China's environmental
degradation has developed over centuries, but record recent
rates of economic growth have now widened environmental
impacts and accelerated many adverse trends. China's
urbanization and industrialization have produced rising
material standards of living but have ever more costly
environmental consequences. The period 1992-2001 coincided
with a renewed Bank commitment to the environment,

Dry tropical woodlands provide around 80
percent of the energy needs of both urban and rural
populations in Africa and are of similar importance on a
more localized scale in other areas. They also provide
livestock fodder, building poles and many of the daily needs
of the rural people living in and around them. Concern about
the degradation and depletion of these woodlands date back a
long time. Large numbers of woodfuel projects were launched

Biochar is the carbon-rich organic
matter that remains after heating biomass under the
minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis.
There are a number of reasons why biochar systems may be
particularly relevant in developing-country contexts. This
report offers a review of what is known about opportunities
and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a
state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge regarding

This paper documents a significant
impact of climate variation on urbanization in Sub-Saharan
Africa, primarily in more arid countries. By lowering farm
incomes, reduced moisture availability encourages migration
to nearby cities, while wetter conditions slow migration.
The paper also provides evidence for rural-urban income
links. In countries with a larger industrial base, reduced
moisture shrinks the agricultural sector and raises total

This report evaluates the requirements
for an assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture
to guide policy makers on investment priorities and phasing.
Because agriculture is vital for national food security and
is a strong contributor to Brazil's GDP growth, there
is growing concern that Brazilian agriculture is
increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change.
To meet national development, food security, climate

Poverty reduction strategies (PRSs)
provide a central framework for macroeconomic, structural,
and social policies in developing countries. Because of the
numerous and complex links between environment and poverty,
it is important that environmental issues are taken into
account in the PRS process. This paper follows six previous
assessments of the degree of mainstreaming environment in
the PRS process using a similar methodology to present

This discussion paper summarizes
observed and projected trends in extreme weather events,
present-day climate variability, and future climate change
and their impacts on China's different regions.
Findings are presented from China's national assessment
report on climate change (2007) and second national
assessment report on climate change (2011) as well as other
studies by Chinese and international experts. In addition to

Climate change is a huge challenge for
the agriculture and rural development (ARD) sector in
Romania. On the one hand, agriculture is a source of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and must therefore be
expected to contribute towards the climate change mitigation
goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. European farmers,
foresters, rural businesses, and other local people
therefore need to start paying much greater attention to

Romania relies on the European
Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) to achieve its
commitments to the European Union (EU) 2020 targets. The use
of the European Agriculture and Rural Development Fund
(EARDF) requires that at least 30 percent of the budget
allocated for rural development as part of the National
Rural Development Plan (NRDP) be spent on the environment
and addressing climate change. The forest sector rapid

This overview of climate change
activities in the Kyrgyz Republic is part of a series of
country notes for five Central Asian countries that
summarize climate portfolio in a number of sectors, namely
agriculture, forestry, water, health, energy, and transport.
Recognizing the nature and significance of climate change
contribution to an increase in disaster risk, the note also
looks into the development partners' approaches and

This overview of climate change
activities in Kazakhstan is part of a series of country
notes for five Central Asian countries that summarize
climate portfolio of the major development partners in a
number of climate-sensitive sectors, namely energy,
agriculture, forestry, and natural resources, water, health,
and transport. Recognizing the nature and significance of
climate change contribution to an increase in disaster risk,

The global dialogue surrounding the
United Nations framework convention for climate change has
focused on two strategies for addressing challenges
associated with climate change: (1) mitigation (reducing the
accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere);
and (2) adaptation (reducing the vulnerability of societies
and ecosystems to the impacts of climate change). Forests
feature in both of these strategies. The role of forests as