In Japan, the sustainable development of
cities and provinces has been vigorously pursued since the
late 1990s under various programs through the initiative of
the central government and local authorities. In 2009, the
World Bank launched an urban development initiative called
Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities (Eco2
Cities Initiative) to help cities in developing countries
achieve greater synergistic ecological and economic

Brazil, China and India have seen
falling poverty in their reform periods, but to varying
degrees and for different reasons. History left China with
favorable initial conditions for rapid poverty reduction
through market-led economic growth; at the outset of the
reform process there were ample distortions to remove and
relatively low inequality in access to the opportunities so
created, though inequality has risen markedly since. By

This paper utilizes the mixed effects
model to measure and decompose spatial disparity in per
capita expenditure in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2010. It
finds a significant decline in spatial disparity in urban
areas and the country as a whole but no substantial change
in rural areas. The decomposition analysis indicates that
average years of education, the percentage of households
with electricity connections, and phone ownership account

Migration has historically been a source
of opportunities for people to improve their lives and those
of their families. Today, the large differences in income
between places-particularly countries-continue to motivate
individuals to escape poverty through migration. The
potential advantages of migration for sending countries are
numerous. Through remittances, migration provides a means of
improving income and smoothing consumption; it enables

Housing development has direct and
indirect impacts on the environment. Through its design,
construction, and operation, housing represents a
significant point of direct consumption of natural
materials, water, and energy. Therefore, greenhouse gas
emissions embodied in housing can be very significant.
Moreover, in Brazil, civil construction is responsible for
the largest percentage of solid waste volume generated in

This note builds on the proactive
measures taken by the Government of China as announced in:
(i) the Decree of the state council of the people's
Republic of China, issued on 9 June 2008, providing
regulations on post-Wenchuan earthquake reconstruction; (ii)
the Directive on Counterpart Assistance (Directive) of 11
June 2008; and (iii) the land policies to support the
reconstruction of Wenchuan (land policies) of 11 June 2008

To ensure sustainable and optimal use of
its common property natural resources, Mexico will need to
strengthen its focus on enhancing stewardship in three key
sectors-forests, water, and energy resources. The key
objectives include the following: 1) identifying options
that would contribute to Mexico's climate agenda and
build social resilience through forest management; 2)
ensuring economically efficient and environmentally and

Twenty years of rapid economic
development in Ghana has done little, if anything, to reduce
the historical North, South divide in standards of living.
While rural development and urbanization have led to
significant poverty reduction in the South, similar dynamics
have been largely absent from Northern Ghana (or
equivalently the North, defined as the sum of the
administrative regions Upper West, Upper East, and the

This study reports on in-depth case
studies of dzud (extreme cold weather during winter,
subsequent to a very dry summer) impacts and responses.
Focus groups, key informant interviews, a household survey,
and photovoice, were used to document individual and
community experiences with dzud, and identify the factors
that make some households and communities more vulnerable,
and some less vulnerable, to the impacts of dzud, and the

This report focuses on the nexus of
environment and gender equality, defined as equality of
access to and control over natural resources and development
benefits; and equality of access to decision-making and
representation for environmental and natural resources
management process. The report provides recommendations to
expand women's opportunities to own land; expand
men's and women's knowledge and participation in

Bolivia benefited from an overall
favorable economic evolution in the last few years,
supported by sound macro-economic indicators. Yet, economic
growth was unevenly distributed between the sectors, with
particularly extractive industries, construction and
financial services showing higher real growth rates, while
agriculture and manufacturing fell behind. This is an area
of concern for the government which-as manifested in the new

Water is everyone's business.
Beside a necessity for living, water has implications on
public health and, most importantly, can cause social
conflicts. This is because water is limited, is difficult to
control, and can easily be polluted. The Integrated Water
Resource Management (IWRM) process is considered worldwide
as a means to reduce social conflicts from competing water
needs as well as to facilitate effective and sustainable