Africa is currently experiencing the world's fastest urbanization rate at 3.5 percent annually-placing increasing pressure on resource-constrained local governments to maintain and improve livability standards of their cities. But simultaneously, an 'Information and Communication Technologies' (ICT) revolution has swept across the continent-as evidenced by vastly improved telecommunications and internet infrastructure, leapfrogging mobile communications penetration rates, and emergence of a successful homegrown IT applications industry.

The Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has brought to the forefront key challenges: the need to create job opportunities, equal access, a level playing field, transparency and accountability, and a fair and competitive environment. Crony capitalism, the privileged access of certain elites to favorable legal and regulatory treatment, access to markets, and the coincidence of political and economic power, was a major concern contributing to the uprising.

Tanzania's land, local government and forest laws mean that rural communities have well defined rights to own, manage and benefit from forest and woodland resources within their local areas through the establishment of village forests. This approach, known by practitioners as Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) results in the legal establishment of village land forest reserves, community forest reserves or private forests. By 2008, 1,460 villages on mainland Tanzania1 were involved in establishing or managing village forests covering a total of over 2.345 million hectares.

This publication is the result of an initiative to promote an exchange between Brazil and African countries on lessons learned about the role of community forestry as a strategic option to achieve the goals of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). The initiative was supported by the World Bank with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and coordinated by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) with support from the National Forestry Agency International (ONFI).

Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador have substantial experience with implementing payments for ecosystem services (PES) and conservation incentive programs. Yet, many aspects of their experiences remain poorly understood and will require special attention in any new or expanded use of these types of incentives.

Carbon finance recognizes the contribution of projects to mitigating climate change. To be able to access carbon finance, projects can certify their emission reductions under a variety of standards, one of which is the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Project developers can sell their carbon credits either in the voluntary or the regulated market.

The corporate scorecard provides information on the Bank's overall performance and results achieved by its clients against the backdrop of global development progress. The scorecard facilitates dialogue between management and the board on progress made and areas that need attention. The four-tier scorecard covers the full spectrum of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA) activities.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the challenges and the practical successes that a selected number of countries are experiencing in moving towards 'climate-smart' agriculture while also meeting the food requirements of a growing population, broader economic development and green growth objectives. It complements papers prepared in 2010 on technologies and policy instruments, research, and farmers' perspectives.

This technical note on access to finance addresses six questions: 1) what is the access to and use of financial services in the Philippines, how does it vary, and how does it compare to other countries? 2) What financial services are available to different market segments? 3) How do different categories of financial institutions contribute to outreach, and what is their potential to expand outreach? 4) How does the regulatory environment support access to finance? 5) What financial infrastructure is available to make credit decisions?

The Central America region is a small market. The region contains around 43 million inhabitants (0.6 percent of total world population) who generate around 0.25 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While the region has successfully embarked on a regional integration agenda and has strong commercial links with the US, extra-regional trade-mainly with large fast-growing emerging economies-remains a challenge.

The implementation of effective Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programmes in countries emerging from violent conflict are essential for building and maintaining peace and security. In many instances the disarmament and demobilisation of former combatants was achieved, but reintegration remained a challenge, due to the long-term focus and the substantial resources that are required for such a process to be successful.

The World Bank Group (WBG) has been active in public and private sector pollution management for the past several decades. The Bank has mainstreamed environmental health concerns into its rural and urban services through projects that improved the management of solid and hazardous waste and wastewater, and controlled pollution related to a large variety of sectors including transport, industry, energy, and mining, with each decade having its flagship issues and projects.