This report seeks to present micro
evidence on how environmental changes affect poor
households. It focuses primarily on environmental resources
that are outside the private sphere, particularly commonly
held and managed resources such as forests, fisheries, and
wildlife. The objectives for this volume are three-fold. It
is first interested in using an empirical data-driven
approach to examine the dependence of the poor on natural

This paper uses a computable general
equilibrium model to assess the welfare impact of commodity
price inflation in Tanzania and possible tax policy
responses in the short, medium, and long term. The results
suggest that global commodity inflation since 2006 may have
had a significantly negative impact on all Tanzanian
households. Most of the negative impact comes from the rise
in the price of oil. In contrast, food price spikes are

China has been the most rapidly growing
economy in the world over the past 25 years. This growth has
fueled a remarkable increase in per capita income and a
decline in the poverty rate from 64 percent at the beginning
of reform to 10 percent in 2004. At the same time, however,
different kinds of disparities have increased. Income
inequality has risen, propelled by the rural-urban income
gap and by the growing disparity between highly educated

The detailed analysis of current
cropping areas in Africa presented here reveals significant
climate sensitivities of cropland density and distribution
across a variety of agro-ecosystems. Based on empirical
climate-cropland relationships, cropland density responds
positively to increases in precipitation in semi-arid and
arid zones of the sub-tropics and warmer temperatures in
higher elevations. As a result, marginal increases in

This study examines the impact of
climate change on cropland in Africa. It is based on a
survey of more than 9,000 farmers in 11 countries: Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger,
Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The study uses
a Ricardian cross-sectional approach in which net revenue is
regressed on climate, water flow, soil, and economic
variables. The results show that net revenues fall as

This report presents policy, market, and
agriculture transition in the Northern Uplands of Lao
People's Democratic Republic aims to contribute to such
a dialogue by providing: (a) a policy-relevant typology of
the structural characteristics and transition patterns of
the principal small-holder agriculture systems in the
Northern Uplands; and (b) recommendations to strengthen
Government's facilitation of a more sustainable and

It is now widely recognized that
low-income countries in tropical and sub-tropical regions
will be disproportionally affected by the adverse impacts of
climate change. The combination of already fragile
environments, dominance of climate-sensitive sectors in
economic activity, and low autonomous adaptive capacity in
these regions implies a high vulnerability to the harmful
effects of global warming on agricultural production and

Nicaragua is a small, open economy that
is vulnerable to external and natural shocks. With an
estimated Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of US$1000
in 2006, and a total population of 5.2 million, it is one of
the poorest countries in Latin America. Forty six percent of
the population lived below the poverty line in 2005 (while
15 percent lived in extreme poverty), and the incidence of
poverty is more than twice as high in rural areas (68

Mozambique's continuous efforts to
sustain economic growth and reduce poverty face a number of
constraints including its economic and political history,
and its geography and climatic conditions. It is widely
accepted that future economic growth of the country will
continue to rely on its natural resources base and,
specifically, on sustainable use of land and water
resources. Mozambique has plentiful land and water resources

Indigenous peoples make up less than 5
percent of the world's population, yet comprise 15
percent of the world's poor. The indigenous population
of Latin America is estimated at 28 million. Despite
significant changes in poverty overall, the proportion of
indigenous peoples in the region living in poverty - at
almost 80 percent - did not change much from the early 1990s
to the early 2000s. Economic Opportunities for Indigenous

This report on a key to poverty
reduction in Peru identifies a number of cost-effective
policy interventions that could be adopted in the short and
medium term to support sustainable development goals as the
Government of Peru attempts to combat the problems of
inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene; urban air
pollution; natural disasters; lead exposure; indoor air
pollution; land degradation; deforestation; and inadequate

This report, which has been prepared by
the World Bank in cooperation with the National Statistical
Committee, provides an assessment of poverty in the Kyrgyz
Republic using the most recent data available. The objective
of this report is to understand to what extent economic
growth has reduced poverty and led to improved living
conditions for the population during 2000-2005. The report
also attempts to answer three questions about the Kyrgyz