Sub-national Governments play an
important role in the Romanian public sector. In 2009,
sub-national spending was equivalent to 8.5 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP). Romania has frequently adjusted its
system for financing sub-national government over the last
decade. These changes reflect ongoing Government concerns
over the performance of local governments as well as
attempts to increase the transparency and stability of the

Moldova is one of the poorest countries
in Europe. It is landlocked, bounded by Ukraine on the east
and Romania on the west. Like many other former Soviet
Republics, Moldova has experienced economic difficulties.
Since its economy was highly dependent on the rest of the
Soviet Union for energy and raw materials, the breakdown in
trade following the breakup of the Soviet Union had severe
impacts, exacerbated by drought and civil conflict. Moldova

Poor governance is a major impediment to
achieving development outcomes of the forest sector. It
results in losses of income, employment, government
revenues, and local and global environmental services.
However, at present, no comprehensive guide to reforming
forest governance has been developed. Although usually it is
relatively easy to recognize that the forest sector in a
country is failing to deliver all its potential benefits,

This paper assesses the state of
research and examines priorities for future work in the area
of urbanization and growth. This is done by reviewing and
summarizing the findings of five scoping papers covering the
following topics: urban poverty, the political economy of
urban poverty, urban real estate and housing, urban
infrastructure finance, and external assistance for urban development.

Food policy often depends on markets and
markets depend on institutions. But how good do institutions
have to be before reforms can be launched? Relying on well
timed surveys of agricultural prices and a joint study by
the Government of Bulgaria and the World Bank on
agricultural market institutions, this paper presents
evidence that performance in food markets improved following
significant policy reforms in Bulgaria, although public

 * Oscar Bazoberry Chali

International policies to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) envisage the creation of financial incentive mechanisms that reward forest protection efforts and adequately compensate those actors that face new costs. In order for REDD+ to achieve these objectives, effective benefit sharing systems will need to be implemented. Benefit sharing in REDD+ could take a wide variety of forms depending on the policies used to achieve REDD+ objectives.

Since investment climate reforms in developing countries started gaining traction in the 1990s, most efforts have focused on issues at the national level, achieving varying degrees of success for reasons that are relatively well understood. This handbook provides an overview of efforts and achievements in subnational investment climate reforms. It is organized as follows. Chapter 2 reviews a number of countries experiences with subnational reforms, noting both success stories and disappointments and pointing toward lessons learned.

This report seizes the opportunity to learn from existing evidence by analyzing lessons derived from impact evaluations produced between 2000 and January 2009 to begin to discern what has been effective in agriculture. It is part of a broader effort being undertaken by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank to understand how impact evaluations can help improve performance and broadly disseminate those lessons.

El enfoque SIAL surge a finales de la década de 1990 cuando un grupo de investigadores de instituciones francesas, como el CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) y el INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique).

This paper analyses some key findings emerged in the study of the Mayan community of S. Jos Sinach, located in the Guatemalan Highlands. The research highlights how colonial and post-colonial legislation influences the actual land tenure and hampers the development of the community. Little land ownership together with high demographic growth lead to insufficient crop production. As a consequence, human pressure on S. Jos forest and seasonal migration to sugar cane plantations of the Pacific Coast is carried out by householders in order to ensure subsistence to their families.

El documento contine los elementos conceptuales para el desarrollo de un Marco Estratégico de mediano plazo de cooperación de la FAO en Agricultura Familiar en América Latina y el Caribe.
La aprobación de este Marco se realizará en la Conferencia Regional de la FAO a llevarse a cabo en Buenos Aires, Argentina del 26 al 30 de marzo de 2012.