Namibia is a large country in Southern
Africa that borders the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola
to the north and South Africa to the south. With a surface
area of 824,290 square kilometers, it is similar in size to
Mozambique and about half the size of the U.S. state of
Alaska. Namibia has a small population of approximately 2.1
million people. It is also one of the least densely
populated countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average

The commission on growth and development
was established in April 2006. It felt that the benefits of
growth were not fully appreciated, but also recognized that
the causes of growth were not fully understood. Growth is
often overlooked and underrated as an instrument for
tackling the world's most pressing problems, such as
poverty, illiteracy, income inequality, unemployment, and
pollution. At the same time, grasp of the sources of growth

This mineral sector review examines the
mineral sector as a potential source of growth and
development in Malawi. In seeking the World Bank's
assistance the Government of Malawi was particularly
interested in confirming the potential for mineral sector
growth, identifying which constraints to the development of
the sector need to be addressed by the Government and
suggesting strategies to foster a positive contribution by

This study examines agricultural and
rural development (ARD) public expenditures in Mexico. The
study is based on federal public expenditures. The study is
structured in six parts as follows: the first part presents
the Mexican ARD context in terms of policy and performance.
The second part dissects the ARD public budget, classifying
expenditure programs in various ways so as to provide an
overview of the scope and composition of ARD spending. The

This strategy for making development
Climate-Resilient in Sub-Saharan Africa is the World
Bank's operational response to climate variability and
change on the continent. Grounded in a climate risk review
of the Africa Region's sustainable development
portfolio, it adds the climate change dimension to the
Region's development strategy and business plan, the
Africa Action Plan (AAP, 2009-2012), and will be an integral

This paper explains how climate change
may increase future migration, and which risks are
associated with such migration. It also examines how some of
this migration may enhance the capacity of communities to
adapt to climate change. Climate change is likely to result
in some increase above baseline rates of migration in the
next 40 years. Most of this migration will occur within
developing countries. There is little reason to think that

This study reviews the prospects of wind
power at the global level. Existing studies indicate that
the earth's wind energy supply potential significantly
exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 1 percent of the
global electricity demand is currently derived from wind
power despite 40 percent annual growth in wind generating
capacity over the past 25 years. More than 98 percent of
total current wind power capacity is installed in the

This paper provides empirical estimates
of the impacts of natural disasters on different forms of
capital (with a focus on human and intangible capital and
natural capital), and on real gross domestic product per
capita. The types of disaster considered are droughts,
earthquakes, floods, and storms and their impacts are
measured in terms of the number of people affected or people
affected per capita. The authors find statistically

This paper examines the impacts of
natural disasters on schooling investments with special
focus on the roles of ex-ante actions and ex-post responses
using panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi. The
importance of ex-ante actions depends on disaster risks and
the likelihood of public assistance, which potentially
creates substitution between the two actions. The findings
show that higher future probabilities of disasters increase

Mitigation investments in long-lived
capital stock (LLKS) differ from other types of mitigation
investments in that, once established, LLKS can lock-in a
stream of emissions for extended periods of time. Moreover,
historical examples from industrial countries suggest that
investments in LLKS projects or networks tend to be lumpy,
and tend to generate significant indirect and induced
emissions besides direct emissions. Looking forward,

Climate models generally indicate that
climate volatility may rise in the future, severely
affecting agricultural productivity through greater
frequency of yield-diminishing climate extremes, such as
droughts. For Tanzania, where agricultural production is
sensitive to climate, changes in climate volatility could
have significant implications for poverty. This study
assesses the vulnerability of Tanzania s population to

This report reviews China's water
scarcity situation, assesses the policy and institutional
requirements for addressing it, and recommends key areas for
strengthening and reform. It is a synthesis of the main
findings and recommendations from analytical work and case
studies prepared under the World Bank Analytical and
Advisory Assistance (AAA) program entitled 'Addressing
China's Water Scarcity: from Analysis to Action.'