Traditional agrosilvopastoral systems have been an important component of the farming systems and livelihoods of thousands of ethnic minority people in the uplands of Mainland Southeast Asia. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and participatory inquiries in nine ethnic minority communities, this study emphasizes the complex articulation of local farmers’ knowledge which has been so far excluded from governmental development and conservation policies in the northern uplands of Thailand and Laos.

The food security of more than 80% of Tanzania’s population and the country’s economic growth depend on family farming on certifi ed village lands. Realizing importance of smallholder’s roles in food security and economic development, the government introduced Village Land Use Planning (VLUP) as a tool towards sustainable family farming in support of green growth – a strategy for sustainably improving productivity within degrading natural resources.

This report summarizes the key themes
and findings from three in-depth case studies of EET
programs in Ghana, Kenya, and Mozambique. Each case study
produced rich information on the programs context, the
landscape of programs in each country, and the qualitative
insights from local EET stakeholders. This report
synthesizes information from across the case studies to
analyze the extent to which these countries programs are

This paper uses resource-based cereal
equivalent measures to explore the evolution of China's
demand and supply for food. Although demand for food
calories is probably close to its peak level in China, the
ongoing dietary shift to animal-based foods, induced by
income growth, is likely to impose considerable pressure on
agricultural resources. Estimating the relationship between
income growth and food demand with data from a wide range of

This paper documents a significant
impact of climate variation on urbanization in Sub-Saharan
Africa, primarily in more arid countries. By lowering farm
incomes, reduced moisture availability encourages migration
to nearby cities, while wetter conditions slow migration.
The paper also provides evidence for rural-urban income
links. In countries with a larger industrial base, reduced
moisture shrinks the agricultural sector and raises total

This report presents the outcome of the
World Bank's analytical and advisory work to assess the
status of water resources development and the key water
issues and challenges facing the country. The Bank has also
reviewed its history of cooperation with the Government of
China in recent decades, and notes the remarkable
achievements China has made in developing the water sector.
The report proposes solutions for tackling the enormous

The Government of Sierra Leone (GosL)
and the World Bank (WB) have agreed upon the design and
implementation of a growth poles program (GPP) in support of
the agenda for prosperity (A4P), the GoSL's third
poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSPIII). With support
from the European Union competitive industries and
innovation practice trust fund, the WB has been undertaking
a series of scoping and diagnostic analyses on the GPP since

In September 2013, the World Bank
launched the second Zambia economic brief, entitled
Zambia's jobs challenge: realities on the ground. This
report presents response of the youth to the facts and
figures shared in the Zambia economic brief. It gives a
broad range of discussion, often provocative, as to how
Zambia's employment challenges can be tackled. It
discusses the issues as diverse as cultural mind-set,

Yet the current situation differs from
2007-2008 in critical respects. First, recent international
price increases are more widespread across agricultural
commodities than in 2008, when price spikes were led by few
grains such as wheat and rice. Second, natural resources are
affecting food production: land and water constraints are
more binding than in the past and weather induced production
shortfalls are more of a factor now than it was 2008.

Disease risks to humans, animals, and
plants are determined by interconnected environmental
variables that affect incidence, transmission, and outbreak.
Climate change affects many of the environmental variables
that lead to disease. Regardless of the species involved,
the impacts can ultimately affect the health, livelihood,
and economic security of humans. The objective of this World
Bank economic and sector work is to build on scientific and

The goal of this report is to take stock
of the existing evidence on the impact of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on poverty, to examine the
current challenges that an extension of CARP would face, and
to suggest directions toward achieving progress on land
reform given the financial and policy constraints faced by
the program. The report starts by examining the nature and
relevance of the challenges that an extension of the land

After a policy-engineered slowdown in
2012, which saw GDP growth decline to 4.8 percent, the
lowest since 2008, Bhutan's economy is expected to
rebound to 6.5 percent this year, supported by hydropower
construction and higher electricity and food production,
following favorable rains. The tight fiscal stance
introduced in 2012 has been maintained to bring spending in
line with lower non-hydro revenues and a slowdown in foreign