In many Pacific island countries,
meeting non-food basic needs is a growing challenge and
further complicated by substantial economic and
environmental risks. Hardship and vulnerability are
increasingly prominent concerns in Pacific island countries,
but the knowledge base to guide policymaking is limited.
Family and community networks are central to life in most
Pacific island countries, providing critical support to

Pakistan's rebound from the global
financial crisis has been slow and fragile, and unless it
changes course swiftly, it could face the prospects of a
second balance of payments crisis in less than five years.
Its recovery from the 2008-09 global financial crisis has
been the weakest in South Asia, featuring a unique
double-dip growth pattern. With high fertility, Pakistan
will double the size of its already young population by

In this issue: have capital markets
aided growth in China and India? Land and poverty: the
importance of transparency; coping with $100 oil; how fit
are feed-in tariff policies? Political incentives to
underinvest in pro-poor policies; mass media and public
policy for agriculture; and managing public debt in small states.

This report provides estimates of social
and financial costs of environmental damage in India from
three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution,
including particulate matter and lead; (ii) inadequate water
supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; (iii) indoor air
pollution; and four natural resource damage categories: (a)
agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and
soil erosion; (b) rangeland degradation; (c) deforestation;

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is one of the
least-developed and crisis-prone provinces in Pakistan.
Located in far north of the country, the province covers 10
percent of the total land area and is a home to 13 percent
of the country's population spread over seven
administrative districts. Majority of the population (83
percent) is rural, averaging 7.6 members per household-well
above the national average of 6.6. The literacy rate remains

This discussion paper provides the
analytical backdrop for a series of papers on managing
climate- and weather-related risks in China. It reviews and
synthesizes the growing literature on risk-based management
approaches to climate change adaptation and offers guidance
on a process for decision making. Managing risks from severe
weather, present-day climate variability, and future climate
change is integral to China's development. While the

The objective of this study is to help
the government to decide what role safety net and transfer
programs should play in the coming 5 to 10 years. It seeks
to answer following three questions: (i) can increased
spending on transfers accelerate poverty reduction in the
medium to long term?; (ii) which groups and aspects of
poverty will it make sense to target with transfers?; and
(iii) which programs will have the greatest impact at an

A ministerial intergovernmental
conference in pursuit of these commitments was held in
August 2003 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The conference agreed to
the Almaty Programme of Action (APoA), calling for joint
efforts by transit and landlocked countries-with substantial
technical and financial assistance from other countries-to
revise their regulatory frameworks affecting trade movements
and to improve their trade-related infrastructure. The two

Disasters are increasing worldwide with
more devastating effects than ever before. The absolute
number of disasters around the world has almost doubled
since the 1980s, but the average number of natural disasters
in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has almost tripled
over the same period. In MENA the interplay of natural
disasters, rapid urbanization, water scarcity, and climate
change has emerged as a serious challenge for policy and

This report argues that the practice of
disaster risk management (DRM) is a defining characteristic
of resilient societies, and should therefore be integrated,
or 'mainstreamed', into all aspects of
development. The report will inform the Development
Committee at the annual meetings 2012, and support
discussion at the Sendai dialogue, a special event
co-organized by the Government of Japan and the World Bank

"Ecosystem services" has
become a catch-phrase for the complex connections between
the natural environment and human well-being. This paper
considers the impact of changes in the supply of ecosystem
services, and programs to increase their supply, on
near-term growth of gross domestic product. It focuses on
the relationship between locally generated versus
transboundary services and growth in developing countries,

This note presents an overview of
Mexico's forthcoming reform agenda-from the World
Bank's vantage point. It distills the main messages in
the policy notes that make up this compendium. The purpose
is not to provide definitive answers to the many policy
questions likely to occupy the New Mexican administration,
or to provide a comprehensive account of progress to date
and policy recommendations. Instead, it is to provide a view