Gender-poverty-environment links: a
focus on the links between gender disparity, poverty and
environmental degradation is increasingly recognized as a
key strategy for improving the lives of poor women and men.
Acknowledging the ways in which relationships between the
environment, society and the economy are gendered opens
space for new approaches to poverty reduction, environmental
conservation and gender equality. The Social Development

Natural regeneration is sometimes
sufficient for forests and other plant communities to
recover after a disturbance. In the case of severe
disturbances, however, this is unlikely to be true. Natural
regeneration may occur in such cases but the rate is likely
to be very slow. Hence, some form of intervention is needed.
This note is aimed at highlighting some of the factors that
might be needed in the initial stages of restoring forests

Under the Vanuatu constitution, the
'rules of custom shall form the basis of ownership and
use of land.' Implementing this principle after decades
of land alienation, however, has proved to be challenging.
While the leasing arrangement was originally intended to
restore investor confidence and maintain agricultural
development in newly independent Vanuatu, it soon evolved
into the method of acquiring new leases over previously

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Costa Rica, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like
most countries in Latin America, Costa Rica has submitted
one national communication to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a second one
under preparation. Land use change and forestry are the

The effects of policy interventions on
women are of increasing concern to policy makers in all
fields, and trade is no exception. This note reviews recent
World Bank projects and studies that 'gender
inform' trade-related interventions, and it uses the
Bank's experience to promote gender-equal opportunities
by highlighting entry points at which trade projects,
studies, and policies can effectively address gender issues.

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Nicaragua, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like
most countries in Latin America, Nicaragua has submitted one
national communication to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a second one
under preparation. Land use change and forestry are by far

In the decade leading to the recent
commodity boom, which peaked in 2007-08, several
resource-rich, low-income countries displayed high rates of
gross domestic product (GDP) growth while social indicators
did not improve significantly. It is well known that, in
itself, the widely tracked GDP may not be the most relevant
summary of aggregate economic performance in all places at
all times. This note suggests that for countries with

More forest area is being designated for
use by local communities and indigenous peoples. In a
growing number of countries legislation is being introduced
to ensure that local partners share in the benefits of
forest operations and participate as active stakeholders in
the sustainable use of forest resources. Private sector
investment in the forest sector is increasing as well. For
businesses in an expanding range of investment settings,

This note presents relevant
interventions that have aimed to stimulate rural economies a
natural disaster based on case studies from the Philippines,
Turkey, and Pakistan. Introducing new, untested
infrastructure methods or designs involves careful analysis
and may delay reconstruction. If this level of analysis is
not completed, the reconstructed infrastructure may not meet
expectations. For example, in Turkey, the Erzincan

Contrary to popular perception, Europe
and Central Asia (ECA) countries are significantly
threatened by climate change, with serious risks already in
evidence. The vulnerability and adaptive capacity of ECA
countries to climate change over the next two decades will
be dominated by socio-economic factors and legacy issues.
The next decade offers a window of opportunity for ECA to
make its development more resilient to climate change while

Domestic consumption in most countries
is taxed through general sales taxes, excise taxes on
specific commodities, and a variety of miscellaneous taxes
on such services as hotels and transfers of property. This
note considers only the first two of these categories, with
particular attention to general sales taxes. Consumption
taxes are obviously related both to customs duties and other
taxes on imports and also to production taxes like those

Stimulating agricultural growth is
critical to reducing poverty in Africa. Commercial
agriculture, potentially a powerful driver of agricultural
growth, can develop along a number of pathways. Yet many
developing regions have failed to progress very far along
any of these pathways. Particularly in Africa, agriculture
continues to lag. During the past 30 years the
competitiveness of many African export crops has declined,