Yet the current situation differs from
2007-2008 in critical respects. First, recent international
price increases are more widespread across agricultural
commodities than in 2008, when price spikes were led by few
grains such as wheat and rice. Second, natural resources are
affecting food production: land and water constraints are
more binding than in the past and weather induced production
shortfalls are more of a factor now than it was 2008.

Across the developing world, public
goods exert significant impacts on the local rural economy
in general and agricultural productivity and welfare
outcomes in particular. Economic and social-cultural
heterogeneity have, however, long been documented as
detrimental to collective capacity to provide public goods.
In particular, women are often under-represented in local
leadership and decision-making processes, as are young

Environmental stress is a serious
concern in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Recent years have witnessed important changes that are
pushing the boundaries of the region's environmental
legacy. The current trends are declining water resources per
capita, shrinking arable land, deteriorating vulnerable
coastal zones and marine resources, rising energy use, and
mounting pollution, particularly in urban areas. This

The World Bank's strategy for
Africa's future recognizes the central importance of
industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the consequent
creation of productive jobs for Africans, which have long
been a preoccupation of African leaders and policy makers.
This book represents an attempt to address these issues. The
book stresses that, while the recent turnaround in
Africa's economic growth is encouraging, this growth

This paper presents a somewhat novel
approach to explore the economic contribution of ecosystems.
It develops linked models to capture connections between
resource stocks and flows and the resulting microeconomic
and macroeconomic impacts. A bioeconomic model is developed
that is imbedded into a computable general equilibrium (CGE)
model. Incorporating imperfect regulation, the bioeconomic
model characterizes optimal policies, while the CGE model

Agriculture and fisheries are the main pillars of Mozambique's economy, having contributed in the last few years to more than 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 7 to 11 percentage points of the rate of economic growth. Agricultural development in Mozambique has been part of the government agenda because it is crucial to reducing poverty within rural zones.

Recognizing the importance of policy
debate and knowledge sharing in the field of development,
the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the
World Bank (Middle East and North Africa Region) agreed in
March 2010 to hold joint high-level development seminars
around issues pertaining to the Arab World. These were to be
known as the Arab Development Symposia (ADS) and will be
held on a regular basis, every 18 months or so, at the Arab

Livestock are an important component of
rural livelihoods in developing countries, but data about
this source of income and wealth are difficult to collect
because of the nomadic and semi-nomadic nature of many
pastoralist populations. Most household surveys exclude
those without permanent dwellings, leading to undercoverage.
This study explores the use of a random geographic cluster
sample as an alternative to the household-based sample. In

This First Phase Report on Sierra Leone
growth poles is the result of a 9 months consultative
process led by the Office of the President which
specifically requested that the output of this diagnostic be
in an engaging format. The fundamental concept of growth
poles is that they exploit agglomeration economies and
spillover effects to spread resulting prosperity from the
core of the pole to the periphery. At the basis of this

Climate change is a huge challenge for
the agriculture and rural development (ARD) sector in
Romania. On the one hand, agriculture is a source of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and must therefore be
expected to contribute towards the climate change mitigation
goals of the Europe 2020 strategy. European farmers,
foresters, rural businesses, and other local people
therefore need to start paying much greater attention to

The report starts with background on the
history, scope, and character of displacement in Georgia.
Although there is a lack of comprehensive data on Georgian
internally displaced persons, or IDPs' living
conditions and livelihood status, this section collates what
information exists. Part two defines livelihood support,
maps out the sector as currently implemented in Georgia, and
describes the types of activities in place to boost IDP

This book analyzes the risks to
Nigeria's development prospects that climate change
poses to agriculture, livestock, and water management. These
sectors were chosen because they are central to achieving
the growth, livelihood, and environmental objectives of
Vision 20: 2020; and because they are already vulnerable to
current climate variability. Since other sectors might also
be affected, the findings of this research provide