Globally, an estimated 24 percent of the
disease burden (healthy life years lost) and an estimated 23
percent of all deaths (premature mortality) are attributable
to environmental risks (World Health Organization, or WHO
2006). The burden of disease is unequally shared, with the
children and the poor being particularly affected. Among
children between the ages 0 and 14, the proportion of deaths
attributable to environmental risks, such as poor water and

Jordan is a small, middle-income, open
economy, with a limited natural resources base and active
trade flows. As the integration of Jordan in the World
Economy progresses, enhancing Jordan's environmental
management can not only improve the wellbeing of Jordanians,
but also enable the country to better compete in
increasingly environmentally conscious markets. To date
there has not yet been a comprehensive assessment of

Sri Lanka's ten-year development
framework aims at accelerating economic growth while
ensuring a path of sustainable development and prioritizing
conservation of the country's natural heritage. It is
in this context that this policy note seeks to examine the
scope for enhancing protection of Sri Lanka's natural
assets through nature based tourism as an instrument for
conservation with a specific focus on elephant conservation.

The Petroleum Governance Initiative
(PGI) encompasses three general themes, or pillars, that
address issues issues of transparency and economic
responsibility, environmental sustainability and responsible
community development. Of particular interest here is the
second pillar, environmental sustainability; the PGI is
currently involved in four main activities surrounding this
theme: 1) assessing environmental governance and management

Tourism is one of Latin America's
fastest growing industries, outranking remittances and even
drugs in many countries as a source of foreign exchange. But
the impact of tourism on the poor and on the environment
remains under debate. Certainly many suspect that tourism
does more harm than good, damaging the environment and
leaving the poor worse off while shipping profits overseas.
But few have actually analyzed the impact of tourism on the

Seven years out of brutal conflict,
Sierra Leone is now a peaceful and stable country. Yet, its
strides toward economic recovery and competitiveness have
been modest even in sectors such as tourism, which used to
be a major generator of foreign exchange revenues prior to
the conflict. This paper presents a cluster-based analysis
of the tourism sector in Sierra Leone. The analysis shows
that tourism in Sierra Leone draws entirely on basic factor

The analysis of the cost of
environmental degradation conducted as part of the country
environmental analysis (CEA) shows that the most costly
problems associated with environmental degradation are urban
and indoor air pollution; inadequate water supply,
sanitation, and hygiene; natural disasters (such as flooding
and landslides); and land degradation. The burden of these
costs falls most heavily on vulnerable segments of the

This study estimates the contribution of
nature-based tourism in Zambia to economic growth and
poverty reduction as well as to the sustainability of the
management of the wildlife estate. The Zambian Government
has identified tourism along with agriculture, mining and
manufacturing as the most important sectors for economic
development in its various planning documents, including the
2007 Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP). This report is

Mozambique's continuous efforts to
sustain economic growth and reduce poverty face a number of
constraints including its economic and political history,
and its geography and climatic conditions. It is widely
accepted that future economic growth of the country will
continue to rely on its natural resources base and,
specifically, on sustainable use of land and water
resources. Mozambique has plentiful land and water resources

This paper uses data from Guatemala to
map areas that are important for the provision of indirect
ecosystem services, services whose benefits are enjoyed at
some distance from the ecosystem that provides them, such as
watershed services (enjoyed downstream) or biodiversity
conservation (enjoyed globally). These services are usually
externalities from the perspective of land users, and so
tend to be under-provided. Mapping the areas that supply

The results of the alpha survey on
administrative barriers completed in 2006 indicate that,
notwithstanding recent government reforms to reduce
regulations affecting firms, administrative burdens are
still substantial impediments to doing business. Based on
the survey, the Bulgarian Government has commissioned an
in-depth analysis of the procedure affecting three sectors:
tourism, food, and transport. This report recommends the

The purpose of this paper is to assess
the World Bank's recent relations with civil society
organizations (CSOs), that is, nongovernmental organizations
and not-for-profit organizations, and to propose options for
promoting more effective civic engagement in Bank-supported
activities and managing associated risks in the future. The
analysis in this paper points to four main issues and
challenges for the Bank as it seeks to achieve more