Urbanization is undoubtedly a key driver
of development -- cities provide the national platform for
prosperity, job creation, and poverty reduction. But
urbanization also poses enormous challenges that one is
familiar with: congestion, air pollution, social divisions,
crime, the breakdown of public services and infrastructure,
and the slums that one billion urban resident's call
home. Urbanization is perhaps the single most important

This paper presents a somewhat novel
approach to explore the economic contribution of ecosystems.
It develops linked models to capture connections between
resource stocks and flows and the resulting microeconomic
and macroeconomic impacts. A bioeconomic model is developed
that is imbedded into a computable general equilibrium (CGE)
model. Incorporating imperfect regulation, the bioeconomic
model characterizes optimal policies, while the CGE model

Improving access to affordable and
reliable energy services for cooking is essential for
developing countries in reducing adverse human health and
environmental impacts hitherto caused by burning of
traditional biomass. This paper reviews empirical studies
that analyze choices of fuel and adoption of improved stoves
for cooking in countries where biomass is still the
predominant cooking fuel. The review highlights the wide

Investment decision making is already
difficult for any diverse group of actors with different
priorities and views. But the presence of deep uncertainties
linked to climate change and other future conditions further
challenges decision making by questioning the robustness of
all purportedly optimal solutions. While decision makers can
continue to use the decision metrics they have used in the
past (such as net present value), alternative methodologies

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 evaluates the requirements
for an assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture
to guide policy makers on investment priorities and phasing.
Because agriculture is vital for national food security and
is a strong contributor to Brazil's GDP growth, there
is growing concern that Brazilian agriculture is
increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change.
To meet national development, food security, climate

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 Greater Cairo Metropolitan Area
(GCMA), with more than 19 million inhabitants, is host to
more than one-fifth of Egypt's population. The GCMA is
also an important contributor to the Egyptian economy in
terms of GDP and jobs. The population of the GCMA is
expected to further increase to 24 million by 2027, and
correspondingly its importance to the economy will also
increase. Traffic congestion is a serious problem in the

This report provides an analysis of the
spatial planning system in Romania and suggests ways in
which it can be improved. Romania has recently experienced a
proliferation of plans, strategies, and policies developed
at all administrative levels. Adding to this, the analysis
of territorial and urban development in Romania reveals
important dynamics and challenges, such as uncontrolled
expansion of built perimeters, increased pressures on

Cities are hubs of global change, and
their global influence continues to grow. Cities contribute
significantly to global challenges like climate change and
biodiversity loss. At the same time, cities experience
impacts like climate change first and with greatest
intensity. Further, cities are becoming leaders worldwide in
efforts to address global environmental and social problems.
Some of the most important smaller-scale agreements and

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.

This report analyses the experiences and
lessons from three World Bank-Supported watershed
development projects in the Indian states of Karnataka,
Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.5 The primary reason for
the analysis was to guide the development and execution of
new watershed programs in India, including new
Bank-supported state-level operations in Uttarakhand and
Karnataka, and a proposed national project now under