During the 2007 spring meetings, the
development committee endorsed the World Bank Group's
action plan on the Clean Energy Investment Framework (CEIF).
This progress report is a response to the committee's
request for an update on the implementation of the action
plan for the annual meetings in October 2007. It summarizes
accomplishments in the three areas of the action plan: 1)
energy for growth, with a particular emphasis on access to

Much of the rural poor -- who are
growing in number -- are concentrated in ecologically
fragile and remote areas. The key ecological scarcity
problem facing such poor households is a vicious cycle of
declining livelihoods, increased ecological degradation and
loss of resource commons, and declining ecosystem services
on which the poor depend. In addition, developing economies
with high concentrations of their populations on fragile

By reducing the costs of environmental
protection, technological change is important for promoting
green growth. This entails both the creation of new
technologies and more widespread deployment of existing
green technologies. This paper reviews the literature on
environmentally friendly technological change, with a focus
on lessons relevant to developing countries. It begins with
a discussion of the data available for measuring the various

This study provides estimates of social
and financial costs of environmental damage in India from
three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution;
(ii) inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene;
and (iii) indoor air pollution. It also provides estimates
based on three natural resource damage categories: (i)
agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and
soil erosion; (ii) rangeland degradation; and (iii)

Desertification/land degradation is rarely accounted for as an economic issue, and drought barely accounted for as a disaster. Because desertification, land degradation and drought are slow and silent phenomena, they have a way of creeping up on us and thereby leading us to underestimate their socio-economic impacts.

La désertification et la dégradation des terres sont rarement considérées comme un problème économique et la sécheresse est à peine considérée comme une catastrophe. Du fait que la désertification, la dégradation des terres et la sécheresse sont des phénomènes lents et muets, ils progressent peu à peu, nous conduisant à sous-estimer leurs incidences socio-économiques

La desertificación/degradación de la tierra raramente está considerada como un tema económico, y la sequía rara vez como un desastre. Dado que la desertificación, la degradación de la tierra y la sequía son procesos lentos y sigilosos, su avance es subrepticio, y nos inducen a subestimar sus efectos socioeconómicos.

The year 2011 highlighted ongoing challenges to global food security, from food price volatility, extreme weather shocks, and famine to unrest and conflicts. On the policy front, major devel­opments at the global and national levels both offered grounds for encouragement and pointed to areas where further action is needed.

In 2011 two United Nations bodies adopted ambitious goals for halting land degradation and achieving sustainable development. These goals will be difficult, but not impossible, to meet. The evidence presented here suggests several avenues for achieving a world with no land degradation. First, efforts to promote sustainable land management need to improve local and national governance while also enhancing international cooperation.