The global dialogue surrounding the
United Nations framework convention for climate change has
focused on two strategies for addressing challenges
associated with climate change: (1) mitigation (reducing the
accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere);
and (2) adaptation (reducing the vulnerability of societies
and ecosystems to the impacts of climate change). Forests
feature in both of these strategies. The role of forests as

A Country Environmental Analysis (CEA)
is a World Bank analytical tool used to integrate
environmental issues into development assistance strategies,
programs, and projects. To that end, the CEA synthesizes
environmental issues, highlights the environmental and
economic implications of development policies, and evaluates
the country's environmental management capacity. It is
composed of three analytical building blocks: the

The objective of study of the impacts of
climate change on mountain hydrology is to develop a
methodology to assess the net impacts of climate change on
the hydrological response in mountainous regions. This is
done through a case study in the Peruvian Andes. There are
few examples of predictions of the impact of climate change
on resource availability and even fewer examples of the
applications of such predictions to planning for sustainable

This country note for Georgia is part of
a series of country briefs that summarize information
relevant to climate change and agriculture for three
countries in the Southern Caucasus Region, with a particular
focus on climate and crop projections, adaptation options,
policy development and institutional involvement. The note
series has been developed to provide a baseline of knowledge
on climate change and agriculture for the countries

International migration has increased
rapidly in recent decades and this has been accompanied by a
remarkable increase in transfers made by migrants to their
home countries. This paper investigates the effect of the
rural economic growth brought about by migration and
remittances on Nepal's Himalayan forests. The authors
assemble a unique village-panel dataset combining remote
sensing data on land use and forest cover change with data

Urban flooding is an increasingly
important issue. Disaster statistics appear to show flood
events are becoming more frequent, with medium-scale events
increasing fastest. The impact of flooding is driven by a
combination of natural and human-induced factors. As recent
flood events in Pakistan, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Australia
show, floods can occur in widespread locations and can
sometimes overwhelm even the best prepared countries and

Climate change is both a cause and an
effect of biodiversity change. Along with anthropogenic
dispersion, climate change is the main driver of change in
the geographical distribution of both beneficial and harmful
species, crops, livestock, harvested wild species, pests,
predators and pathogens. And the capacity of ecosystems to
adapt to climate change depends on the diversity of species
they currently support. This paper considers the connection

The objective of the Functional Review
of the Environment, Water and Forestry sector (FR-EWF) is to
help the Government of Romania (GoR) develop an action plan
for implementation over the short- and medium-term to
strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the sector
administration, and provide input to the Government National
Reform Program (NRP 2011- 2013) and beyond, especially in
relation to those functions that support Romania's

During the past several months, the
Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development
of Colombia has been researching potential indicators that
would be useful to assess and possibly adopt among which
included the ecological footprint. This work was
commissioned in order to provide the Ministry with a deeper
understanding of the ecological footprint and to train a
number of its staff on the scope of the footprint in order

This paper assesses the impact of water
supply variability on treaty cooperation between
international bilateral river basin riparian states. Climate
change is anticipated to change the variability of water
supply, as well as its expected magnitude. Previous studies
have focused mainly on water scarcity, measured in terms of
mean precipitation or per capita water availability in the
country, as a trigger for conflict or cooperation. The water

An increase in sea surface temperature
is evident at all latitudes and in all oceans. The current
understanding is that ocean warming plays a major role in
intensified cyclone activity and heightened storm surges.
The vulnerability of coastlines to intensified storm surges
can be ascertained by overlaying Geographic Information
System information with data on land, population density,
agriculture, urban extent, major cities, wetlands, and gross

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Mexico, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Mexico
is the only developing country to have submitted three
national communications to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), indicating strong
commitment by the government for addressing climate change