The report highlights the GEF's
work with small island developing states (SIDS) on key
natural resource issues -climate change, biodiversity,
international waters, and land degradation. It also
describes the GEF's strategic priorities for SIDS over
the next five years, recognizing the interrelatedness of
SIDS' global environmental problems and their links to
economic and social development. The Global Environment

This review of the active portfolio of
World Bank projects aimed at improving urban environmental
quality was carried out during 2002-03 in order to assess
the level of commitment of the institution to urban
sustainability. The review focuses on the contributions of
key sectors to urban environmental improvements, in
particular on those belonging to the Infrastructure
Vice-Presidency, and on how projects are contributing to

In 1993 the Board of the World Bank
endorsed a Water Resources Management Policy Paper (WRMPP).
In that paper, and in this Strategy, water resources
management comprises the institutional framework (legal,
regulatory and organizational roles), management instruments
(regulatory and financial), and the development, maintenance
and operation of infrastructure (including water storage
structures and conveyance, wastewater treatment, and

How has environment mattered for the
World Bank? The aggregate figures suggest that it has
mattered a great deal, since the Bank's total
environmental lending has exceeded $US 9 billion over the
past six years. In this paper the authors use newly
available data to address a more precise version of the
question: Across countries and themes, how well has the
Bank's environmental lending and analytical and

This report builds on the consensus
developed at the August 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on
Sustainable Development. It draws on the effort to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. And it looks
beyond, to 2050, to envision a future that is far more
prosperous and more equitable than today. This work raises
some hard questions: How do we ensure that the progress
achieved by 2015 is sustainable? What quality of growth will

This book presents papers on several
events organized by the World Bank's Disaster
Management Fund (DMF). The DMF's objectives are to help
the Bank provide a more strategic and rapid response to
disaster emergencies and to integrate disaster prevention
and mitigation measures in all Bank activities. Part I of
this book on risk identification contains chapters on the
economic impacts on natural disasters in developing

This issue, which serves as the annual
review on the environment, looks at the Bank's work
from July 2002 through June 2003, dedicated this year to
Water and the Environment, on the occasion of the Fifth
World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa. Following the
overview, which reviews progress in the implementation of
the Environment strategy, the report presents viewpoints on
ways to move forward in delivering water as committed in

The objective of this paper is to
examine the challenges in the water sector faced by Armenia
today, and outline options for management and allocation of
its water resources in the future, considering the need for
a stable, transparent apublic sector management framework
and sustainable resource use for long-term private
investment and job creation, and for appropriate balances
among water uses for domestic, industrial, agriculture,

The report reviews the macroeconomic
perspectives of Uruguay, focused on its rural development
and natural resources intensive sectors, to form the basis
for expanding agricultural production, and increasing
productivity. It reviews the country's sectoral
composition, exports of natural resource intensive products,
and labor and capital use, as well as the tax burden.
Although agriculture represents less than ten percent of the

This Strategy Note sets out a framework
for World Bank involvement in the environment sector in the
immediate to medium term. It elaborates upon and reinforces
the environmental objectives specified in Thailand's
Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan
(1997-2001) and the World Bank's Country Assistance
Strategy for 1998. This report is organized in six sections.
Section 1 provides a brief introduction to the changing

Soils around the world are degrading rapidly, reducing ecosystem diversity and some important functions, threatening food and other human securities, and increasing vulnerability to climate change. This is a vicious cycle created by and leading to further unsustainable land-use practices. Integrated (‘nexus’) soil, land, water and ecosystem management can help to turn it into a virtuous cycle.

More than three times as much carbon is stored in soils across the world as it is in the atmosphere, making them one of the most important global carbon sinks. Therefore, processes impacting on the soil in which carbon is released, such as deforestation or agricultural activities, significantly contribute to climate change. The debate on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural activities and their consideration in the international climate negotiations has brought soils as carbon reservoirs more to the public eye.