Inadequate land laws have opened rural Myanmar to rampant land grabbing by unscrupulous, well-connected businessmen who anticipate a boom in agricultural and property investment. If unchecked, the gathering trend has the potential to undermine the country's broad reform process and impede long-term economic progress.

This overview paper positions the
question of benefit sharing in the context of REDD plus. It
shares findings from a cursory review of a sample of
Readiness Preparation Proposals (RPP) for REDD plus
submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).
It deconstructs the concept of benefit sharing. It also
provides a summary of the main findings from three recent
studies on benefit sharing that were financed by the Program

The report has three main chapters
discussing modernization, diversification and
competitiveness. The chapters examine problems and barriers
facing households, private firms and public agencies to
achieving these objectives, and then identify the
instruments that can help Russia achieve the necessary
spatial transformation of its economy. Russia's long
history as one of Europe's leading nations, and its

This document describes the training
course for lawyers and judges in the Palestinian
Territories, which was designed as an introduction to
residential mortgage lending, and the use of mortgage
collateral. These materials begin with a technical
description of mortgage lending and mortgage collateral, the
purposes and content of mortgage law, and the general
conditions for development and expansion of residential

The objective of this review of
resettlement policy and implementation in Brazil, is to
identify ongoing good practices, as well as areas for
further improvement. It draws upon an assessment of the
Brazilian legal and institutional framework related to land
acquisition for projects in the public interest, a rapid
evaluation of the resettlement programs in six projects
(three projects that received Bank financing and three

Expert statements indicate that annually
approximately 20 billion dollars will be needed to prevent
90 percent deforestation in tropical countries. Development
practitioners are eager to see the benefits from REDD plus
initiatives shared with local partners. Equally important to
understanding how local partners might benefit are questions
such as, who should derive benefits from REDD plus
initiatives, and how to ensure these initiatives reach the

At an average above 6.0 percent per year
over the past two decades, Uganda' s growth rate was
impressive by all standards. In parallel, poverty declined
significantly, not only in urban areas, but also to some
extent within the rural areas. This combination was possible
because the key drivers of growth were labor-intensive
services sectors, some of which are agriculture based. In
fact, Uganda's growth process has reduced overall

As donors pledge growing support for
protecting and managing forests to address climate change,
the question of how to pay tropical countries to reduce
their emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
assumes greater urgency. Depending on the detailed
implementation of REDD plus at a national and international
level, forest nations may be able to secure funding from a
range of sources, including donors and multilateral funds (a

Liberia aims to achieve middle-income
status by 2030 through broad participation and inclusive
growth. The Government's growth strategy aims to
accelerate growth through the exploitation of natural
resources, while maintaining sound macroeconomic policies,
improving the business environment, and prudently allocating
aid and commodity-based financing resources to expand
infrastructure and formal sector employment. However,

This paper was based on a desk review of
the literature relating to best practice in public policy
supporting business incubation, supplemented by four
national case studies covering Brazil, Ma-laysia, New
Zealand and South Africa. These country studies were
prepared through engage-ment of stakeholders, site visits
and other sources of primary and secondary information
collection. In the context of the study, we focused on best

In order to inform the 2010 Strategy,
and suggest what role the World Bank Group (WBG) can
realistically play in strengthening environmental
institutions and governance, this paper takes stock of WBG
operations in this area since the 2001 Strategy. Looking
across the spectrum of lending and nonlending operations,
the first task is to identify the approaches which have been
used to engage with clients. The analysis then evaluates

The objective of the Bhutan Investment
Climate Assessment (ICA) is to evaluate the investment
climate in Bhutan in all its operational dimensions and
promote policies to strengthen the private sector. This ICA
consists of two volumes. Volume 1 summarizes the main
results. Volume 2 presents a more detailed analysis of each
of the three main themes of the report: labor productivity
and skills, access to finance, and business government