China promulgated the Medium and
Long-Term Development Plan for Renewable Energy in 2007,
which included targets of 2010 and 2020 for various
renewable energy technologies including biofuels. The 2010
biofuel targets were met and even surpassed except for
non-grain fuel ethanol; however, there is debate on whether
and how the country will be able to meet the 2020 biofuels
target. This paper provides a resource and technological

Developing countries are faced with the
dual challenge of reducing poverty while improving
management of natural capital and mitigating the emission of
greenhouse gases (GHGs) and local pollutants. The challenge
is particularly acute for large, rapidly growing economies,
such as India, China, and Brazil. In response to this
challenge, Energy Sector Management assistance Program
(ESMAP) and the World Bank began in 2007 to provide support

This paper presents an assessment of the
first phase (2008?2009) of Sierra Leone's cash for work
program based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis
examining program design features, main processes and
impact. The assessment highlights that while cash for work
was an appropriate crisis response, the challenge of
achieving good targeting should not be underestimated.
Findings from the assessment point to high inclusion errors

The main purpose of this paper is to
explain the patterns of access to water supply and
sanitation facilities in urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa
since the late 90's, and its relation with the
performance of service providers in the case of improved
water supply. It also seeks to explore the institutional
context of the water supply and sanitation sectors. The
paper concludes that services providers in Sub-Saharan

This report presents findings from a
field-based survey on the conduct of agricultural operations
at 39 large-scale, mature agribusiness investments in
sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. The objective of the
report is to provide first-hand, practical knowledge of the
approach, behavior, and experience of these investments,
their relationships with surrounding communities and the
consequent positive and/or negative outcomes for these

The World Bank's 11 Pacific Island
member countries are a diverse group in terms of economic
and social conditions. Five are least developed countries,
with annual per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as low
as US$ 700, while in some of the territories average incomes
are comparable to those in wealthy industrialized countries.
Population densities and growth rates, land areas and the
level of urbanization all display similarly wide ranges.

Biodiversity, a property of natural
areas, provides a range of benefits to the economy including
bioprospecting rents, knowledge and insurance, ecotourism
fees, and ecosystem services. Many of these values can be
broken out in the System of National Accounts, leading to
better estimates of the economic losses when natural areas
are degraded or destroyed. Developing countries harbor the
great majority of biodiversity, and this diversity provides

In 2010, Uttarakhand entered the second
decade of its existence as a separate State. During the
first decade, average individual incomes rose by eight ranks
in relation to the other States in India. Although these
incomes are still below the median for India, they are
growing significantly faster, which is leading to rapid
convergence with the richer States. Looking ahead, the State
can build upon its existing growth momentum, the economic

In 2009 the Gabonese authorities defined
a new vision whose strategic guidelines are detailed in an
operational plan, the strategic plan for an emerging Gabon
(PSGE) whose goal is to turn Gabon into an emerging country
within one generation. PSGE includes an ambitious public
investment program to develop basic infrastructure and to
create the necessary economic environment for the emergence
of a diversified economy. The major challenge for PSGE, and

"Getting the prices right" is
a good starting point but is not sufficient for achieving
environmentally efficient outcomes. Other policy
interventions are often necessary to complement pricing
policies. Moreover, when pricing is not at all feasible,
regulatory and command-and-control policies must be used
instead. This paper focuses on three interrelated themes at
the core of the pricing problem. First, there is the

Questions about the ultimate size of
mineral and energy resource endowments and the degree of
fiscal prudence which should be exercised by countries
engaged in resource extraction have become central for many
developing countries during the recent resource boom. To
explore these questions, this paper develops a model of
optimal resource extraction and discovery that combines two
polar assumptions: (i) that discovering a resource today

Many experts believe that low-cost
mitigation opportunities in agriculture are abundant and
comparable in scale to those found in the energy sector.
They are mostly located in developing countries and have to
do with how land is used. By investing in projects under the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), countries can tap these
opportunities to meet their own Kyoto Protocol obligations.
The CDM has been successful in financing some types of