This paper describes the contract
mechanism developed for the Regional Integrated
Silvopastoral Ecosystem Management Project, which is being
implemented with financing from the Global Environment
Facility (GEF). The project is testing the use of the
payment-for-service mechanism to encourage the adoption of
silvopastoral practices in three countries of Central and
South America: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. The

This report has the following
objectives: (i) identify the underlying constraints to
strong and sustained growth, in particular, the dynamic
circles that lock Niger in a low-growth/high poverty
equilibrium; (ii) understand the key determinants of growth
and poverty traps and the role increased foreign aid could
play to promote growth and help achieve the
MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs); and (iii) help

The strategic / sectoral social and
environmental assessment of power development options (SSEA)
offers an overview analysis of major regional power
development options and regional transmission
interconnections in the Nile Equatorial Lakes region in
Eastern Africa. The assessment provides a solid foundation
for planning the development of the power sectors of the
region as it contains a proposed development strategy and a

This report looks at, and beyond, the management hydrological variability to interventions aimed at decreasing the vulnerability of the economy to these shocks. It helps clarify linkages between the country's economic performance and its water resources endowment and management. It then uses this analysis to recommend both water resource strategies and economic and sectoral policies that will enhance growth and insulate the Ethiopian people and economy from the often devastating, economy-wide effects of water shocks.

The overall objective of the present study is to contribute to the knowledge-base that is urgently required for the implementation of sustainable rural development activities in Haiti.

This paper addresses the deceptively simple question: What is the rural population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? It argues that rurality is a gradient, not a dichotomy, and nominates two dimensions to that gradient: population density and remoteness from large metropolitan areas. It uses geographically referenced population data (from the Gridded Population of the World, version 3) to tabulate the distribution of populations in Latin America and in individual countries by population density and by remoteness.

This is a draft edition of the Poverty Environment Nexus (PEN) report for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The purpose of this conference edition is to present the findings from the studies that have been undertaken in each country over the last three years as well as to obtain relevant comments and feedback from the conference participants that could be included in the final edition of the report. The material presented in this report is based upon comprehensive case studies as well as national analytical work performed in each country.

Country Assistance Strategies (CASs)
have been periodically reviewed from a variety of different
perspectives. This review assesses how environment is
integrated in CASs for 2005 and also compares the progress
made by 37 countries over the period of 1999-2005. Five
themes are used to assess the 23 CASs across an established
methodology also used in previous reviews. The five themes
are: issues identification, treatment, mainstreaming,

This report studies the impact that gender differences in Bangladesh have on access to energy and energy services and the consequences of these impacts based on review of recent literature on the matter. The report concludes that the structural gender differences that arise from cultural and religious norms can lead to various impacts in access to energy services which in turn can have long term consequences on women and all these factors must be considered while designing rural energy- gender projects.

The World Bank's revised forest
policy came into being in 2002 and covers all types of
forests. It has the following key objectives: (i) harnessing
the potential of forests to reduce poverty in a sustainable
manner; (ii) integrating forests effectively into
sustainable development; and (iii) protecting vital local
and global environmental services and values. The policy
enables the bank to fully engage in forestry throughout the

In this paper, the authors seek to answer three questions about poverty and forests in Malawi: (1) What is the extent of biomass available for meeting the energy needs of the poor in Malawi and how is this distributed? (2) To what extent does fuelwood scarcity affect the welfare of the poor? (3) How do households cope with scarcity? In particular, do households spend more time in fuelwood collection and less time in agriculture in response to scarcity? The authors attempt to answer these questions using household and remote-sensing data.

The World Bank's revised forest
policy came into being in 2002 and covers all types of
forests. It has the following key objectives: (i) harnessing
the potential of forests to reduce poverty in a sustainable
manner; (ii) integrating forests effectively into
sustainable development; and (iii) protecting vital local
and global environmental services and values. The policy
enables the bank to fully engage in forestry throughout the