The world is witnessing a period in its history when the increasing socio-political upheavals are taking the lives of thousands, and destroying the natural wealth of our planet. Poverty and food insecurity are two key forces driving this destruction. These ongoing problems compound those already being posed by an increasing shortage of water, scarcity of productive land, an expanding population, and the threat of global warming.

Los mismos proyectos de desarrollo que se implementan con el objetivo de aliviar la pobreza, encuentran serios obstáculos al enfrentarse a una estructura agraria pulverizada. Esto es lo que sucede, por ejemplo, con los proyectos de riego en el contexto de comunidades altamente minifundizadas.

This final report presents the findings of the two year IIED MMSD [minerals, mining and sustainable development] project sponsored by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It outlines in detail the MMSD multistakeholder process - which included regional patnerships, national projects, global workshops and a range of commissioned research, presentations and bulletins - before presenting a detailed analysis of the sector through the many stages of minerals and metals exploration, production, use, reuse, recycling, and final disposal.

This report is primarily based on a review of research into the role of voluntary activities in the mining sector.

Overview of the relationship between gender, poverty and water. The first section explores how, in every corner of the globe, women play a central role in managing water supply and distribution. It also examines how access to water and sanitation has implications for women’s health and economic activities.

The Gujarat state government has followed a strategy focussed on industrialisation and urbanisation with an open door policy ever since its inception in 1960. Economic reform measures at the centre with an explicit emphasis on trade and industry considerably benefited Gujarat, making its economic performance outstanding. During the process of economic policy reforms and liberalisation in the 1990s, the constraints and regulation on economic activities by the centre in different segments of the economy got relaxed.

The purpose of this guide is to provide support to those who are assessing and designing appropriate responses to food insecurity and rural development situations. This guide aims to show where and why land tenure is an important issue in food security and sustainable rural livelihoods. The main objective of these guidelines is to provide detailed suggestions for consideration of land tenure issues in rural development policy.

This draft paper outlines a strategy for World Bank involvement in land policies. It focuses on property rights to land, land transactions, and socially optimal use of land.

This paper is a synthesis of land issues and land policy constraints in Southern Africa prepared for the World Bank Regional Workshop on Land Issues in Africa and the Middle East held in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2002. It synthesizes key points made in commissioned papers, plenary comments, and facilitated discussions from a special Southern Africa Working Group attended by conference delegates.

Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model this report identifies the links among economic growth, poverty alleviation, and natural resource degradation in Brazil.

This booklet provides information to forestry and land-use audiences, principally in developing countries, who want to find out more about the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and how it affects their activities.

This paper provides the general objectives of the special issue: secondary forests in Asia: their diversity, importance and role in future environmental management. It provides a brief overview of the renewed attention to tropical secondary forests and sketches the history of research on this subject.