Recognizing the importance and
uniqueness of the Sundarbans, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
declared the Indian portion of the forest a World Heritage
Site in 1987, and the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program
has included the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve in the Global
Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves
Contributing to Action on Climate Change and Sustainable

Although weather shocks are a major
source of income fluctuation, most of the world's poor
lack insurance coverage against them. Absence of formal
insurance contributes to poverty traps, as investment
decisions are conflicted with risk management ones:
risk-averse farmers tend to underinvest and produce lower
yielding yet safer crops. In the past few years, weather
index insurance has gained increasing attention as an

Over the past 18 months, the World Bank
has been working on a comprehensive plan to address the
challenge of productive jobs in Tanzania. This study
represents a step towards a better understanding of how to
promote job creation in Tanzania. Indeed, the growth of
productive jobs is vital for alleviating poverty and
promoting shared prosperity - two important goals of
Tanzania's economic strategy. This booklet highlights

The development community is
increasingly accepting the importance of evidence, feedback,
and learning. Some of which is generated through research,
monitoring, and self-evaluation during policy-making,
program design, and implementation. Others come from
feedback from people directly affected by interventions who
have gained a greater voice, be it through third-party
feedback mechanisms, social media, beneficiary surveys, or

Regional trade in Africa can play a
vital role in diversifying economies and reducing dependence
on the export of a few mineral products, in delivering food
and energy security, in generating jobs for the increasing
numbers of young people, and in alleviating poverty and
promoting a shared prosperity. Women play a key role in
trade in Africa and will be essential to Africa's
success in exploiting its trade potential. In many countries

This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for
Singapore. To allow for useful comparison, the profile also
provides data for other selected economies (comparator
economies) for each indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the
12th edition in a series of annual reports measuring the
regulations that enhance business activity and those that
constrain it. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing

Croatia, the newest member-state of the
European Union (EU), undertook significant justice reforms
during the last decade. Many were part of its
justice-related EU accession process, including the
enactment and implementation of new laws and amendment of
others, improved case management and enforcement and
computerization of land registers. Benchmarking
Croatia's justice sector indicates that it compares

Panama's economic growth has been at the
top of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region in
recent years. The country s rapid growth has been largely
pro-poor and translated into significant poverty reduction.
The new Administration is well placed to tackle these
challenges, with its commitment to maintaining an open and
diversified economy and redressing social imbalances.
Looking ahead, the country s main challenges are to maintain

Although the potentially negative
impacts of credit constraints on economic development have
long been discussed conceptually, empirical evidence for
Africa remains limited. This study uses a direct elicitation
approach for a national sample of Rwandan rural households
to assess empirically the extent and nature of credit
rationing in the semi-formal sector and its impact using an
endogenous sample separation between credit-constrained and

This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Solomon
Islands. To allow for useful comparison, the profile also
provides data for other selected economies (comparator
economies) for each indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the
12th edition in a series of annual reports measuring the
regulations that enhance business activity and those that
constrain it. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing

This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Denmark.
To allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides
data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for
each indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the 12th edition in a
series of annual reports measuring the regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for

The Multi-Donor Trust Fund for
Sustainable Logistics (MDTF-SL) aims at promoting innovative
assistance projects that can break new grounds, test new
ideas, and generate new knowledge for sustainable logistics
that can be replicated in other countries and project. In
November 2013 we were asked to write a position paper that
analyses the state of affairs in Agro-Logistics. It aims to:
(1) review and suggest a conceptual grounding for the