The report begins with definitions of
watersheds and watershed management, a characterization of
the problem of watershed degradation, and a short history of
watershed management operations and policies (Chapter 1).
The following four chapters discuss the findings from
experience with implementing watershed management programs
over the last 20 years based both on the project review and
on the literature. The second chapter discusses the findings

The purpose of this report is to assist
policy makers and planners in developing countries in the
preparation of a National Transport Strategy (NTS). The
report highlights lessons that can be learned from NTSs
developed by different countries around the world. It draws
upon transport strategy and policy documents from 23
countries and from a range of World Bank source material.
The aim is not to provide a ready-made strategy document but

This paper starts with a brief
perspective on urban transport in developing countries,
followed by a detailed presentation of an overall framework
for making projects in this sector. Additional details on
cities and projects used as case studies are given in the
accompanying tables. The challenge for the Bank is to assist
client cities in providing transport infrastructure and
services that respond to demographic, spatial and economic

Temporary crediting of carbon storage is
a proposed instrument that allows entities with emissions
reductions obligations to defer some obligations for a fixed
period of time. This instrument provides a means of
guaranteeing the environmental integrity of a carbon
sequestration project. But because the user of the temporary
credit takes on the liability of renewing it, or replacing
it with a permanent credit, the temporary credit must sell

German Development Cooperation has developed an approach for the sustainable production of charcoal that has proved to have a considerable impact in Northern Madagascar. Since both environmental and socioeconomic aspects are addressed in a very effective way, this approach has high potential referring to global challenges such as land degradation, rural poverty and climate change.

The African coastal countries are facing
several environmental and socio-economic challenges, such as
unplanned urban and economic development, fueled by a
growing rural exodus; non-functional or non-existent public
infrastructures to handle the demographic growth along the
coastline; air, water and soil pollution; and alteration of
coastal ecosystems. West Africa, in particular, is facing
severe land losses and major damage due to coastal erosion

The Congo Basin is among the most poorly
served areas in terms of transport infrastructure in the
world, and it faces a challenging environment with dense
tropical forests crisscrossed by numerous rivers that
require construction of numerous bridges. Given such
complexities, constructing transport infrastructure as well
as properly maintaining it is certainly a key challenge for
the Congo Basin countries. Recent studies indicate that

The Government of Bangladesh, with help
from the World Bank and other donors, has provided aid to a
local agency called Infrastructure Development Company
Limited and its partner organizations to devise a credit
scheme for marketing solar home system units and making
these an affordable alternative to grid electricity for poor
people in remote areas. This paper uses household survey
data to examine the financing scheme behind the

After long suffering from benign neglect
if not outright contempt, industrial policy is almost
fashionable again. The global financial and economic crisis
known as the Great Recession has forced researchers and
policy makers to confront the reality that market forces
alone generally do not lead to (constrained)
Pareto-efficient outcomes. Many important national and
global policy objectives (equality of opportunity for all

This report summarizes the findings of
the Uganda Sustainable Land Management Public Expenditure
Review (SLM PER). The SLM PER was undertaken to achieve six
main objectives: (i) establish a robust data base on
SLM-related public expenditure that can support credible
empirical analysis; (ii) develop a sound methodology for
conducting SLM PERs, which could guide similar work in the
future; (iii) analyze the level and composition of SLM

This paper surveys the current state of
knowledge concerning the value of the Amazon rainforest,
including a survey of work to date to quantify changes in
economic values when the rainforest cover changes. The focus
is on local and regional impacts of forest loss or
protection, including both gross values of forest protection
and opportunity costs of converting the forest to other uses
including agriculture. Important gross value items surveyed

A ministerial intergovernmental
conference in pursuit of these commitments was held in
August 2003 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The conference agreed to
the Almaty Programme of Action (APoA), calling for joint
efforts by transit and landlocked countries-with substantial
technical and financial assistance from other countries-to
revise their regulatory frameworks affecting trade movements
and to improve their trade-related infrastructure. The two