Although transfer of agricultural land
ownership through land reform had positive impacts on
productivity, investment, and political empowerment in many
cases, institutional arrangements in West Bengal -- which
made tenancy heritable and imposed a prohibition on
subleasing -- imply that early land reform benefits may not
be sustained and gains from this policy remain well below
potential. Data from a listing of 96,000 households in 200

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

Despite several attempts at reform,
immovable property rights in Albania are not adequately
secure and represent an important governance challenge.
Problems have resulted from incomplete first title
registration, the lack of accurate cadastral records, and,
in many cases, the absence of reliable evidence of
ownership. Although Albania has adopted legislation calling
for restitution or compensation for owners whose property

This paper surveys the state of
knowledge about the trade-related environmental consequences
of a country's development strategy along three
channels: (i) direct trade-environment linkages
(overexploitation of natural resources and trade-related
transport costs); (ii) 'virtual trade' in
emissions resulting from production activities; and (iii)
the product mix attributes of a 'green-growth'

The Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has brought to the forefront key challenges: the need to create job opportunities, equal access, a level playing field, transparency and accountability, and a fair and competitive environment. Crony capitalism, the privileged access of certain elites to favorable legal and regulatory treatment, access to markets, and the coincidence of political and economic power, was a major concern contributing to the uprising.

This publication is the result of an initiative to promote an exchange between Brazil and African countries on lessons learned about the role of community forestry as a strategic option to achieve the goals of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). The initiative was supported by the World Bank with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and coordinated by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) with support from the National Forestry Agency International (ONFI).

Africa is currently experiencing the world's fastest urbanization rate at 3.5 percent annually-placing increasing pressure on resource-constrained local governments to maintain and improve livability standards of their cities. But simultaneously, an 'Information and Communication Technologies' (ICT) revolution has swept across the continent-as evidenced by vastly improved telecommunications and internet infrastructure, leapfrogging mobile communications penetration rates, and emergence of a successful homegrown IT applications industry.

Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador have substantial experience with implementing payments for ecosystem services (PES) and conservation incentive programs. Yet, many aspects of their experiences remain poorly understood and will require special attention in any new or expanded use of these types of incentives.

The purpose of this paper is to outline
an approach for Bank engagement in forests, trees, and
woodlands on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa for the coming five
years. The paper takes the framework of the Africa
development strategy, which has two main pillars: supporting
employment and competitiveness, and building resilience and
reducing vulnerability; and one underlying foundation:
strengthening capacity and governance. It is consistent with

Recent global initiatives on debt relief
and development assistance call for increasing aid for trade
to the poorest countries. The paper applies a multi-country
computable general equilibrium model to measure the
effectiveness of alternative aid for trade categories. The
findings show that aid for trade policies expand trade and
alleviate international income inequalities in the recipient
countries, that will benefit mainly from aid for trade

The report provides quantitative and qualitative insights into the performance of different non-permanence approaches for consideration of parties. This note summarizes the results of the analysis presented in the report. Besides the existing mechanism for temporary crediting, the study analyzed a range of alternative approaches to addressing non-permanence, including those considered in prior deliberations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The approaches address the risk of non-permanence in several ways.

Africa's growing demand for food has been met increasingly by imports from the global market. This, coupled with rising global food prices, brings ever-mounting food import bills. In addition, population growth and changing demand patterns will double demands over the next 10 years. Two key issues must be addressed: (a) establishing a consistent and stable policy environment for regional trade in fertilizers; and (b) investing in institutions that reduce the transaction costs of coordination failures.