While climate change is likely to
increase weather risks in many developing countries, there
is little evidence on effective policies to facilitate
adaptation. This paper presents experimental evidence on a
program in rural Nicaragua aimed at improving
households' risk-management through income
diversification. The intervention targeted agricultural
households exposed to weather shocks related to changes in

This paper uses Ethiopian data to
explore credit rationing in semi-formal credit markets and
its effects on farmers' resource allocation and crop
productivity. Credit rationing -- both voluntarily and
involuntarily -- is found to be widespread in the sampled
rural villages, largely because of risk-related factors.
Political and social networks emerge as key determinants of
access to credit among smallholder, peasant farmers.

This paper investigates the determinants
of price differences and market integration among Indonesian
provinces, using data from retail cooking oil, rice and
sugar markets during the period 1993-2007, and from
wholesale maize and soybean markets during the period
1992-2006. The authors measure the degree of integration
using co-integration techniques, and calculate average price
differences. They use regression analysis to understand the

This paper surveys the state of
knowledge about the trade-related environmental consequences
of a country's development strategy along three
channels: (i) direct trade-environment linkages
(overexploitation of natural resources and trade-related
transport costs); (ii) 'virtual trade' in
emissions resulting from production activities; and (iii)
the product mix attributes of a 'green-growth'

This report examines poverty trends and
distribution of the poor in this larger context, paying
particular attention to the most recent past. The report
contributes to our understanding of the progress made in
combating poverty in three ways. First, it updates our
knowledge of poverty outcomes by examining the trends in
poverty and vulnerability, as well as the profile and
distribution of the poor and vulnerable across the country.

Agriculture sector growth has made a
powerful contribution to post-war economic recovery in
Tajikistan, accounting for approximately one third of
overall economic growth from 1998 to 2004. Sector output
increased by 65 percent in real terms during this period,
and has now returned to the level extant at independence in
1990. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has also increased, by
3 percent per year. Despite this progress, there is

This report presents the key message,
lessons, and insights from agrifin's first knowledge
exchange event, held in Hyderabad, India, March 7-12, 2011.
Agrifin is a special initiative aimed at building capacity
in agriculture finance for commercially-oriented
smallholders and small and medium enterprise (SME)
agribusiness market segments. The initiative, managed by the
World Bank, through generous support from the bill and

The main objective of the assessment is
to determine how Poland's environmental and social
safeguard systems can be used in place of the corresponding
Bank safeguards, at sector, sub-national, or country level,
and how it will apply to current and future Bank-financed
operations in Poland. This assessment will be done through a
safeguard diagnostic review which involves: (i) an
equivalence analysis, to determine if the Poland legal and

One objective of this paper is to
provide information and tools for policy makers and
development partners engaged in developing arrangements for
transferring REDD plus benefits. This paper is also intended
to help key stakeholders design a mechanism that is
appropriate for a country's context. Another objective
is to provide information and tools for assessing and
structuring benefit sharing mechanisms at national and sub

This overview paper positions the
question of benefit sharing in the context of REDD plus. It
shares findings from a cursory review of a sample of
Readiness Preparation Proposals (RPP) for REDD plus
submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).
It deconstructs the concept of benefit sharing. It also
provides a summary of the main findings from three recent
studies on benefit sharing that were financed by the Program

In the years ahead, development efforts
aiming at reducing vulnerability will increasingly have to
factor in climate change, and social protection is no
exception. This paper sets out the case for
climate?responsive social protection and proposes a
framework with principles, design features, and functions
that would help Social Protection (SP) systems evolve in a
climate?responsive direction. The principles comprise

The Tunisia agricultural finance study
was carried out in response to a request made in December
2009 by the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) for
support for a study on the key constraints in agricultural
finance. Technical and financial support was specifically
requested for: (i) a comprehensive diagnostic analysis of
the current mechanisms and problems of financing of the
agricultural sector in Tunisia, including those by financial