The concept of "Green Growth" is a focus of much interest and considerable debate among decision makers concerned with enhancing both nearer-term economic progress and longer-term environmental sustainability. Proponents of Green Growth emphasize not only the need to protect various forms of natural capital to sustain improvements in material living standards and poverty reduction, but also the potential for strategically crafted environmental policies to achieve sustainability at low cost, perhaps even to help stimulate growth.

Payments for Environmental Services
(PES) are one of the instruments that countries might use to
try to reduce deforestation, and hence receive payments for
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation
(REDD). This paper discusses four aspects related to the use
of PES as an instrument to implement an avoided
deforestation program, based on a review of PES experiences
in Latin America. First, the paper discusses the

One of the major difficulties in doing
cost-benefit analysis of a development project is to
estimate the total economic value of project benefits, which
are usually multi-dimensional and include goods and services
that are not traded in the market. Challenges also arise in
aggregating the values of different benefits, which may not
be mutually exclusive. This paper uses a contingent
valuation approach to estimate the economic value of a

While polluted surface water is
encountered across most of China, few economic valuation
studies have been conducted on water quality changes.
Limited information about the economic values associated
with those potential water quality improvements or
deteriorations is a disadvantage for making proper choices
in water pollution control and clean-up activities. This
paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in

Economic analyses of development
projects and policies often involve assigning an economic
value to changes in the risk of loss of human life. A
typical term used in the economic analyses is the value of
statistical life, which reflects the aggregation of
individuals' willingness to pay for fatal risk
reduction and therefore the economic value to society to
reduce the statistical incidence of premature death in the

This paper presents a framework for
analyzing tropical deforestation and reforestation using the
von Thunen model as its starting point: land is allocated to
the use which yields the highest rent, and the rents of
various land uses are determined by location. Forest cover
change therefore becomes a question of changes in rent of
forest versus non-forest use. While this is a simple and
powerful starting point, more intriguing issues arise when

This paper provides evidence from one of
the poorest countries of the world that the property rights
matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land
state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears
far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made
legal, but transfer rights remain restricted and the
perception of continuing tenure insecurity remains quite
strong. Using a unique panel data set, this study

The need for land-related investment to
ensure sustainable land management and increase productivity
of land use is widely recognized. However, there is little
rigorous evidence on the effects of property rights for
increasing agricultural productivity and contributing toward
poverty reduction in Africa. Whether and by how much
overlapping property rights reduce investment incentives,
and the scope for policies to counter such disincentives,

This paper addresses two vital concerns
in the debate on adaptation to climate change. First, how
can countries prepare to manage the impact of climate-change
induced natural disasters? Second, how can countries ensure
that they have the governmental institutions required to
manage the phenomenal challenge of adaptation to climate
change? A range of economic and institutional measures are
tested for their potential effects on natural disaster

This study uses the Ricardian approach
to examine the economic impact of climate change on
agriculture in Zimbabwe. Net farm revenue is regressed
against various climate, soil, hydrological and
socio-economic variables to help determine the factors that
influence variability in net farm revenues. The study is
based on data from a survey of 700 smallholder farming
households interviewed across the country. The empirical

Albania is among the most vulnerable
countries to external energy shocks and climatic conditions,
because of its high dependency on hydropower for
electricity. Given highly volatile international energy
prices and expected global warming, it is becoming
increasingly important to manage the demand for electricity.
However, the country has long been faced with a significant
problem of electricity metering. About one-third of total

Although much has been written about
climate change and poverty as distinct and complex problems,
the link between them has received little attention.
Understanding this link is vital for the formulation of
effective policy responses to climate change. This paper
focuses on agriculture as a primary means by which the
impacts of climate change are transmitted to the poor, and
as a sector at the forefront of climate change mitigation