This study reports on in-depth case
studies of dzud (extreme cold weather during winter,
subsequent to a very dry summer) impacts and responses.
Focus groups, key informant interviews, a household survey,
and photovoice, were used to document individual and
community experiences with dzud, and identify the factors
that make some households and communities more vulnerable,
and some less vulnerable, to the impacts of dzud, and the

This paper presents a literature review
of issues related to recent subsidies and investments in the
financial sector that have been designed to address the
immediate effects of the crises and to develop the financial
institutions necessary to modernize agriculture. Section two
of the paper discusses the impact of recent food, fuel, and
financial crises on developing countries and the emergency
actions taken by countries and international agencies to

As donors pledge growing support for
protecting and managing forests to address climate change,
the question of how to pay tropical countries to reduce
their emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
assumes greater urgency. Depending on the detailed
implementation of REDD plus at a national and international
level, forest nations may be able to secure funding from a
range of sources, including donors and multilateral funds (a

This paper was based on a desk review of
the literature relating to best practice in public policy
supporting business incubation, supplemented by four
national case studies covering Brazil, Ma-laysia, New
Zealand and South Africa. These country studies were
prepared through engage-ment of stakeholders, site visits
and other sources of primary and secondary information
collection. In the context of the study, we focused on best

This report sets out various options for
regulatory reform of the Indian port sector. The terms of
reference from The World Bank require the Author making
recommendations to the Ministry of Finance (Department of
Economic Affairs) with respect to alternative institutional
and legal options for regulation of the port sector in India
as well as analysing key considerations in the regulation of
this sector and the way they are being addressed in the

This report describes theTransforming
Settlements of the Urban Poor in Uganda. A Secondary Cities
Support Program (TSUPU), is the first national initiative
within the Cities Alliance's global programme, Land,
Services and Citizenship for the Urban Poor (LSC). The first
premise of the Medium Term Strategy is that the Cities
Alliance should prioritise working with those governments
already committed to change and reform over time for three

The objective of the Bhutan Investment
Climate Assessment (ICA) is to evaluate the investment
climate in Bhutan in all its operational dimensions and
promote policies to strengthen the private sector. This ICA
consists of two volumes. Volume 1 summarizes the main
results. Volume 2 presents a more detailed analysis of each
of the three main themes of the report: labor productivity
and skills, access to finance, and business government

The Government of Lao PDR (GoL)
announced that its 7th national socio-economic development
plan, covering 2010 through 2015, will focus on achieving
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and exiting least
developed country status by 2020. To achieve these goals,
one of the priority areas in the 7th National Socio-Economic
Development Plan (NSEDP) is to reduce vulnerability to
shocks by providing and improving social safety nets (SSN).

The World Bank has provided technical
assistance (TA) support to the Government of Samoa to help
identify measures to strengthen agriculture sector
institutions, to improve the performance of selected
commodities - including livestock, fruits and vegetables and
organic products - and to identify strategic agriculture
infrastructure investments. This report provides information
and analysis on opportunities for further development of

The second Climate Investment Funds
(CIF) partnership forum took place at the headquarters of
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines, on
March 18-19, 2010. The objective of the 2010 partnership
forum was to share lessons learned from the CIF design
process and from early implementation of CIF-funded
programs. The forum aimed to provide an open, transparent
and constructive platform for dialogue on knowledge gained

This report is part of a broader global
study, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC),
which has two principal objectives: (a) to develop a global
estimate of adaptation costs for informing international
climate negotiations; and (b) to help decision makers in
developing countries assess the risks posed by climate
change and design national strategies for adapting to it.
The purpose of this study is to assist the Government of

The report is structured as follows.
Section one examines the contribution of the rural economy
to the national economy, the structure of the farm and
non-farm sectors and their relative importance. Section two
describes policies and constraints affecting the wider rural
economy including, reforms in macro-economic management,
recent external influences and financial services before
discussing those which relate specifically to agriculture