major economic costs in mainland Tanzania and in
Zanzibar. Individual annual events have economic costs in
excess of 1 percent of GDP, and occur regularly, reducing
long-term growth and affecting millions of people and

This paper identifies the low-elevation
coastal zone populations and developing regions most
vulnerable to sea-level rise and other coastal hazards, such
as storm surges, coastal erosion, and salt-water intrusion.
The focus is on the rural poor in the low-elevation coastal
zone, as their economic livelihoods are especially
endangered directly by coastal hazards and indirectly
through the impacts of climate change on key coastal and

Comprehensive details about Mizoram state and its environmental and
social sensitivities. Mizoram Investment Plan under NERPSIP (GoI & World Bank Funding).

This paper informs the national and
international policy discussions related to the adoption of
the United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and
Forest Degradation Programme. Effective program instruments
must carefully consider incentives, opportunity costs, and
community interactions. A choice experiment survey was
applied to rural Ethiopian communities to understand
respondents’ preferences toward the institutional structure

The main objective of this technical assistance paper is to provide
recommendations to the Royal Government of Bhutan for
modernizing its hydrometeorological services,
including capacity strengthening for disasterrelated
early warning systems (EWSs). The
DHMS does not have a national hydromet
services policy but is in the process of preparing
a strategic document to guide its modernization
and institutional reform process. This technical assistance paper contributes to this process and proposes a road