Economic progress is accompanied by a
fundamental spatial transformation where the economic
landscapes of countries become increasingly uneven. The
journey from low incomes to high incomes involves rising
concentration of prosperity in a few places. Connecting
people to prosperity - is the principle behind economic
integration policies that can help countries reap the
benefits of both uneven growth and inclusive development.

This Policy Note has three main
objectives : a) formulate strategic choices related to the
sustainability of irrigated agriculture in Lebanon. b)
recommend institutional strengthening of water resource
management in the irrigation sector in general, especially
for operations and maintenance (O&M). c) define the
Bank's future involvement in the irrigated agriculture
sector. As demand for domestic, industrial, and agriculture

The report identifies the challenges,
and opportunities the forestry sector faces in Turkey, where
twenty five percent of the country's land area is
covered by forests, with significant economic,
environmental, and cultural functions. The challenges
identified in the review include poverty, land tenure, the
need to establish multi-purpose, participatory forest
management planning, and, to control soil erosion in

In 1989, Albania's rigid political
and socioeconomic structure shattered beyond repair.
Turbulence soon invaded every domain of life. As the state
imploded, so did the state-run economy. This review explores
ongoing consequences of this difficult transformation that
took place since 1989 and of policy initiatives to mitigate
or ameliorate its effects. Albania has been much studied;
the review addresses important information gaps. It

The acute water shortage, and pollution
problems in North China have been exacerbated by the
continued population growth, and the accelerated industrial
expansion over the past half-century, conducive to
increasingly severe freshwater shortages, and catastrophic
consequences for the future. Significant commitments need to
be made to rapidly implement strategies to bring water
resource utilization back into a sustainable balance. The

This report is intended to inform the
discussions of the Sri Lanka Development Forum.
Specifically, section One reviews recent economic
performance, the status of macroeconomic management and the
strategic directions outlined in Mahinda Chintana. It notes
that the recent acceleration in Sri Lanka's growth can
be partly attributed to large aid flows for tsunami
reconstruction and to rapid growth in domestic demand. While

Data from China's national rural
and urban household surveys are used to measure and explain
the welfare impacts of changes in goods and factor prices
attributable to accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The price changes are estimated separately using a
general equilibrium model to capture both direct and
indirect effects of the initial tariff changes. The welfare
impacts are first-order approximations based on a household

The report argues that Nicaragua's
best hope for sustained growth, and poverty reduction,
probably lies with agricultural exports, which have the
potential to gain from opportunities in world markets.
Despite the small share of farmland devoted to the
production of exports (25 percent of harvested area), the
total trade of agricultural goods (including the value of
both imports, and exports) accounted for almost eighty five

More than 90 percent of the population
in the Sahel lives on agriculture. The fact that crop
production has not kept up with population growth during the
last two decades is attributed to land degradation and
productivity decline resulting in increased levels of rural
poverty, food shortages and chronic food insecurity. In
response, since the 1980s, Sahelian farmers have
experimented with various soil and water conservation

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

the authors examine how economic activity and market participation are distributed across space. Applying a nonparametric von Thunen model to Nepalese data, the authors uncover a strong spatial division of labor. Nonfarm employment is concentrated in and around cities, while agricultural wage employment dominates villages located further away. Vegetables are produced near urban centers. Paddy and commercial crops are more important at intermediate distances. Isolated villages revert to self-subsistence.

Irrigation is crucial to China's
agricultural productivity. This report reviews the history
of water irrigation in China. It examines the first Bank
supported water project to propose both physical
rehabilitation and management reform. Local and
international experience has shown that participatory
irrigation management by farmers (PIM) contribute to
institutional improvement. The report looks at