Turkmenistan's unique approach to
land reform and farm restructuring has produced a
significant shift to individual or household-based farming,
with more than three-quarters of the arable land leased to
individual households or small groups. Most leaseholders
consider this land to be rightfully theirs, and they expect
to keep it in the future, either as private owners, or
through extension of their leasehold. However, individual

This report analyzes the
government's decision on the outcome of a series of
small power shifts triggered by pro-reform players. Reform
advocates devised them whenever opportunities arose and used
whatever maneuvering room there was to tilt the power
balance between agency and farmers to further the goals of
sustainability and partnership. The shifts were thought out
for their strategic value, but most came without a timeline

Despite the impressive performance of
the economy in the last five years, however, poverty in
Albania has remained high, and per capita income, at around
US$1,230 in 2002, has remained one of the lowest among
transition economies. In an effort to adopt policies to
share widely the benefits of growth, and reduce poverty, the
Government outlined a poverty alleviation strategy in the
2000 Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP), and

This paper uses the Ricardian approach
to examine how farmers in 11 countries in Africa have
adapted to existing climatic conditions. It then estimates
the effects of predicted changes in climate while accounting
for whatever farmer adaptation might occur. This study
differs from earlier ones by using farmers' own
perceptions of the value of their land. Previous research,
by contrast, has relied on either observed sale prices or

This report addresses key structural,
institutional, and sectoral policy impediments to achieving
a higher, and sustained economic growth in the sector, and
poverty reduction in rural areas of Iran. It focuses mainly
on an assessment of agricultural development outcomes, a
discussion of the agricultural policy agenda, and provides
recommendations for future policy dialogue between the Bank,
and the Government of Iran. On examining development

This report is a summary of research work coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) China in 2003-2005, to prepare Implementation Guidelines for Poverty and Environment Work (IGPEW) in China. This report describes the research in two provinces, Yunnan and Sichuan, relating to the government's on-going Village-Based Integrated Poverty Reduction Plan for Poorer Western Regions. In addition, an English version of the implementation guidelines for poverty and environment work, and of the checklist, has been prepared by combining the documents produced in the two provinces.

The report provides detailed information
on the geographical distribution of poverty and
vulnerability throughout the country - i.e. regions,
provinces and communes. The information presented is
essential to understand poverty at the local level, and to
address it with appropriate sectoral or cross-sectoral
strategies. Further, when local poverty rates are analyzed
alongside public expenditure data, an initial assessment for

Poverty and economic stagnation
characterize most rural areas in Peru. National growth has
been slow and uneven since the mid-1970s, benefiting urban
areas rather than rural ones. Between 1985 and 2000, the
number of poor people increased by 71 percent. The incidence
of poverty (67 percent) and extreme poverty (40 percent) is
highest in rural areas, reaching 73 percent (poverty) and 41
percent (extreme poverty) in the sierra. This means that 4.2

Community-based natural resource
management is an important strategy to conserve and
sustainably use biodiversity and wildlife in Namibia. The
authors examine the extent to which conservancies have been
successful in meeting their primary goal of improving the
lives of rural households. They evaluate the benefits of
community conservancies in Namibia by asking three
questions: Do conservancies increase household welfare? Are

This report provides recommendations on
how to better manage ongoing changes in livestock
development. First, it presents an overview of the main
trends that can be expected to drive the sector over the
next decades. Second it discusses the negative or positive
social, environmental, and health repercussions of those
trends, and the institutional, policy, and technical
requirements needed to manage them. It concludes with a

This paper uses a duration analysis
based on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from six
communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. The
analysis explores how household characteristics and external
trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes
of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was
initially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditional
exports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but

This report is part of a strategy to
promotes trade competitiveness within the East Asia and
Pacific Region. It presents an overview of the logistics
issues facing East Asia countries and proposes a development
agenda for them. Based on the recognition that the
countries have basic differences in their level of
development, extent of openness, and composition of trade,
it begins by discussing the benefits of improved logistics.