As the developing world rapidly
urbanizes, the demands on transport systems also grow often
at a faster pace than the population. Given the above
tendency, an effective and coordinated approach to urban
transport requires that sound policies be put into place.
Such policies enunciate the direction that a government
wants to take; they lay the basic framework for downstream
planning as well as project identification and

In many environmental and conservation policy contexts, gaps are observed between policy objectives and implementation outcomes. Carbon farming policies are designed to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but policy success depends on the participation of land managers and their adoption of alternative land management practices. We surveyed Western Australian farmers to gauge their knowledge of carbon farming, their current adoption of carbon farming practices, and identified the drivers and barriers to adoption.

Environmental and social responsibility
is becoming more and more important in todayapos;s global
economy. There are thousands of environmental and social
codes and standards in the world today. The codes and
standards define the rules and the objectives. But the
challenge is in the implementation. An environmental and
social management system (ESMS) helps companies to integrate
the rules and objectives into core business operations,

By 2050, it is estimated that the
world s agricultural system will need to produce
approximately 50 percent more food to feed an estimated 9
billion people. In emerging markets, agriculture is the most
important economic sector and source of employment; more
specifically, 75 percent of the world s poor live in rural
areas and depend on agriculture for their incomes. With
volatility in food prices putting additional pressure on

Bhutan has recently made significant
progress in sustaining economic growth and reducing poverty.
In 2012, average per capita household income was somewhat
under USD 2,400/year (Living Standards Measurement Surveys
2012). Growth has averaged around 9 percent per annum over
the past decade and is expected to be on the order of 8
percent per annum over the next five years. According to the
2012 Bhutan Poverty Analysis, 12 percent of the population

The Latin America and Caribbean region
has had impressive achievements in the past decade, such as
cutting extreme poverty by half and adding more than 50
million people to the middle class. Beyond the positive
external conditions, it was the concerted efforts and
dedication of the region's countries to improve the
lives of their citizens that enabled these and many other
remarkable results. The World Bank is proud to be a part of

Climate change will have its largest
impacts on developing countries, with poor populations
particularly hard hit and unable to adequately adapt. There
is an opportunity for developing countries to pursue a
complementary approach, emphasizing building up the
capabilities of local firms to participate in the business
opportunities surrounding climate change. Climate change
therefore represents an opportunity for developing countries

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MEA), The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity study
(TEEB) and the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provide a comprehensive and
useful framework to understand human dependence on ecosystem
services and how best to protect these services in
perpetuity. In these three authoritative studies, payment
for ecosystem services (PES) is listed as one of the

The Horn of Africa (HoA) region has many
security and development challenges whose origins and
consequences go well beyond the borders of individual
countries. It is also a region with many human assets and
resource endowments, and some of the most dynamic economies
in the world. Despite its numerous challenges, the Horn of
Africa offers significant potential to address cross-border
issues that can help transform its countries and the region.

Ukraine is renowned as the breadbasket
of Europe thanks to its black soils ( Chernozem black
because of the high organic matter content) which offer
exceptional agronomic conditions. One-third of the worldwide
stock of the fertile black soils, which cover more than half
of Ukraine s arable land, a large variety of climatic zones,
and favourable temperature and moisture regimes, offers
attractive conditions for the production of a large range of

Climate change and climate policies will
affect poverty reduction efforts through direct and
immediate impacts on the poor and by affecting factors that
condition poverty reduction, such as economic growth. This
paper explores this relation between climate change and
policies and poverty outcomes by examining three questions:
the (static) impact on poor people's livelihood and
well-being; the impact on the risk for non-poor individuals