India | World Bank

India - NHAI Technical Assistance Project : P121515 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 05

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

India - North East Rural Livelihoods Project (NERLP) : P102330 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

India - POWER SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IV : P101653 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 10

2013-05-22T04:00:00.000Z

India - Second Gujarat State Highway Project : environmental assessment

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The objective of the Second Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP-II) for India is to provide a clear assessment of potential environmental impacts associated with project interventions, which forms basis for decision making and to evolve the principles for implementation of environmental management in the project, including the implementation arrangements, supervision and monitoring for effective implementation. This summary report presents the Consolidated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the 8 up gradation corridors1 proposed to be taken up in the first year of implementation of GSHP-II. Negative impacts includes: water resources; and air pollution.

The exceptional persistence of India's unorganized sector

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The transformation of India's unorganized sector is important to its modernization, growth, and attainment of regional economic equality. This paper documents several key facts about India's unorganized sector in manufacturing and services. First, the unorganized sector is large, accounting for more than 99 percent of establishments and 80 percent of employment in manufacturing. Second, the unorganized sector is stubbornly persistent -- it accounted for 81 percent of manufacturing employment in 1989 and 2005. Third, this persistence is not due to particular subsets of industries or states, as most industries and states show limited change in unorganized sector employment shares. Fourth, the degree to which localized unorganized activity exists is important as it is associated with weaker production functions for manufacturing firms. Building from these facts, the paper investigates conditions promoting transformation by state-industry. Decomposition exercises find that both within and between adjustments for state-industries weakly reduce unorganized sector shares. The aggregate persistence instead comes from the covariance term, where fast-growing state-industries witness rising unorganized sector activity. Regressions quantify that growth in the organized sector by state-industry reduces the unorganized sector employment share, but only marginally reduces employment levels in unorganized activity. Analysis of the establishment size distribution highlights that entrepreneurship and larger organized sector plants are most important for transitions in the manufacturing sector, while small establishments play a key role in the services sector.

The project Prepare:Program toEstablish Pilots for Access through Renewable Energy is now in the pipeline.

2013-05-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project Prepare:Program toEstablish Pilots for Access through Renewable Energy is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Non-farm diversification, poverty, economic mobility and income inequality : a case study in village India

2013-05-20T04:00:00.000Z

This paper assembles data at the all-India level and for the village of Palanpur, Uttar Pradesh, to document the growing importance, and influence, of the non-farm sector in the rural economy between the early 1980s and late 2000s. The suggestion from the combined National Sample Survey and Palanpur data is of a slow process of non-farm diversification, whose distributional incidence, on the margin, is increasingly pro-poor. The village-level analysis documents that the non-farm sector is not only increasing incomes and reducing poverty, but appears as well to be breaking down long-standing barriers to mobility among the poorest segments of rural society. Efforts by the government of India to accelerate the process of diversification could thus yield significant returns in terms of declining poverty and increased income mobility. The evidence from Palanpur also shows, however, that at the village-level a significant increase in income inequality has accompanied diversification away from the farm. A growing literature argues that such a rise in inequality could affect the fabric of village society, the way in which village institutions function and evolve, and the scope for collective action at the village level. Failure to keep such inequalities in check could thus undermine the pro-poor impacts from the process of structural transformation currently underway in rural India.

Project Information Document (Concept Stage) - Prepare:Program toEstablish Pilots for Access through Renewable Energy - P144678

2013-05-20T04:00:00.000Z

India - National Dairy Support Project : P107648 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 03

2013-05-18T04:00:00.000Z

India - Punjab State Road Sector Project : P090585 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 13

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

India - Second Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project : resettlement plan

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

The objectives of the Second Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Project for India are to: (a) provide additional rail transport capacity, improved service quality and higher freight throughput on the 390 km Kanpur to Mughal Sarai section of the Eastern rail corridor; and (b) develop the institutional capacity of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) to build and maintain the DFC infrastructure network.Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include a) ensure that the displaced persons are informed about their options and rights pertaining to resettlement; b) consulted on, offered choices among, and provided with technically and economically feasible resettlement alternatives; c) prompt and effective compensation at full replacement cost for losses of assets; d) provide assistance and allowances; e) provide equivalent productive assets for the loss of residential house, agricultural land etc.; f) provide support for the transition period (between displacement and livelihood restoration); g) provide land related development assistance (credit facilities, training and job opportunities); h) preference should be given to land based resettlement strategies for displaced persons whose livelihoods are land-based; i) cash compensation level should be sufficient to replace the lost land and assets at full replacement cost in local markets; and j) depreciation and salvage value will not be deducted from the compensation value.

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Closed

2013-05-17T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Low Income Housing Finance Project for India is to provide access to sustainable housing finance for low income households, to purchase, build or upgrade their dwellings. The project has three components. The first component is capacity building. Under this component activities will be financed to strengthen the capacity of National Housing Bank (NHB), qualified intermediary institutions, and Qualified Primary Lending Institutions (QPLIs). The aim will be to develop new financial products, loan standards, risk management tools, and financial literacy and consumer protection capacity. In addition, pilots will be designed, launched and monitored. Building upon and complementing National Housing Bank (NHBs) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems and processes, this component will also support an impact assessment to independently assess the social and household level impact of the project. The second component is financial support for sustainable and affordable housing. This component will finance NHB to refinance, directly or indirectly through qualified intermediary institutions, low-income housing loans made by QPLIs to primary borrowers to purchase, build or upgrade their dwelling. NHB has recently prepared a refinancing scheme for secured low-income housing loans to borrowers with formal and informal incomes. NHB will develop guidelines (to be formulated and reflected in the projects operations manual) for the provision of alternatively secured housing loans to formal and informal borrowers. The third component is project implementation. A Project Implementation Unit (PIU) will be set up within NHB to help implement the project, carry out monitoring and evaluation, be responsible for legal issues and grievance redressal, overseeing and monitoring the social and environmental due diligence (including conducting annual third party audits of QPLIs), keeping the projects operations manual updated, and financial management and carry out any procurement necessary under the project. Low-income housing expertise will also be added to the PIU to provide technical inputs to the procurement of consultants services under component one. External communications on the project will also be covered by NHB staff. Lastly, NHB will also take on responsibility for dissemination and communication activities under its own budget, such as conferences or workshops.

India - India: Karnataka Health Systems : P071160 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 13

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

India - PMGSY Rural Roads Project : P124639 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (Concept Stage) - India: Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Bihar - P132665

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Active

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Low-Income Housing Finance has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project India Second Kerala State Transport Project has changed to Active

2013-05-16T04:00:00.000Z

The project India Second Kerala State Transport Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objective of the Second Kerala State Transport Project for India is to improve condition, traffic flow and road safety with a focus on vulnerable road users on selected roads in Kerala. The project has three components. The first component is road network upgrading and safety improvement. This component will include upgrading 363 km of strategically important state highways to complete network connectivity in the state with the objective of reducing travel time between key socio-economic centers. This component has following two sub-components: (A1) this sub-component will include the associated pre-construction activities including resettlement and utility relocation, environmental management and supervision and quality control services; and (A2) this sub-component will include upgrading 82 km state highway through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) modified annuity concession to pilot the approach in the state. The second component is road safety management. This component will support the strengthening of road safety management systems in Kerala with the objective of reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries from traffic crashes in the state. The third component is institutional strengthening. The objective of this component is to improve the sustainability of Keralas state road network with respect to its functional adequacy, financial viability and capacity of key state road sector institutions to deliver road infrastructure and services that are responsive to road user needs. The following two sub-components will be financed: (a) road sector modernization; and (b) community engagement and road user satisfaction.

India - Andhra Pradesh Road Sector Project : procurement plan

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

India - Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor - I : P114338 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

India - Second Karnataka State Highway Improvement : P107649 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 04

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

Environmental impact assessment report for villages in CRZ area : EIA and EMP

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

The development objective of the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project for India is to reducing the vulnerability of coastal communities to a range of hydro- meteorological and geophysical hazards such as cyclones, storm surges, floods, tsunamis etc.; through building resilient infrastructure, enhancing livelihood and coastal risk management capacity of stake holders and improving the recipient's capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency. Negative impacts include: air pollution, noise pollution, pollution of sea water, spillage of oils and other waste material, deterioration of environmental quality due to improper disposal of fish waste, and land contamination due to diesel. The consultant need to identify feasible and cost-effective mitigation measures that may reduce potentially significant adverse environmental impacts to acceptable levels, capital and recurrent costs of the measures. The consultant needs to specify in a table the description of the measure along with who is responsible and when it has to be implemented. The consultant needs to include relevant drawings and technical specifications that would be required to implement the mitigation measure effectively.

Environmental impact assessment report for villages in CRZ area : environmental setting of project villages

2013-05-15T04:00:00.000Z

A "greenprint" for international cooperation on climate change

2013-05-13T04:00:00.000Z

International negotiations on climate change have been dogged by mutual recriminations between rich and poor countries, constricted by the zero-sum arithmetic of a shrinking global carbon budget, and overtaken by shifts in economic power between industrialized and developing countries. To overcome these "narrative," "adding-up," and "new world" problems, respectively, this paper proposes a new Greenprint for cooperation. First, the large dynamic emerging economies -- China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia -- must assume the mantle of leadership, offering contributions of their own and prodding the reluctant industrial countries into action. This role reversal would be consistent with the greater stakes for the dynamic emerging economies. Second, the emphasis must be on technology generation. This would allow greater consumption and production possibilities for all countries while respecting the global emissions budget that is dictated by the climate change goal of keeping average temperature rise below 2 degrees centigrade. Third, instead of the old cash-for-cuts approach -- which relies on the industrial countries offering cash (which they do not have) to the dynamic emerging economies for cuts (that they are unwilling to make) -- all major emitters must make contributions. With a view to galvanizing a technology revolution, industrial countries would take early action to raise carbon prices. The dynamic emerging economies would in turn eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, commit to matching carbon price increases in the future, allow limited border taxes against their own exports, and strengthen protection of intellectual property for green technologies. This would directly and indirectly facilitate such a technological revolution.

Environmental impact assessment report for village in non-CRZ area

2013-05-13T04:00:00.000Z

The project Punjab High Voltage Distribution System has changed to Closed

2013-05-11T04:00:00.000Z

The project Punjab High Voltage Distribution System has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The development objectives of the Punjab High Voltage Distribution System Carbon Offset Project for India are to: reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide; an increase the efficiency, reliability, and quality of electricity supply in the local distribution system of Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). This carbon offset project consists of the purchase of ERs generated by reduction in technical and commercial losses achieved by PSPCL through implementation of High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) for agricultural consumers. PSPCL is implementing this program with loan assistance from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The funds generated from the sale of emission reduction credits to the World Bank managed Carbon funds shall assist PSPCL in the implementation of this large scale technical loss program. They will provide the financial incentive necessary to ensure full-scale implementation of this large technical loss reduction program.

The project National AIDS Control Support Project has changed to Active

2013-05-04T04:00:00.000Z

The project National AIDS Control Support Project has changed to Active. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the National AIDS Control Support Project for India is to increase safe behaviors among high risk groups in order to contribute to the national goal of reversal of the HIV epidemic by 2017. The project has three components. (1) Scaling up targeted prevention interventions component will support the scaling up of Targeted Interventions (Tis) with the aim of reaching out to the hard to reach population groups who do not yet access and use the prevention services of the program, and saturate coverage among the High Risk Groups (HRGs). In addition, this component will support the bridge population, i.e. migrants and truckers. (2) Behavior change communications will include: (i) communication programs into society and to encourage normative changes aimed at reducing stigma and discrimination in society at large, and in health facilities specifically, as well as to increase demand and effective utilization of testing and counseling services; (ii) financing of a research and evaluation agency to assess the cost-effectiveness and program impact of behavior change communications activities; and (iii) establish and evaluate a helpline at the national and state level to further increase access to information and services. (3) Institutional strengthening component will support innovations to enhance performance management including fiduciary management, such as the use of the computerized financial management system, at national and state levels.

The project Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector has changed to Closed

2013-04-25T04:00:00.000Z

The project Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of the Sustainable Land, Water and Biodiversity Conservation, and Management for Improved Livelihoods in Uttarakhand Watershed Sector Project for India is to improve the productive potential of natural resources and increase incomes of rural inhabitants in selected watersheds through socially inclusive, institutionally and environmentally sustainable approaches. The additional financing aims at scaling-up and mainstreaming the outcome of the activities under Uttarakhand Decentralized Watershed Management Project (UDWDP) and enhancing their sustainability by restoring and sustaining ecosystem functions and biodiversity while simultaneously enhancing income and livelihood functions. The lessons learned from these activities will be scaled up and mainstreamed at state and national levels. The project encompasses three themes: (i) community participation in watershed development and management aimed at integrating land-water use with the objectives of moisture retention and biomass production, while simultaneously enhancing incomes and livelihood options; (ii) strengthening administrative capacity of Gram Panchayats to manage project financial resources, implement sub-projects, deliver legally mandated service, and to sustain those services beyond the duration of the project; and (iii) ensuring equitable participation by all groups, especially the landless and women who rely disproportionately on common resources for fodder, fuel, and other forest products.

The project Rajasthan Road Sector Modernization Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-19T04:00:00.000Z

The project Rajasthan Road Sector Modernization Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-12T04:00:00.000Z

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline.

2013-04-12T04:00:00.000Z

The project Partial Risk Sharing Facility in Energy Efficiency is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project- Additional Financing has changed to Closed

2013-04-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project- Additional Financing has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objectives of the Additional Financing for the Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project (RWSRP) for India are to: (i) strengthen the capacity for strategic planning and sustainable development and management of surface and groundwater resources; and (ii) increase the productivity of irrigated agriculture through improved surface irrigation system performance and strengthen the agricultural support services, involving greater participation of users and the private sector in service delivery in the state. The additional financing for RWSRP will enhance the project's impact and development effectiveness through: (a) scaling up of certain activities and completing balance works; and (b) undertaking some new activities to consolidate the overall water resources planning and irrigation service delivery improvements.

The project Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project has changed to Closed

2013-04-02T04:00:00.000Z

The project Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The main development objectives of the Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring project (RWSRP) are to: a) strengthen the capacity for strategic planning and sustainable development and management of surface and groundwater resources in Rajasthan; and b) increase the productivity of irrigated agriculture. Besides the project management component, there are two main project components. The first component supports the creation of a State Water Resources Planning Department (SWRPD) responsible for planning and regulation and ensuring consistency of implementation of basin plans across departments, the restructuring and capacity building of the irrigation department, and the strengthening of the capacity of the Environment Policy Planning Unit ; the modernization of management information systems in the water sector departments; the piloting of community-based institutions for more sustainable groundwater management and the reinforcement of the data collection and technical capacity of the ground water department; the establishment of a farmer owned and managed water utility; and information, education, and communication campaigns. The second component centers on raising irrigated agricultural productivity, water use efficiency, and irrigation system performance through greater participation of users in systems operations and management, increased cost recovery, and improved agricultural support services delivery.

The project India - CTF support for NMEEE - Super Efficient Equipment Program is now in the pipeline.

2013-03-27T04:00:00.000Z

The project India - CTF support for NMEEE - Super Efficient Equipment Program is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor - II is now in the pipeline.

2013-03-22T04:00:00.000Z

The project Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor - II is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project INTEGRATED FLOOD AND EROSION MANAGEMENT IN NORTHEAST REGION is now in the pipeline.

2013-03-21T04:00:00.000Z

The project INTEGRATED FLOOD AND EROSION MANAGEMENT IN NORTHEAST REGION is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Second Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project is now in the pipeline.

2013-03-20T04:00:00.000Z

The project Second Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project Third Maharashtra Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Jalswarajya-II) is now in the pipeline.

2013-03-15T04:00:00.000Z

The project Third Maharashtra Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (Jalswarajya-II) is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project India: Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Bihar is now in the pipeline.

2013-01-17T05:00:00.000Z

The project India: Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Bihar is now in the pipeline. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The project IN: Development Policy Loan (DPL) to Promote Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh has changed to Closed

2013-01-04T05:00:00.000Z

The project IN: Development Policy Loan (DPL) to Promote Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

The objective of Development Policy Loan to Support Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Development in Himachal Pradesh project for India is to support Himachal Pradesh in the improved management of its natural resources across growth engines of the economy and to promote inclusive green growth and sustainable development. The program is centered on Government's of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP) objective to promote inclusive green growth and sustainable development, which will be supported by an ambitious effort towards sustainability across the key engines of economic growth, namely energy, watershed management industry and tourism. The proposed operation will support Government action in six priority areas that are part of GoHPs environmental reform agenda - to support climate change adaptation and mitigation at the state level; to promote the environmental and social sustainability of hydropower development; to adopt a statewide integrated approach to watershed management as an instrument for rural poverty reduction; to promote environmentally sustainable industrial development by promoting cleaner sources of economic growth and by reducing the pollution of existing industrial plants; to promote environmentally sound tourism and to support the establishment of an institutional mechanism for the integration of geographic information systems in informed decision making.

Flying High Again: Getting Vultures Back in the Sky in Southern India

2012-12-17T18:52:51.000Z

December 17, 2012

With the ban of an anti-inflammatory drug that was known to cause renal failure in vultures and a project created by a World Bank-supported fund, once dwindling vulture populations in the Western Ghats region of southern India are slowly starting to recover.

A few years ago, Subbiah Bharathidasan realized he wasn’t seeing vultures circling the skies anymore. Having grown up in a leather manufacturing town in southern India, he was used to seeing large numbers of the scavenging birds which were attracted by animal carcasses.

When he looked into it, 'Bharathi' as he is known, discovered that vulture populations right across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan had gone into catastrophic decline in the late 1990s.

The cause proved to be a veterinary anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac, administered to cattle to reduce joint pain so that ageing animals would keep working. When cattle died with the drug still in their systems, vultures that ingested their flesh died in vast numbers from renal failure. Three vulture species crashed, with losses of between 97 and 99 percent of their populations. As a result, Asian vultures - once very common - fell into the ranks of the most endangered birds in the world.

INFOGRAPHIC

What's Happening to Biodiversity? (Infographic)

HIGHLIGHTS

Vulture populations right across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan declined dramatically in the late 1990s
A veterinary anti-inflammatory drug called Diclofenac was known to cause renal failure in vultures. The drug was banned in 2006
A Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund project hopes to conserve last viable vulture populations in the Western Ghats section of Southern India
A team of volunteers, Vulture Bridgade, is using innovative methods like a puppet show to spread awareness about the dangers of Diclofenac

VOICES

“I worry about the decline of the vultures. They have a right to live in this world just like us. And without them, carcasses of dead animals are left to rot and maybe spread disease into the waterways,” - M. Sivakumar, a forest ranger in the Madumalai Tiger Reserve in India.

“I want to do everything I can to pass on to them (children) a beautiful world. This is the only asset that I can give to my children and this society,” - Subbiah Bharathidasan, Team Leader, Vulture Brigades.

An uphill task

With the alarm raised, governments across South Asia banned Diclofenac in 2006. Slowly, populations have been starting to recover but it’s an uphill battle - especially as some livestock owners are illegally using the human version of Diclofenac to relieve pain and inflammation in their animals. The human version of the drug still has fatal consequences for vultures.

Through the World Bank-supported Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Bharathi is now leading a project in the Western Ghats area of southern India where one of the last viable wild populations of Indian vultures resides on the banks of the Moyar River.

Bharathi travels from village to village in the state of Tamil Nadu recruiting volunteers to his 'Vulture Brigades' and spreading the word about the dangers of Diclofenac. Crowds flock to the travelling puppet show about vultures that he helped create with local artists. The Vulture Brigades spread the word about Diclofenac and importantly, monitor local vulture communities - watching nests, counting breeding pairs and reporting any signs of fatalities through exposure to Diclofenac.

In just two years, Bharathi has managed to inspire and recruit 36,000 volunteers across the state - and their numbers continue to grow.

At Anaikatty village, Bharathi has persuaded the highly successful village volleyball team to join the Vulture Brigade. At a recent CEPF visit to the village, the volleyball team and other members of the community crammed into a communal hall to discuss the vulture issue with Bharathi, Jack Tordoff from CEPF and the World Bank’s biodiversity specialist Valerie Hickey.

Gauging Effectiveness of Drug Ban

Vulture watchers in the village fill out data sheets, documenting the number and sub-species they observe as well as the types of carcasses they see vultures feeding on. All the information is collected and provided to the State Forest Department and used to gauge the effectiveness of the Diclofenac ban.

Close by, in the Madumalai Tiger Reserve, M. Sivakumar - a ranger with the Forest Department for the past 14 years - has also become a keen vulture watcher. Each day, he combs the area for sightings of tiger, elephant and the native 'bison' called Gaur. He is alarmed by the crash in vulture numbers and so, takes a special interest in the riverside location where a small population appears to be doing well.

“I worry about the decline of the vultures,” he says. “They have a right to live in this world just like us. And without them, carcasses of dead animals are left to rot and maybe spread disease into the waterways.” In recent times, his teams have been forced to bury the carcasses of wild animals like elephants which once would have been quickly dealt with by vultures.

The CEPF project is one of many across the region aimed at rebuilding vulture populations. Recent research of vulture populations in Pakistan by the Peregrine Fund indicates that banning Diclofenac has had a major impact on populations there. In the country’s largest known breeding colony of long-billed vultures in south-east Pakistan, numbers of birds have increased by 55 percent since the ban became effective.

Bharathi, whose travels also take him as far away as New Delhi to lobby ministers and parliamentarians on the need to save vultures, says he does it for his children. “I want to do everything I can to pass on to them a beautiful world,” he says. “This is the only asset that I can give to my children and this society.”

He is sure that before too long, vultures will be back in large numbers, circling the skies once more.

The project Portable Solar/Wind Greenhouse to Grow Fodder for Sustainable Dairy Farms has changed to Closed

2012-11-30T05:00:00.000Z

The project Portable Solar/Wind Greenhouse to Grow Fodder for Sustainable Dairy Farms has changed to Closed. To see more information, see the project information in the World Bank project database

Poor Households in Tamil Nadu Build Institutions to Advocate for Better Services

2012-10-30T11:45:00.000Z

Synopsis
In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the World Bank has been working with local communities and governments to build federations of community groups that can successfully give voice to the poor by advocating for better government services. The project has met with overwhelming success and has been described as a “top 10 percent” project by the World Bank's Quality Assurance Group.

Challenge
Although Tamil Nadu has achieved rapid economic growth in recent years, some 20 percent of the state's households continue to live in poverty. Trapped in a lower socio-economic status perpetuated by limited access to credit, lack of social safety nets, gender inequities, a rigid caste system, and physical disability, these households remain highly marginalized.

Essentially, the state of Tamil Nadu has suffered from a noticeable disconnect between a government that is willing to serve its citizens, but seems to be missing the mark, and an impoverished constituency that is in need of services, but seems unable to access them. Due to this lack of effective communication between service providers and the community, service providers have not received the feedback necessary to design government services so that they match up directly with the needs of the poor.

Approach
In order to generate the feedback necessary to tailor government services to beneficiary needs, the project approach has focused on mobilizing communities to form self-help groups of 10-15 households and that are further organized into federations at the more local level Gram Panchayat. These federations have served as feedback links to service providers and advocated for the improvement of government services among agencies of particular importance to poor citizens including: social welfare, disability welfare, banking, agriculture, animal husbandry, and water and sanitation.

“From the beginning, the project has emphasized intensive community institution building,” says Samik Sundar Das, Senior Rural Development Specialist at the World Bank. “The resulting community-based organizations represent the poorest of the poor and seek to establish effective linkages with elected local government and the private sector.”

In supporting these federations, the project has used a number of participatory mechanisms to amplify the voices of the poor and generate feedback:
• Social audit committees comprised of selected community representatives that hold open meetings to facilitate feedback from the community and provide oversight
• Annual completion of performance scorecards evaluating the performance of both the community-based organization and the project
• Publicizing information on project staff performance, disbursement of funds, and project plans using the World Wide Web and public displays
• Regular learning meetings at the community, district, and state levels to solicit input from beneficiaries on project implementation.
• A vertically integrated grievance redress systems that operates from the community level upward by clearly displaying the mobile phone numbers of key authorities responsible for registering and escalating complaints.
• Providing direct financing to community institutions in order to deepen the sense of ownership that beneficiaries have in prioritizing their needs, designing locally appropriate solutions, and allocating resources to achieve their goals.

Beneficiary Results
The following results have been achieved:

• The project is working with 580,000 households and approximately 23,000 self-help groups comprised of women and disabled citizens across the 16 project districts.
• On average, participating households have seen income increase by 14 percent over the control groups. • The project has supported the creation of 3,500 Common Livelihood Groups which help poor households to diversify their asset base and reduce vulnerability.
• Education and mobilization efforts have yielded improved community participation in local level governance forums. For instance, community meetings known as Gram Sabha have an estimated 75 % participation rate.
• An estimated 95 percent of villages have rated the financial transparency and disclosure mechanisms employed by the community-based organizations as satisfactory.
• World Bank's Quality Assurance Group has been particularly impressed by the project's work stating that it “falls into the top 10 percent of Bank projects” and noting that as a result of “consultation and planning, effective facilitation and genuine joint ownership of different constituencies, the project has the promise of becoming the basic structure for rural development in Tamil Nadu and provides an approach which is serving to bring lessons to other Indian states. One could well spin off two or three of these components into separate projects for replication and scaling-up in the future.”

Bank Contribution
The World Bank's primary focus has been providing technical assistance, facilitating knowledge sharing, and advising on accountability systems and community mobilization. In addition, the World Bank provided an original US$120 million credit, through the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's Fund for the Poorest, which has been further extended with US$154 million in financing through 2014 to support scale up.

Partners
Partnering with local, district, and state governments has been key to the project's overwhelming success. Public and private financial institutions, including commercial banks, have been essential in improving access to financial services for the self-help groups. Partnerships with private companies such as Nokia and Ford have enabled the project to generate employment opportunities for rural youth from poor and vulnerable groups. The formation of economic activity groups has facilitated the strengthening of connections between communities and markets for their goods.

Moving Forward
Moving forward, the project is planning to build on its cornerstone of developing representative and responsive social institutions that serve the interests of the poor. With an additional US$154 million in World Bank support, the project is due to expand to an additional 380,000 households across 25 districts.

“Building community institutions that embody values of participation and inclusion has been the project’s foremost success,” says Kevin J. Crockford, World Bank Rural Development Specialist. “Estimating that 70 to80 percent of beneficiaries have internalized these practices into their way of doing things, it is not hard to believe that the community groups this project has helped support will be sustainable and dynamic institutions for years to come.”

Beneficiary Verification and Feedback Empowers Access to Health Services in Karnataka

2012-10-29T03:15:43.000Z

Synopsis
Effective project feedback mechanisms and mobile technology in the Karnataka Beneficiary Verification System are profoundly changing the quality of public health services in this Indian state. Under this new system, the local public health officials are better able to monitor service delivery, evaluate beneficiary experience, identify service delivery gaps, and respond promptly to concerns such as supply shortages, lack of community involvement, and needs for further training.

Challenge
In the 1990s despite a booming economy a number of vulnerable groups--women, children, rural households, and members of lower castes--in India's southern state of Karnataka continued to suffer from limited access to state healthcare services due to a combination of market failures, constrained public facilities, and reliance on costly private sector care. While Karnataka’s prosperous northern region was achieving excellent health outcomes, its impoverished southern region suffered from human development indicators on par with India’s poorest states.

The health disparities in Karnataka were further complicated by the inability to obtain feedback on project operations. Although public officials were attempting to address the state's challenges, they had no system in place to obtain information on why their efforts were not working.

Approach
In the 2000s, the government of Karnataka took a series of steps to improve basic health among its vulnerable groups and help meet India’s Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal and child mortality by creating an independent Health Task Force, setting health-related human development targets, and crafting a new health sector policy. A key component of this policy shift was establishing a fully functioning system for monitoring and evaluation.

“It was very clear to policymakers that addressing the health disparities was going to require improving the ability to track and verify service delivery,” said Deepak Bhatia, Lead E-Government Specialist for the World Bank.

In response to this need, the World Bank has been providing support to the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare through the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's Fund for the Poorest. The project is making use of advances in mobile technology and handheld devices to create a system capable of monitoring in real-time the quality and quantity of health services delivered to pregnant mothers.

“The beneficiary verification system being piloted in Karnataka is unique in that it brings beneficiary feedback, ground-level data on service delivery, and challenges to service delivery in one place and in real-time,” said Pratheep Ponraj, Senior Information Officer at the World Bank.

In contrast to traditional monitoring systems, which determine effectiveness by focusing almost exclusively on input from service providers, this new system determines effectiveness by putting more emphasis on ensuring that feedback is coming directly from beneficiaries. Expecting mothers receive a photo ID and smart card. When they receive services, the community health worker scans the smart card using the hand-held device and enters any data or feedback on the services provided.
Community health workers then use hand-held devices to record data on services provided, with acknowledgement from beneficiaries, as well as collect feedback from pregnant mothers about the services they receive or to report problems.

“Rather than the service provider saying ‘I delivered services,’ it is the beneficiary saying, ‘I have received services,’” said Bhatia. “The beneficiary is the one who confirms that the service has been delivered.”

In addition, the project has also prepared the government of Karnataka to initiate a voice-based survey that will independently verify service delivery and measure satisfaction among beneficiaries on a regular basis.

Beneficiary Results
The beneficiary verification system is being piloted with nine primary health clinics serving more than 3,000 beneficiaries in two districts. Although small in scale, the pilot project has been highly successful in winning over once-skeptical supporters by demonstrating how systematic beneficiary engagement and handheld mobile technology can yield data that is timely, reliable, and actionable.

“Now I don’t have to wait for data on performance for two years,” said Dr. Ramana Reddy, Health Secretary for the State of Karnataka. “The Beneficiary Verification system shows our performance in real-time – which is what I always wanted. This helps me see where we are in terms of service delivery to beneficiaries. We would like to replicate this across the state in 27 districts.”

In addition, health workers are able to pass along important information on the challenges they face in the field.

“We are getting a much better understanding of common service delivery gaps,” said Bhatia. “For example, we kept getting reports from community health workers that when they went to an expecting mother’s house to do follow-up visits, the door was locked and they couldn’t find them at home. The project received so many reports like this that we investigated what was happening. We eventually discovered that the local cultural norm was that the expectant mother always returns to her parents’ home to deliver her first child. We learned that we needed to adjust our services to account for this issue of migration.”

Similarly, the beneficiary verification system has also enabled nurses to quickly generate reports identifying obstacles to service delivery such as insufficient medical supplies or the lack of a doctor. Such reports are flagged in the monitoring system and used by the health department to make decisions on how to best reallocate resources and address service gaps.

Although the project faced some initial challenges, it has since gained the level of government support necessary to ensure sustainability.

“When we first tried to sell the idea of proactively seeking beneficiary feedback, there was not much clarity on how this information will be useful, among various stakeholders,” said Bhatia. “Now it is different – the government sees this as supporting their work”

World Bank Contribution
The World Bank is working with the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare under the auspices of the Karnataka Health Systems Development and Reform Project (KHSDRP). The World Bank provides US$142 million in financial assistance through a Specific Investment Loan, within the IDA portfolio. The World Bank provided technical assistance in the design of the results monitoring framework and the Information Communication Technology (ICT)-based feedback component through a partnership with Governance Partnership Facility (GPF).

Partners
The Indian government is contributing US$65 million in matching financing to the leadership of the implementing agency, the Karnataka State Department of Health and Family Welfare. The project also cooperates in varying degrees with numerous levels of local government.

The World Bank has helped to facilitate additional funding to support further innovation, pilot projects, and evaluation from sources such as the Health Results Innovation Trust Fund (HRITF), the Governance Partnership Facility (GPF), and the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF). The bilateral and multilateral donors contributing to these funding sources are also important partners in the project’s success.

Moving Forward
This project has served as an important proof of concept for several key principles outlined in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for the Poor. These same principles have the potential to be applied to other public services—agriculture, education, sanitation—both at the national and state government levels. Already, the World Bank and the Karnataka state government are developing plans to replicate this pilot project across the state of Karnataka and expand its reach to cover approximately one million beneficiaries.

Crossing Boundaries

2012-09-06T23:45:00.000Z

As prepared for delivery

Friday, September 7, 2012

World Conservation Congress

Jeju, Korea

Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Sustainable Development

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen - I am honored to have been asked to make the keynote address at this vital gathering of conservation thinking, leadership and action. I am particularly delighted to be here as I had the privilege and honor to work at IUCN a number of years ago. It feels good to be back again!

This Congress brings together some of the world’s smartest thinkers on the policy and practice of conservation and environmental protection. If anyone is going to guide the world in new ways of thinking and acting, it is this group of 7,000 or more which traverses all spheres - private, public, civil society, multilateral, large, small, left, right.

You, as a group, are not at the fringes of decision-making - you are at the very heart of it. Your scientific research, dedication, pursuit of better policies and connections to community all go towards much better, more informed decision-making.

Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to cross some of the boundaries that very often define our perceptions and determine the work in our institutions. My perspectives changed as I moved from IUCN to working with private companies during my time at the World Bank’s private sector arm - the IFC - and they’re changing again now as Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank.

Today, I am convinced that we will have to make a bigger effort to cross boundaries – between our organizations, across public and private sectors and within civil society - so that we reach a better future for our planet.

Let’s take a look at just some of the evidence of environmental decline before us. Evidence is one of the many things that the World Bank and IUCN share.

· The number and size of populations of the world’s species have decreased by almost a third over the last 100 years and this is projected to continue decreasing

· Over 60 percent of ecosystems are in worse shape now than 50 years ago

· 85 percent of ocean fisheries are fully exploited or over-exploited or depleted

· The condition of coral reefs has deteriorated by 38 percent since 1980

· 80 percent of people live in areas where the quality of rivers is threatened

· Climate change is worsening everything. Flood disasters increased by 230 percent and drought disasters by 38 per cent in the 20 years to the early 2000s.

At the same time that this assault on nature has been occurring, we have enjoyed an unrivalled period of economic growth which has seen 660 million people lifted out of poverty in the past 20 years. Don’t get me wrong - we are not saying we need to stop growth to protect nature. Rather, we are calling for a different kind of growth - a greener and more inclusive growth.

An indispensable part of this will be realizing the potential of ecosystems within our economies and to put nature at the foundation of economic strategies. Nature needs to be firmly on the agendas of finance ministers and discussed in board rooms with the focus on building the public-private partnerships to invest in our natural wealth.

Are we ready to do this? Increasingly the World Bank Group is. Now let me share with you three reasons for my cautious optimism that others are ready too.

Firstly, governments are increasingly stepping up - whether by increasing the number and extent of areas under protection or by better recognizing the value of nature and ecosystem services.

Governments, however, are facing daily trade-offs - for example - building a road through a park so that farmers can have better access to markets and/or conserving a road-less national park. Or, they’re weighing up a marina in a mangrove area to boost tourism versus protecting it for its fish breeding, storm protection and carbon storage values.

Effective conservation cannot and will not be driven just by conservation for conservation’s sake. Fortunately, governments increasingly recognize that maintaining and, eventually, accounting for their natural capital comes down to a question of social and economic development. There may not be simple win-wins all the time; but there may be approaches that can come close enough.

We are seeing more and more good examples. In the State of Acre in the northwestern corner of Brazil, the State Government has been making a concerted effort to bring services to its dispersed rural population and to move away from a growth model based on extraction of forest products and expansive agriculture. Where previously 90 percent of Acre’s timber extraction was illegal, now the majority comes from approved forest management plans. Real GDP has increased by over 44 percent and deforestation rates have declined by 70 percent. Acre is showing that safeguarding a state’s natural wealth will also help lift its people out of poverty.

In Liberia, the government has installed a chain of custody system for exporting logs that is helping reduce illegal logging and bringing in much-needed funding for conservation. The Government is also enforcing fishing regulations and arresting vessels found to be fishing illegally.

To manage trade-offs, governments need better information on the economic and social effects of their decisions. More and more governments are embracing the need to use natural capital accounts alongside GDP. At the World Bank Group, we are working with countries from Botswana to the Philippines to put the value of natural capital into the center of their economic decision making. After the 50:50 Campaign at Rio, 62 countries have signed on to support natural capital accounting along with the heads of close to 90 companies. These companies are doing this for competitive reasons - they need to be able to value their assets over the long term.

That brings me to the second reason for my optimism -- the growing leadership coming from parts of the private sector, be they small businesses and local entrepreneurs or Fortune 500 companies.

I see real traction emerging from the advent of rigorous performance standards and principles for corporate behavior. For example, we are beginning to see evidence that the revised IFC Performance Standard on Biodiversity is driving major change both at corporate headquarters and, more importantly, on the ground.

Companies working in developing countries are increasingly investing in biodiversity expertise, in community development, environmental restoration and long-term conservation capacity building. The big shift is that companies are beginning to see this as more than reputational risk management and rather as a way to improve their operations and manage business risk, a key part of creating value. Mainstreaming nature conservation across their operations makes good business sense. Why? Because many companies depend on freshwater, genetic resources, climate regulation, and natural hazard protection to run their businesses successfully and to see their profits grow.

As well as making good business sense, conserving nature and maintaining the resilience of ecosystems upon which people and business depend, allows companies to build trust in the communities in which they operate and among stakeholders abroad. This creates something many call a “social license to operate”.

We are beginning to see more and more companies engage with conservation organizations and external experts to better understand the environment in which they are working. This has inspired some companies to go beyond the minimization of project impacts but also to consider how they might contribute to conservation more broadly.

One example is Rio Tinto which launched its biodiversity strategy at this Congress in 2004. That strategy committed the company to making a Net Positive Impact on biodiversity through its operations. For the past seven years, the company has been piloting the strategy - working alongside government, conservation groups and civil society in Madagascar to build public sector capacity, develop livelihood alternatives, and establish offsets to conserve high biodiversity value areas.

Other examples include Shell in Gabon and Peru LNG which have been working together with the Smithsonian Institution to develop science-based assessment and monitoring of project impacts.

I also see the first few encouraging examples from the finance sector in integrating nature and ecosystem services protection into their investments.

That takes me to my third reason for optimism - that the need for action is overcoming global political sclerosis.

Rio+20 confirmed for me that while at the global level we lack political leadership today to gain consensus, global inaction is being overwhelmed by the ideas, the innovation and the real commitment to action from smart policymakers, city mayors, community leaders and CEOs.

Like-minded coalitions across sectors emerged on almost all issues. People gravitated to ideas and approaches that promised action - whether that was about ocean health, natural capital accounting, access to sustainable energy or reducing short-term climate pollutants.

For the more than 1000 business executives who attended Rio, the message was that action on sustainability is all about future markets, future products, future employees, future investors, and competitiveness linked to sustainability as shared value.

There was an almost overwhelming sense that while we need global governance for ultimate speed and scale, we cannot afford to wait for international agreements to do what everyone knows needs to be done. For every square bracket negotiated, a species is lost and that window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller.

…………………

So, while I have these reasons for cautious optimism --- I am also speaking from a place of urgency. To address the challenges ahead, each and every one of us will have to cross boundaries and we in the conservation community will need to move collectively outside our comfort zones. To this end, I have three appeals.

First to governments: Governments have responsibilities to their citizens that are measured in units of finance – jobs, tax receipts, GDP. We are not naïve: There can be and will be tensions between conservation and development; that’s why public servants need to be armed with the tools and information they need to make fully informed decisions. And that’s why those of you here who work in government should unpack the economic benefits of conservation and translate them into real numbers through natural capital accounting to transform conservation from a discrete sector to an engine of inclusive green growth.

Second to the Private Sector: To be part of the solution, companies need to raise the profile of nature conservation in their boardrooms and recognize the value of nature to their bottom lines. On the ground, companies need to commit to best management practices which will sometimes mean working beyond their immediate project areas to offset impacts and to secure supply chains. This raises technical, political and governance challenges which is why companies need to reach out and offer a hand in partnership to governments, to conservation organizations and even to each other. We hear from the private sector the need for a level playing field when it comes to best practice in biodiversity management. A coordinated and loud voice from industry groups towards government regulators might be part of the solution.

We also need to find ways to bring to scale financial instruments like green bonds, conservation banking, subsidy reform, license to operate agreements for generating new potential sources of support so that good practice can be rewarded with access to capital.

Third to Civil Society: Very often, civil society, conservation organizations and academic institutions are the backbone of any commitment to conserving nature.

But it is important to remember that it’s governments that have the main responsibility for the stewardship of natural assets. These are their citizen’s natural assets; governments must manage them. The rest of us – civil society, donors and philanthropists – must work together, provide them support while demanding transparency and holding them to account, so that they can do more and do it better.

We in the conservation community need to see the private sector as full partners for solutions and not just a threat or a fundraising opportunity. For example, in public private partnerships - if we were able to develop aggregated offsets, is the conservation community collectively ready to provide the means for verification?

Across all these areas of engagement, the World Bank Group stands ready to do its part and to do more:

We entered the debate on green growth in May 2012 through our report ‘Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development’. We want to contribute, in particular by focusing on the inclusiveness of green growth, on the importance of sound fiscal policies - like the removal of inefficient fuel subsidies - and on ensuring that nature considerations are taken into account in economic decision-making. Our work on green growth is, importantly, supported by the Korean Government.

With new energy and emphasis around Natural Capital Accounting stemming from Rio, it is crucial to keep up the political support and momentum, attract key new country partners, and visibly demonstrate action - including through our global partnership called WAVES.

We also want to do more to streamline nature considerations into our own operations by coordinating the implementation of the IFC’s Performance Standards and the World Bank’s operational policies. And I expect that the Bank Group will work more on aggregated offsets as a means of bringing public and private interests together to conserve at scale within a transparent framework.

We are also working on enhancing environmental law enforcement to ensure that the benefits of nature accrue to national economies and local communities - not thugs and organized crime.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we begin this Congress:

· Let’s agree that we need to do more, better and with more far-reaching consequences

· Let’s together move away from our ardent attachment to old ideologies, old attitudes that stop us from finding solutions together. What we need today is innovation, communication and partnerships between governments, communities, financial institutions, companies and conservation organizations.

· The type and range of solutions will be as diverse as species and ecosystems. Just as nature is not just a set of charismatic species, we will need more than a set of boutique projects and anecdotes to show large-scale impact. We will need to prioritize without devaluing any one community’s chance of life. We will need brave thinkers at the table, all types of partnerships, people with the humility and patience to make them work. Who better than those of us already humbled by the glory of nature and the complexity of its life support?

· Let’s cross our boundaries together.

· I look forward to being with you every step of the way.

Connecting the Americas: Filling in the ICT Gaps

2012-07-30T12:43:00.000Z

July 30, 2012

The next digital divide for Latin America & the Caribbean concerns Internet access and the many rural areas in the region that are still without it.

In the 1980s, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean spearheaded reforms in the telecommunications sector, and many countries around the world followed suit.

They started by privatizing state-owned incumbents and then opened up the sector to new entrants which led to a competitive market, particularly for mobile operators. The gap in access to voice telephony has largely been met now, due to the rapid rollout of mobile networks. However, the next digital divide concerns Internet access and the many rural areas in the region that are still without it.

The Connect Americas Summit 2012, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union in Panama City, brought together leaders from the public and private sectors, as well as international and regional development agencies, to identify resources required to close information and communication technology (ICT) gaps in the region.

Doyle Gallegos, the World Bank's lead ICT policy specialist who attended the summit, says, "We are now at the base of the next wave of reforms which will position the region to fully benefit from all the infrastructure that has been put in place. In this next stage, we will need to focus on connecting the rural areas and on the uptake of ICT applications to boost productivity, improve access to information and to innovation platforms."

Many of the country representatives voiced concerns that the private operators were not reaching the remote and rural areas. These areas are often seen as unprofitable or are in rough terrain which makes infrastructure rollout difficult. Improving access in these areas will require examining how the private sector can be incentivized to reach them and to look at public-private partnership arrangements where necessary. Target beneficiaries will need to include key institutions such as hospitals, schools, and community centers.

As Internet service at faster speeds becomes more available, the benefits and impact should increase as well. Yet, to fully leverage this new capacity does require some help. How people use ICTs becomes a key factor. Hence there is a role for governments to play in facilitating and triggering ICT use – such as through using ICTs themselves to provide basic services, and by ensuring a secure online environment where e-commerce, e-government, and e-entrepreneurship can flourish.

The World Bank is supporting the connectivity agenda in the region through the Nicaragua Rural Telecommunications Project and the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (CARCIP).

RELATED RESOURCES

Maharashtra leading the way in implementing several water sector reforms, says new World Bank report

2012-07-27T05:55:56.000Z

Mumbai, July 27, 2012: At least 40-70 percent extra water can be made available for urban Indian homes at no extra cost if physical and financial leakages in the delivery of Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services are plugged. Maharashtra is showing the way and has been implementing several measures to plug these inefficiencies, says a new World Bank report.

The Report, Improving Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Services – Lessons from Business Plans for Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana and International Good Practices seeks to address the key issues facing the water sector in India’s states and cities. The report highlights the different water supply scenarios prevailing in three states – Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana. While all three states present a similar picture in terms of access to piped water, they differ considerably when it comes to the quality of service provided. For instance, while towns in Haryana have the highest average quantity of water available at 95-105 Liters Per Capita Daily (Lpcd), supply is irregular and varies widely between seasons. Towns in Maharashtra on the other hand have less water available at 78 Lpcd but benefit from a more regular supply. Rajasthan, the desert state, has the least availability of water and the least reliable supply, with only 162 out of the state’s 222 towns receiving water every day. The cost recovery scenario presents an even more diverse picture. While the average recovery rate in Maharashtra is 68 percent, it’s 35 percent in Rajasthan and a mere 11 percent in Haryana.

With higher recovery rates Maharashtra is clearly at an advantage as it has already begun implementing many of the reforms needed to reduce inefficiencies in the delivery of WSS services. The State is introducing consumer survey, water and energy audits in its Urban Local Bodies (ULB), GIS mapping, bulk metering, hydraulic modeling, computerized billing and collection, ring fencing of WSS operations among other measures as part of phase one under the Maharashtra Sujal Nirman Abhiyan (MSNA), an incentive based reform system, the Report says.

Although there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution, the Report highlights many good examples from Australia, Algiers, and Brazil where water utilities started from a similar scenario but managed to reduce their inefficiencies over a span of 5-10 years. India, while maintaining the targeted subsidies for the poor, can also provide more and better quality water to its citizens, the Report states.

In the second phase, the Maharashtra government under the MSNA program will introduce piloting of 24x7 water supply, city-wide metering, sanitation systems, 100 percent billing and collection, increase in the autonomy of service providers and adopting of service standards and tariff guidelines. In the third phase most ULBs in Maharashtra are expected to implement activities including 24x7 water supply across cities, corporatization of utilities, and regulating mechanisms.

“This approach, we hope, will help us increase efficiency and deliver better services to our people across the state. The task to set in place autonomous, accountable and customer-oriented service providers that international experience indicates is necessary is daunting but achievable,” said Ms. Malini Shankar, Principal Secretary Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Government of Maharashtra.

International experience indicates the importance of creating institutions with clearly defined roles and responsibilities between policy makers, designers, and service providers along with clear lines of accountability. Johannesburg provides an example of how separating policy and regulation from other functions improved a utility’s management. Brazil and Australia provide examples of models that can suit municipalities of different sizes and capacity, the Report adds.

“The need of an average water user is at the heart of these recommendations. A well serving utility needs to provide continuous good quality water at affordable rates. This report identifies bottlenecks and what can be achieved as there is a growing realization that creating infrastructure alone will not solve the problem. Better management of urban water supply services will help us arrive at a sustainable solution. Policies are moving in the right direction. These moves need to be consolidated and their introduction speeded up,” said Ms. Smita Misra, Senior Economist, and W. Kingdom, Lead Water & Sanitation Specialist, South Asia Sustainable Development Unit, World Bank.

Apart from institutions, it is imperative to build the human resources that are capable of designing, creating and managing the complexities of urban water provision, the Report says. For this, a municipal cadre of dedicated professionals will be needed to provide the highest levels of service to consumers. Capacity can either be built through class room training and /or twinning with the state-of-the-art utilities, to contracting out to professional service providers or public private partnerships (PPPs). A number of models can be explored under the capacity building program of JNNURM II, it adds.

Contacts:
World Bank, India: Nandita Roy 91-11-41479220 nroy@worldbank.org

Read the Report at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/07/16498865/india-improving-urban-water-supply-sanitation-service-provision-vol-1-2-lessons-business-plans-maharashtra-rajasthan-haryana-international-good-practices

For more information about World Bank activities in India, visit www.worldbank.org.in

Transform, Innovate, and Connect: A New Strategy for Information and Communication Technology

2012-07-25T12:15:00.000Z

July 25, 2012

The World Bank Group aims to help developing countries use ICT for greater development impact.

A dramatic increase in use of mobile phones and the Internet; plunging prices of computing and mobile internet devices; the increasing prevalence of social media: these are some of the rapid changes seen in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector over the last decade.

The World Bank Group’s new strategy for the ICT sector for the period 2012-2015 reflects this new context. It aims to help developing countries use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovations and productivity gains, and improve competitiveness.

“Information and communication technologies can help reduce poverty, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance,” explains World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

Three Priority Areas

The new strategy emphasizes the transformative potential of ICT – in areas such as accountability, energy, and health – while maintaining a steady focus on ICT-enabled innovation and ICT infrastructure. Bank Group support will be directed to three priority areas:

Transformation: Making development more open and accountable, for instance, by facilitating citizen feedback to governments and service providers; and improving delivery of services, such as education, health, and financial services.

Innovation: Developing competitive IT-based service industries and fostering ICT innovation across the economy – with a focus on job creation, especially for women and youth.

Connectivity: Leveraging private investments to help scale up affordable access to broadband – including for women, disabled citizens, disadvantaged communities, and people living in remote and rural areas.

“The World Bank Group’s new strategy will help our client countries take advantage of the opportunities that ICT offers across all sectors of the economy, drawing on our unique expertise in public-private partnerships in the ICT sector.”

Working with client countries

The new strategy builds on the Bank Group’s experience working with client countries on ICT sector reforms, infrastructure development, and electronic government:

Over the 2000s, Bank support for ICT sector reforms helped attract an estimated $30 billion in private investment for mobile network infrastructure in the least developed countries. The IFC’s $2.3 billion in telecommunications infrastructure investments and MIGA’s $550 million in political risk guarantees also supported private investment in mobile service providers in difficult and high-risk environments.
Bank Group support for ICT applications has grown rapidly over the last decade, and over 70 percent of the 1,700 projects in the Bank’s active portfolio now have ICT components.
Since 2007, the Bank Group has intensified its support for public-private partnerships for broadband and high-speed Internet, helping bring down retail prices and increasing the take-up of services, in some instances by a factor of 10.

Stakeholders from 17 low- and middle-income countries and four OECD countries provided inputs for the new strategy through a series of face-to-face and online consultations. The document also draws on a review by the Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group.

For Rashad-Rudolf Kaldany, IFC Vice President for Global Industries, “The Strategy recognizes the vital role of the private sector in improving access to information infrastructure and services in developing countries.” He explains that “IFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter to help unlock the potential of ICT for development.”

Jose Luis Irigoyen, the World Bank’s Director for Transport, Water, and Information and Communication Technologies, underlines how “ICT offers new tools to directly address poverty by providing access to information, contributing to pro-poor market developments such as microfinance and mobile money, and equalizing opportunities in rural areas.”

Collaborating across the Bank Group

Under the new strategy, the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA will work together to assist countries in unlocking the opportunities offered by ICT.

For instance, the World Bank will provide support for appropriate policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks, as well as catalytic investment in ICT backbone infrastructure; IFC will provide financing and advisory services to mobile operators; and MIGA will provide guarantees to support the roll-out of telecommunications networks and services.

“MIGA has contributed to the rapid growth of access to ICT services in emerging countries by mitigating the political risk of investments,” says Michel Wormser, MIGA’s Vice President and COO.

He adds that, “Under the new WBG strategy, MIGA will make available its insurance capacity to further accelerate ICT investments in higher-risk countries, notably fragile and post-conflict countries, where ICT will be key to growth, job creation, sharing of knowledge, and governance.”

The ICT strategy will adopt a new approach to implementation, including country diagnostics to help prioritize Bank Group interventions at the country level and leverage more partnerships with external sources of expertise. A results-based framework will be used to track progress.

In this video, Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development, speaks about how
the World Bank will leverage ICTs in its work.

RELATED RESOURCES

‘Maximizing Mobile’ Report Highlights Development Potential of Mobile Communications

2012-07-17T15:00:00.000Z

July 17, 2012

The new World Bank study says that about three-quarters of planet’s population now has access to a mobile phone.

Around three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone and the mobile communications story is moving to a new level, which is not so much about the phone but how it is used, says a new report by the World Bank and infoDev, its technology entrepreneurship and innovation program.

The number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now, of which nearly 5 billion are in developing countries. Ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population.

Innovation in Action

In India, the state of Kerala’s mGovernment program has deployed over 20 applications and facilitated more than 3 million interactions between the government and citizens since its launch in December 2010.

Kenya has emerged as a leading player in mobile for development, largely due to the success of the M-PESA mobile payment ecosystem. Nairobi-based AkiraChix, for example, provides networking and training for women technologists.

In the West Bank & Gaza, SoukTel’s JobMatch service is helping young people find jobs. College graduates using the service reported a reduction in the time spent looking for employment from an average of twelve weeks to one week or less, and an increase in wages of up to 50 percent.

The report,Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile, says more than 30 billion mobile applications, or “apps,” were downloaded in 2011 – software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools.

This trend is also benefiting developing countries where people are increasingly using mobile phones to create new livelihoods and enhance their lifestyles, while governments are using them to improve service delivery and citizen feedback mechanisms.

"Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development – from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,” says World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

She adds that the challenge now is “to enable people, businesses, and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally-relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities.”

A mobile revolution

This new report, the third in the World Bank’s series on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development, analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, and the rise of data-based services, including apps, delivered to handheld devices.

The report explores the consequences for development of the emerging “app economy,” especially in agriculture, health, financial services and government, and how it is changing approaches to entrepreneurship and employment.

For Tim Kelly, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report, “The mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve: mobile devices are becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth roughly every 18 months and expanding into rural areas.”

“We have included the latest available data and indicators for the mobile sector for more than 150 economies in the report,” explains Shaida Badiee, director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group, adding that, “the spread of mobile phones means we now have data that can be used for cross-country comparisons.”

Developing mobile applications

The report emphasizes the role of governments in enabling mobile application development. In the agriculture sector, for instance, many of the mobile services that are being developed – such as information services for Senegalese farmers or a traceability scheme for coffee-growers in Colombia – are reliant on public funding and are still in pilot stages.

“Government support is needed to develop sound business models, foster ICT skills, and ensure that the infrastructure is in place and affordable,” explains Kelly.

The study also highlights how mobile innovation labs – shared spaces for training developers and incubating start-ups – can help bring new apps to market. For instance, infoDev, in collaboration with the Government of Finland and Nokia, has established five regional mobile innovation labs (mLabs) in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam.

Click to Read
IC4D 2012:
Maximizing Mobile

“Most businesses based around mobile app technology are at an early stage of development, but may hold enormous employment and economic potential, similar to that of the software industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Supporting the networking and incubation of entrepreneurs is essential to ensure that such potential is tapped,” says Valerie D’Costa, program manager of infoDev.

The study benefits from research funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, the Korea Trust Fund for ICT4D, and UKaid.

Infographic: Maximizing Mobile

The developing world is now more mobile that the developed world, and the near ubiquity brings new opportunities. Click to view the full infographic.

Report highlights

Tim Kelly, one of the authors of the report, presents highlights from the report in the following video:

RELATED RESOURCES

Zoellick to Join Harvard’s Belfer Center, Peterson Institute

2012-06-27T13:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2012—Robert B. Zoellick today said he would join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC after he steps down as World Bank Group President on June 30.

Zoellick will become the Peterson Institute’s first Distinguished Visiting Fellow as well as also becoming a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

“I appreciate the opportunity to engage with the scholars and practitioners at Harvard’s Belfer Center and the Peterson Institute for International Economics,” said Zoellick. “I hope to work on the intersection of economics and security, applying history to policy questions of today. Both institutions have been at the cutting edge of research and policy development, and I have benefited greatly from both in the past.”

As the 11th president of the World Bank, Mr. Zoellick turned around an institution in trouble in 2007, recapitalized the Bank, and expanded financing for the poorest countries following the food, fuel and financial crises of recent years. He modernized the Bank by making it more accountable, flexible, fast-moving, transparent, and focused on good governance and anti-corruption. He has increased representation of developing countries in governance and staffing and encouraged developing countries to set their own priorities rather than have them dictated from the Bank. His record has also been marked by an increased role for the private sector through the bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which under his leadership has recruited sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to invest in poor countries, especially in Africa.

Before his term at the Bank, Mr. Zoellick served as Vice Chairman, International, of the Goldman Sachs Group as well as Managing Director and Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Board of International Advisors from 2006-2007. Previously, he was Deputy Secretary of State in 2005-2006 and a member of the Cabinet as U.S. Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005.

From 1985 to 1993, he served at the Treasury and State Departments in various posts, as well as White House Deputy Chief of Staff. He was the lead U.S. official in the "Two-plus-Four" process of German unification in 1989-90 and served as "sherpa" for the preparation of the G-7/8 Economic Summits in 1991-92.

Mr. Zoellick graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College in 1975 and earned a J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government in 1981.

Contacts:

In Washington: Frederick Jones, (202) 473-9336, fjones@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

Innovative Fund to Boost Food Security and Farmer Livelihoods is Launched

2012-06-18T19:04:43.000Z

New Approach to Financing Innovations in Food Security and Agricultural Development Unveiled at G20 Summit in Mexico

AgResults: Innovation in Research and Delivery

LOS CABOS, Mexico (June 18, 2012) – An innovative initiative that will enhance global food security and improve the livelihoods of developing country farmers through prizes and other market-based incentives was announced today by G20 Leaders. With a results-driven funding model that rewards innovators for tackling some of the biggest problems in food security and agricultural development, AgResults addresses global challenges in food security and agriculture by generating market-oriented solutions. The initiative aims to achieve significant improvements in the wellbeing of the poor and vulnerable in developing countries with a fund of up to $100 million, to be administered by the World Bank. The governments of Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are supporting this effort.

AgResults uses pull mechanisms to encourage innovation through results-based payments such as prizes that are typically paid out when certain objectives or milestones have been met. Such financing mechanisms have seen success in generating innovation and market-oriented solutions in other domains such as healthcare, and AgResults aims to deliver similar gains in global food security and agricultural development.

AgResults was born out of the realization that there is a great need for increased investment in global food security and agriculture, in particular from the private sector. The FAO estimates that world food production must double by 2050 to feed a growing world population, while nearly a billion people suffer from a lack of crucial micronutrients in their diet—a hidden hunger that inhibits the development of children and reduces adult productivity. Recognizing these gaps, leaders at the June 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto committed to exploring innovative, results-focused ways of harnessing private sector innovations in food security and agricultural development in developing countries. This commitment involved a two-year effort by committed partners to develop AgResults, culminating in today’s launch of the initiative in support of the Summit priority of enhancing global food security. AgResults addresses this priority directly through new funding and a focus on bringing new, innovative approaches to bear on global food security issues.

In the coming years, AgResults will launch a series of pilots that address some of the biggest problems in global food security and agricultural development. The initiative’s portfolio of pilots will represent a diverse mix of agriculture and food security issues, testing different types of pull mechanisms in different regions globally. The initial set of pilots, focusing on maize production in Sub-Saharan Africa, include:

· Incentivizing the adoption of on-farm storage technology for smallholder farmers;

· Encouraging innovative distribution of a breakthrough technology to reduce aflatoxin contamination; and

· Building a market for new vitamin A-enhanced varieties of maize.

Additional pilots will be explored in the coming years, potentially including livestock vaccines and fertilizer innovation as well as new ideas related to increasing crop yields, decreasing post-harvest losses, increasing livestock productivity and improving nutrition.

For further information, please visit www.worldbank.org/cfp/agpm

Contacts:

In Washington: Amy Stilwell, (202) 458-4906, astilwell@worldbank.org

In Mexico: Fernanda Zavaleta, 52-55-5480-4252, fzavaleta@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

Global Mobility Unaffected by Financial Crisis, as Remittances Remained Resilient

2012-06-13T13:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012 – The global financial crisis of 2008/09 has not sent migrant workers streaming back home, despite worsening employment prospects and anti-immigration rhetoric in some destination countries, says a new book on migration and remittances, published by the World Bank.

In fact, migrants may have mitigated some of the pain of the crisis as they tend to work for lower wages, receive fewer benefits and rely relatively little on the state, says the ‘Migration and Remittances during the Global Financial Crisis and Beyond’ book.

“During the crisis, remittances continued to provide a steady source of foreign currency to developing country economies at a time when foreign aid remained flat and foreign direct investment declined sharply,” said Otaviano Canuto, Vice President, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, at the World Bank.

Removing restrictions on human mobility may help enhance financial flows among nations and alleviate some of the adverse effect of the crisis, says the book. With migrant workers projected to remit about $399 billion to their home countries during 2012, compared to $372 billion in 2011, remittances are the most tangible link between migration and development.

Although many of the 215 million international migrants are facing worsening employment prospects in some destination countries, particularly high-income Europe, their cash support to families in their home countries has remained resilient, posting, in 2009, the only decline in recent memory. Even then, remittances decreased by a modest 5.2 percent, in sharp contrast with the precipitous declines seen in global private capital flows.

“The resilience of remittances is good news for developing countries as they remain one of the less volatile sources of foreign exchange earnings, particularly for the less developed countries. At the household level, these cash transfers are, in many cases, the only lifeline for families in the home countries,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank.

However, despite many years of recording ever-increasing volumes of remittances, leveraging this rather large and growing source of funds for socio-economic development remains a key challenge, with the vast majority of remittances used for maintaining families and for the purchase of consumer goods.

The book, which is the first comprehensive study of remittances during the global financial crisis, is a compilation of 45 separate studies that identify and discuss remittance practices across the world and possibilities for the future. Each study is authored by a different expert who analyzes certain countries and certain aspects of remittances, ranging from patterns of remittance flows to usage of remittances received by communities and households.

The book is co-edited by Dilip Ratha, Manager of the Bank’s Migration and Remittances Unit; Ibrahim Sirkeci, Professor of Transnational Studies and Marketing at Regent’s College, London; and Jeffrey Cohen, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Ohio State University, USA, who also co-author the book’s first chapter on remittance flows and practices during the crisis.

“Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of return of migrants, even as the financial crisis reduced employment opportunities in the United States and Europe, with many countries, such as Spain, offering financial incentives to encourage migrants to return,” said Sirkeci.

Migration, in fact, was a strategic response to the financial crisis. Like any political or environmental catastrophe, the financial crisis caused human insecurity and people in developing countries responded by crossing borders or moving domestically to survive the impact of the crisis.

“Remittances have remained resilient and, barring the decline in 2009, have maintained a healthy growth momentum. However, since the book went to press, the global economy continues to experience serious bouts of volatility, which could affect migrant earnings and, hence, remittances,” said Ratha.

For receiving countries, a key factor behind the resilience in remittances is the diversification of migrant destinations.

Countries in South Asia and East Asia with many migrants in the United States, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries continued to register increased remittance inflows. One study in the book concludes that only a prolonged global slowdown would cause a decline in remittance flows to India, the largest recipient of remittances in 2011, with $64 billion.

In contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean region, whose migrants are concentrated in the United States, suffered a dramatic decline in remittances throughout the financial crisis. Mexico, the world’s third largest recipient of remittances ($24 billion in 2011), saw a significant decline in remittance inflows from the United States during the crisis. A similar strong impact was found in El Salvador. Both cases underline the fact that many Latin American countries were vulnerable to the effects of crisis, with a special impact on the urban youth in these countries, who face more difficult labor market prospects and declining opportunities to migrate.

Studies related to the effect of the crisis in the European Union on remittance-receiving countries found that Spain has been the fastest-growing immigration destination for the past decade and is now the fifth largest remittance-sending country, after the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Switzerland.

In the East Asia and Pacific region, remittances account for as much as 12 percent of GDP, as in the case of New Zealand and Pacific island economies, while remittances have been keeping the national economy afloat in the Philippines for the past three decades.

Also, due to the depreciation of local currencies of many remittance-recipient countries, such as India, Mexico, and the Philippines, migrants from those countries turned to investment-oriented remittances in South Asia and East Asia where goods, services, and assets suddenly became significantly inexpensive and affordable.

The book recommends that countries develop policies that reduce restrictions on human mobility and develop programs to facilitate the use of remittances for long-term investments and promoting entrepreneurship. Such changes, tailored to both host and recipient country needs, can strengthen the contribution of remittances to development.

Eliminating the complexity of transactions and reducing transaction costs would also help increase the volume of remittances utilizing official channels, to enable many small nations, in particular, to reap the socio-economic benefits of migrant earnings.

The book is available for purchase at http://publications.worldbank.org/18826

The latest migration and remittances data are available at www.worldbank.org/migration

Interact with migration experts at http://blogs.worldbank.org/peoplemove/

Contacts:

In Washington: Indira Chand +1 (202) 458-0434, +1 (703) 376-7491, ichand@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Natalia Cieslik +1 (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

WB Urges Developing Countries to Strengthen Domestic Fundamentals, to Weather Global Economic Turmoil

2012-06-12T17:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2012 – Developing countries should prepare for a long period of volatility in the global economy by re-emphasizing medium-term development strategies, while preparing for tougher times, says the World Bank in the newly-released Global Economic Prospects (GEP), June 2012.

A resurgence of tensions in high-income Europe has eroded the gains made during the first four months of this year, which saw a rebound in economic activity in both developing and advanced countries and an easing of risk aversion among investors. Since May 1^st, increased market jitters have spread. Developing and high-income country stock markets have lost some 7 percent, giving up two-thirds of the gains generated over the preceding four months. Most industrial commodity prices are down, with crude and copper prices down by 19 and 14 percent, respectively, while developing country currencies have lost value against the US dollar, as international capital fled to safe-haven assets, such as German and U.S. government bonds.

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So far, conditions in most developing countries have not deteriorated as much as in the fourth quarter of 2011. Outside of Europe and Central Asia and the Middle-East and North Africa, developing country credit default swap (CDS) rates, a key indicator of market sentiment, remain well below their maximums from the fall of 2011.

“Global capital market and investor sentiment are likely to remain volatile over the medium term – making economic policy setting difficult. In this environment, developing countries should focus on productivity-enhancing reforms and infrastructure investment instead of reacting to day-to-day changes in the international environment,” said Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank.

Increased uncertainty will add to pre-existing headwinds from budget cutting, banking-sector deleveraging and developing country capacity constraints. As a result, the World Bank projects that developing country growth will slow to a relatively weak 5.3 percent in 2012, before strengthening somewhat to 5.9 percent in 2013 and 6.0 percent in 2014. Growth in high-income countries will also be weak, 1.4, 1.9 and 2.3 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively – with GDP in the Euro Area declining 0.3 percent in 2012. Overall, global GDP is projected to rise 2.5, 3.0 and 3.3 ⁽¹⁾ percent for the same period.

This baseline scenario remains the most likely outcome. However, should the situation in Europe deteriorate sharply no developing region would be spared. Developing Europe and Central Asia is especially vulnerable because of its close trade and financial ties with high-income Europe, but the world's poorest countries will also feel the fall out – especially countries that are heavily reliant on remittances, tourism or commodity exports or that have high-levels of short-term debt.

“Where possible, developing countries need to move to reduce vulnerabilities by lowering short-term debt levels, cutting budget deficits and returning to a more neutral monetary policy stance. Doing so will provide them with more leeway to loosen policy, should global conditions take a sharp turn for the worse,” said Andrew Burns, Manager of Global Macroeconomics and lead author of the report.

The full report and accompanying datasets are available at www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook

Regional Highlights

Growth outlooks for each country are available in the full report at:

www.worldbank.org/globaloutlook

Growth for the East Asia and Pacific region is on a moderately easing trend, with GDP gains for the region dropping to 8.3 percent in 2011 from 9.7 percent in 2010. The recent deterioration in global financial conditions is expected to add to pre-existing headwinds, including relatively weak demand from the high-income world, and a slowing phase in China to moderate regional growth to 7.6 percent in 2012, before broader global recovery lifts exports and growth for the region in 2013 to 8.1 percent, easing to 7.9 percent in 2014. China’s GDP is expected to accelerate from 8.2 percent in 2012 to 8.4 percent by 2014.

Notwithstanding the economic downturn in the Euro Area in the fourth quarter of 2011, developing Europe and Central Asia posted strong (5.6 percent) growth in 2011, driven by robust domestic demand and good harvests in countries such as Russia, Romania and Turkey. However, severe weather conditions in early 2012, capacity constraints in some countries, deleveraging by European banks, and the renewed turmoil in high-income Europe are projected to slow regional GDP growth to 3.3 percent this year, before a modest recovery begins with growth firming to 4.1 and 4.4 percent in each of 2013 and 2014.

Growth in the Latin America and the Caribbean region eased to 4.3 percent in 2011, from 6.1 percent in 2010, due to the pronounced slowdown in the region’s larger economies. In Brazil, GDP slowed sharply to 2.7 percent in 2011 (7.5 percent in 2010), as investment growth and private consumption eased. The region’s short-term outlook is clouded by a weak external environment, and capacity constraints in select economies. Regional GDP is expected to decelerate to 3.5 percent in 2012, firming to 4.1 percent and 4 percent in 2013 and 2014, respectively, while growth in Brazil is projected to remain below potential at 2.9 percent in 2012, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013 and 3.9 percent in 2014.

Uncertainty, volatility, and political change continue to characterize conditions in the Middle East and North Africa region. Aggregate GDP grew by 1 percent in 2011, down from 3.8 percent in 2010. Regional growth is projected to remain weak at 0.6 percent for 2012, mainly reflecting the influence of sanctions on growth in Iran, and continued GDP declines in Syria and Yemen. As these elements fade in importance, growth for the region should step up to 2.2 percent in 2013 and 3.4 percent in 2014. Egypt’s economy is projected to move out of negative territory to 1.4 percent growth in 2012, rising to 4.6 percent in 2014. Growth is also expected to pick up strongly in Jordan and Lebanon, while oil prices, which are projected to average near $107/bbl in 2012, will benefit the region’s oil exporters.

Growth in South Asia slowed to 7.1 percent in 2011, from 8.6 percent in 2010, as headwinds from the Euro Area crisis caused a steep deceleration in exports and a reversal of portfolio inflows. Growth in India was particularly weak due to monetary policy, stalled reforms, and electricity shortages, which, along with fiscal and inflation concerns, cut into investment activity. Policy uncertainties, fiscal deficits, entrenched inflation, and infrastructure gaps will continue to weigh negatively on investment activity and are expected to limit regional growth to a relatively modest 6.4 percent in 2012, 6.5 percent in 2013, and 6.7 percent in 2014. India will see growth (measured at factor cost) increasing to 6.9, 7.2 and 7.4 percent in fiscal years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.7 percent. Excluding South Africa, growth in the rest of the region was stronger, at 5.6 percent, making it one of the fastest growing developing regions. Higher commodity prices and improved macroeconomic and political stability in recent years has supported increased private investment flows to the region, with promising prospects in the medium term. As global demand firms and domestic demand remains robust, regional growth is expected to strengthen to 5 percent in 2012, 5.3 percent in 2013 and 5.2 percent in 2014.

Contacts

In Washington: Merrell Tuck-Primdahl +1 (202) 473-9516, +1 (202) 476-9897, mtuckprimdahl@worldbank.org;

Indira Chand +1 (202) 458-0434, +1 (703) 376-7491, ichand@worldbank.org

In London: Derek Warren + 44 (20) 7592-8402 , dwarren1@worldbank.org

For TV/Broadcast: Natalia Cieslik +1 (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

(1) Using purchasing power parity weights, global growth would be 3.3, 3.9 and 4.2 percent for 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Globalization: Made in the Americas

2012-06-08T00:30:00.000Z

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Inter-American Dialogue 30^th Anniversary Dinner

Remarks of Robert B. Zoellick, President, World Bank Group

June 7, 2012

Introduction

Thank you for the honor of your invitation to commemorate the 30^th Anniversary of the Inter-American Dialogue.

The origins of this Dialogue stretch back to a discussion between Peter Bell and Abe Lowenthal on a park bench.

Peter and Abe were disturbed by the breakdown in inter-American exchanges during the Falklands/Malvinas war, and by the lack of ties with the rising democrats of Latin America. So they discussed bringing together leaders from across the hemisphere to set a new inter-American agenda. The Dialogue held its first ad hoc conference in late 1982.

Today, 30 years later, Latin America’s very success offers the opportunity to remake that Hemispheric partnership around new pillars:

· A revived free trade policy that will aid structural reforms for growth in all our countries;

· An energy transformation, ending the Hemisphere’s energy dependency;

· A new diplomacy infused with private sector pragmatism to solve public problems;

· Shared security; and

· The first Democratic Hemisphere.

For the United States, this new agenda could enable us to rely on a great, home-grown asset – Hispanic-Americans – as the vanguard of U.S. connectivity in a new Western Hemispheric economy.

This Dialogue can – and I believe will – help drive this change: to create a “Globalization: Made in the Americas.”

Under Peter Hakim’s and now Michael Shifter’s energetic leadership, the Inter-American Dialogue has become the leading U.S. center for policy analysis, exchange, and communication in the Western Hemisphere.

The idea at the heart of the Dialogue remains very much the same as that which emerged from the conversation on the park bench: that through dialogue and shared vision, interested citizens across the hemisphere together can plant the seeds of new policy ideas and practical proposals for progress in the Americas.

So tonight, let’s put that idea to work.

A Different Vantage Point

Just two months ago, the leaders of the Western Hemisphere met in Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas. Colombia was an excellent host, and the Summit showcased the country’s many hard-won achievements.

But the news reports were, frankly, disappointing. Aside from the behavior of some Secret Service agents, the coverage focused on disagreements about Cuba and drugs. Some even suggested this would be the last Summit of the Americas. The agenda seemed stuck in a time warp.

So when Carla Hills asked if I could join you this evening, I thought the best way to celebrate the Dialogue’s Anniversary was to offer new possibilities for the Americas in a fast-changing global economy.

My vantage point on our hemisphere is different from many U.S. contributors to the Dialogue. I am not a specialist in Latin America.

Like many of my U.S. foreign and security policy colleagues, much of my energy has been concentrated on the issues of Europe and the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Yet because of my economic background, Latin America and Canada have loomed larger on my global map.

In the 1980s and early 90s, working with Secretary of Treasury and State James Baker, we were immersed in issues of Latin American debt and reforms for growth, the Canadian and North American FTAs, and Central American security and democracy.

In 2001, as U.S. Trade Representative, we were fortunate to build on that experience, negotiating FTAs with Chile, Colombia, Peru, Panama, the five countries of Central America and the Dominican Republic. Together with NAFTA, these FTAs cover 54 percent of the economy of our hemisphere, not including the United States, offering an underutilized web of free traders that could support deeper integration in the Americas – even hemispheric free trade and democracy.

Five years as President of the World Bank Group has added to this perspective.

Why am I stressing this global outlook on Latin America? Because, while working on the issues of our region, I have urged my Latin counterparts to look globally, too.

Instead, for too many years, the dialogue within our hemisphere seemed constrained by a North-South framework. The United States loomed large – whether as a hegemon, source of support, market, model, danger, or even frustrating land of inattention.

On development, debt, investment, competition, and trade, Latin Americans need to see the wider horizon – especially to benchmark with East Asia. And beyond East Asia, Latin America has a new role to play in building multiple engines of growth with other emerging markets. It is time to break out of that North-South construct.

Consider Canada’s experience in combining regional integration with global reach: of course, Canada’s FTA with the United States in 1988 deepened the two countries’ economic integration – but in addition, the competitive adjustment driven by that accord made Canadian business more competitive globally.

A new hemispheric partnership requires leaving old habits, old mindsets, and old models of dependency behind.

That partnership will necessitate a new mix of partners, public and private.

That partnership should be the next challenge for the Summit of the Americas and this Dialogue.

Latin America’s Record of Gains

Latin America’s recent record of gains now puts it in a position to remake the Hemispheric partnership.

The numbers tell the story.

Between 2003 and 2010, the income of the average Latin American increased by more than 30 percent. A silent revolution in macro-financial policy has strengthened the economic immune system of many countries. We saw the payoff after the fall of Lehman Brothers: Sound policies in Latin America enabled expansions to offset the downturn without the aftershocks that now threaten Europe.

About 73 million Latin Americans have been lifted out of poverty since 2003. Today, almost a third of the region’s population is considered middle class.

Latin America is breaking a pattern of persistent inequality, including through an increase in women’s involvement in the economy, particularly from poor families. Colombia and Peru have buttressed this trend by boosting opportunities for people of African and indigenous origin, seeking to overcome divisions that populists have exploited.

Mexico and Brazil have led in developing well-targeted conditional cash transfer programs that have revolutionized public assistance. These programs couple income grants for poor families with incentives for health check-ups and keeping children in school. Mexico’s Oportunidades program has probably done more for women’s health than anything in the country’s history.

These are safety net programs that appeal to a fiscal conservative: They cost only about half a percent of GDP. The World Bank has helped export this model to 40 other countries, ranging from Pakistan to the Philippines.

Latin America is “going global.” As the global trade negotiations have stalled, leading Latin American free traders have tried to keep up the momentum. Mexico has FTAs with 59 countries; Chile with 43.

Colombia offers a leading example of how a democracy can combine security, development, and good governance to overcome narco-traffickers, kidnappers, and terrorists. Peru demonstrates how sound economic policy and political commitment across administrations can reverse years of stagnation.

Brazil’s influence is expanding – through its companies, agricultural and mining experience, development work, peacekeeping in Haiti, and interest in Africa. Brazil’s leaders of the left have also turned a page in history by sticking with democracy. Rising leaders of the left in other Latin American countries have seen the benefits for the poor of Brazil’s example, compared to authoritarians who tear down institutions to consolidate personal or party power.

Looking Ahead

So what’s ahead for Latin America?

Latin America’s per capita income is still only at 30 percent of the U.S. level.

To climb higher, Latin American economies will need to leap beyond the so-called middle income trap. Many developing economies make early rapid gains. But then productivity and growth tend to slow.

This is a global challenge. In 1960, the World Bank ranked 101 economies as middle income; by 2008, almost half a century later, only 13 had made it to high income levels – and one was Greece.

Many Latin American countries will need to translate the commodity boom into broader, more diversified economies. This region has lived through roller-coaster booms and busts before.

Higher productivity is the antidote to the middle income trap.

Since the 1980s, Latin America has underinvested in infrastructure – electricity, roads, bridges, ports, transport – and maintaining and operating these services. Currently, Latin America spends 2 to 3 percent of GDP on infrastructure, less than half the rate of investment in East Asia.

Public-private infrastructure partnerships not only offer a source of financing, but also better design, maintenance, and operations to deliver high-quality services on time.

Colombia has experimented with PPPs in urban water supply and sanitation. Mexico’s new Highway Concession Program has mobilized PPP projects of around $11 billion, expanding the country’s major toll roads network by some 25 percent.

Latin America has to anticipate its human capital needs. The region is aging rapidly: today, about 11 percent of Brazil’s working age-population are seniors; by 2050, it will be nearly half.

Latin America also needs to improve the results of its investments in education. By age 15, the learning achievement of the average Latin American student lags two years behind his or her developed country counterparts.

Latin America is recognizing that gender equality is smart economics. Today, women in Latin America outnumber men in schools and universities. Working age women represent roughly 40 percent of the entire labor force in the region.

To continue to grow, the region will need more competition and innovation in the service sector. Competitive services increase productivity. They supply the ‘software’ of integration: transport, where delays and losses can impose significant costs; information technology, because accurate data and effective communication is vital; financial services, to create a supportive business environment; and logistics systems, which are a driver of business competitiveness.

A New Agenda

What do these challenges mean for a new hemispheric partnership? What should have been the news coming out of Cartagena?

Let me offer five ideas.

First, the Western Hemisphere needs to revive an activist free trade and economic reform policy, globally and regionally. We need fresh approaches.

The United States will be cutting agricultural subsidies, especially given high prices, and eliminating protection for ethanol. Why not deploy these to prod others?

Service sector liberalization can boost productivity, open new businesses, create new jobs, and cut the “Latin cost” that many countries impose on their own businesses. Why not deploy this economic need to revive a mutual interest in negotiation?

A strong self-interest can drive this renewed call for liberalization. Latin American economies still need much investment and more robust capital markets – especially in local currencies – that can help Latin American entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses to expand.

Infrastructure investments require capital goods and services, as Panama’s 21st Century Canal project is demonstrating. Why not dismantle barriers to lower the cost of infrastructure expansion?

Better logistics make economies more competitive. The World Bank’s 2012 Logistics Performance Index estimated that Latin American logistics costs are between 16 and 26 percent of GDP – that’s two to four times the average in Europe or East Asia.

The World Bank has helped Colombia and Peru to implement a “single window” approach to customs clearance and border management. In Brazil and Peru, the Bank has worked with international freight forwarders to connect rural, remote villages and small businesses to export through national postal services; in the first six months, more than 300 small firms in Peru became exporters, most for the first time.

Even as the WTO works toward a Trade Facilitation agreement, the Americas could develop an accord that points the way.

Brazilian officials are focused on exchange rates. Yet to really boost growth the target should be productivity. Better infrastructure can help, and so can more efficient and effective public services. The World Bank Group has launched a deeper partnership with the Governors of the Northeastern states of Brazil to overcome these impediments. Over time, however, the United States and its free trade partners should be working with Brazil to rebuild the case for a hemispheric initiative to realize the benefits of trade liberalization and economic reforms.

It takes two to tango, and this agenda requires changes on the part of the United States, too. The United States is no longer leading the open trade agenda, as it relies increasingly on defensive measures. The United States has its own high costs of trade – antiquated ports and laws to protect special interests.

The United States should work with its current free trade partners in the Americas to deepen ties of development, reform, and investment.

The current architecture of US FTAs in the hemisphere offers a solid legal framework, but it needs to evolve into a home for an ongoing dialogue – across countries and with business, academic, civil society, and environmental communities – to see what else can be done to lower costs and barriers and create opportunities.

The United States and its partners could explore progressive integration across the FTAs, for example by expanding provisions to cumulate inputs among partners while qualifying for free trade.

The United States needs to make its hemispheric FTA network dynamic, linked to business and investment policies, and improved governance.

A new concept of an FTA network in the Americas could also support inclusive and sustainable development as the foundation for open societies and borders.

Second, innovation in the energy sector, led by the United States, could transform energy security for North America, the Hemisphere, and the world.

In 2008, imports supplied 70 percent of US oil demand. By 2020, PFC Energy estimates that imports could be down to 40 percent of US oil demand – or even 20 percent if Canadian oil is counted as part of the home market. If natural gas for Canada and the United States is added, U.S. net energy imports from the rest of the world could drop to five percent of U.S. demand. That’s an amazing game-changer in energy.

If Mexico opens PEMEX to real outside investment, the outlook is even brighter. With the discovery of the giant deep offshore PRESAL oil and gas fields, Brazil can play a major role in supplying oil and gas in the region.

Yet there is a need to connect these energy supplies – through infrastructure – with countries in Central America and the Caribbean that have suffered from high prices and limited access. Increased efficiency and alternative sources could help the energy poor, too. It’s long past time for a hemispheric energy policy – blending consideration of inclusive growth, the environment, and indigenous communities’ interests.

Third, this new Hemispheric partnership needs to break old patterns of diplomacy. There are now vibrant private sectors all across the hemisphere. The challenges of overcoming the middle income trap and structural reforms to boost productivity need private sector advice and solutions. All across the developing world, the World Bank is encountering a new pragmatism about involving the private sector in areas that used to be public monopolies: infrastructure; education; healthcare; skills training; delivery of public social services. Advanced economies such as the United States should be taking note, too.

Yet government-business dialogues can be stilted showcases. The Summit of the Americas – and perhaps the Dialogue – should review which approaches work better and why. With some guidance, businesses can better connect possibilities with policies. Governments can commit to responses, commitments, openness, and results.

Fourth, the new Hemispheric agenda should help all 35 countries overcome security threats to growth and opportunity.

The fragile governments of Central America are at risk of being overwhelmed by crime and violence linked to drug trafficking, organized crime, gangs, and firepower. Spain, which has roughly the same population as Central America, has about 400 murders per year; in 2010, Central America had over 18,000.

The region pays a heavy economic price for this insecurity – as much as 8 percent of GDP. The basic legitimacy of governments and institutions is fraying: About half of Central Americans say a military coup could be justified when crime levels are high.

Experiences from Medellin and Rio de Janeiro have shown that the best way to attack criminal insecurity is through an integrated approach: combining stepped-up policing, prevention, and community investments. Quick turnarounds are possible. Strong regional cooperation is indispensable.

The United States has an unfortunate pattern of ignoring dangers in Central America until they explode. This time U.S. diplomacy should work with Mexico, Colombia, and Panama to develop a coherent strategy – not band-aids. As in Colombia, the Central American private sector must also be part of the solution. And the United States should also take responsibility for the drug habits of its public that fuel demand for narcotics from the south.

Fragility in the Caribbean is another soft spot. But small economies can be competitive in many sectors. Accelerating integration in the Caribbean can share services, add to resilience, and boost economic prospects.

Latin America should also be looking toward a greater role in global security – through practical steps, not the old G-77 policies of the past. My friend and former colleague, Bernie Aronson has proposed, for example, that Brazil could lead by voluntarily ending its uranium enrichment program and then calling on other nations – including Iran – to follow its example. If Brazil wants to help shape the 21^st Century, leadership in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons – with an idea and action – would send a powerful signal.

Fifth, the debate over Cuba at Cartagena sounded like hollow echoes from another era. Look ahead, not back.

Chavez’s days are numbered. If his subsidies to Cuba and Nicaragua are cut, those regimes will be in trouble. The democrats of Latin America – left, center, and right – should be preparing. The calls for democracy – for an end to intimidating thugs, human rights, fair elections, and rule of law – should come from all its capitals.

There will soon be an opportunity to make the Western Hemisphere the first Democratic Hemisphere. Not a place of coups, caudillos, and cocaine -- but of democracy, development, and dignity.

This transformation will not be achieved by the Calvo doctrine. By divisive populists. By corruption. By acquiescence. By silence.

You know well that if Latins leave the work to Washington and Ottawa, the opponents of liberty and human rights will play the cards of gringoism and neo-imperialism. Trump them.

Conclusion

For the United States, a new partnership in the Western Hemisphere offers opportunities for renewal at home, too.

All the debates about macroeconomic issues – fiscal and monetary policies – as important as they are, risk inattention to microeconomic incentives, structural reforms in the United States.

Energy. Infrastructure. Education. Human capital. Competition. Environment. Innovation. The United States also needs to clear away old rigidities on these new fundamentals.

The United States also needs to draw on the energies, intelligence, and drive of all its citizens.

As my friend Luis Alberto Moreno of the Inter-American Development Bank has pointed out, the 50 million strong Hispanic community in the United States is a growing market, source of entrepreneurship, and resource for a Hemispheric economic strategy. At over $1 trillion, the purchasing power of Latinos in the United States is larger than the economies of every Latin American country except Brazil.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are between two and three million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States. Many are small. But they create jobs, earn revenues, and pay taxes.

As Latin America grows, the Hispanic businesses in the United States offer an incredible asset. Hispanics in the United States could be in the vanguard of a new Western Hemispheric economy.

Small and medium-sized Hispanic-American businesses will need help to expand their entrepreneurialism – information about markets, financing, and risk management services. To be most effective, this assistance should be decentralized – perhaps drawing on local chambers of commerce in cities and states where most Hispanic businesses can be found. The Small Business Administration, OPIC, Ex-Im Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank could then deploy their resources to help.

The world economy is still struggling to recover from the worst blows since the 1930s. Europe is a danger zone. U.S. leadership remains vital to get through the storm, to reach a new world economy of multiple poles of growth.

This is why the news coming out of the Cartagena Summit was disappointing.

This is not a time for drift, for old North-South debates, for retreat behind borders, old mindsets, or out-dated dependencies.

This is a time for the New World to again inspire novel thinking – about development, growth, structural reforms, rule of law and human rights, democracy, and security.

This Dialogue should aim high: To have the Western Hemisphere shape this next era of globalization – so that future historians will title the next chapter, not “The Passing of the New World,” but “Globalization: Made in the Americas.”

Cities to Face Sharply Rising Costs for Garbage Treatment

2012-06-06T15:30:00.000Z

New report points to 70% global increase in urban solid waste

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2012 – A new, far-reaching report on the state of municipal solid waste around the world predicts a sharp rise in the amount of garbage generated by urban residents between now and 2025. The report estimates the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) will rise from the current 1.3 billion tonnes/year to 2.2 billion tonnes/year, with much of the increase coming in rapidly growing cities in developing countries. The annual cost of solid waste management is projected to rise from the current $205 billion to $375 billion, with cost increasing most severely in low income countries.

The report, What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management, for the first time offers consolidated data on MSW generation, collection, composition, and disposal by country and by region. In itself, this is an accomplishment because, as the report states, reliable global MSW information is either not available or incomplete, inconsistent, and incomparable. Nevertheless, the authors of the report point to a looming crisis in MSW treatment as living standards rise and urban populations grow.

“Improving solid waste management, especially in the rapidly growing cities of low income countries, is becoming a more and more urgent issue,” said Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Sustainable Development at the World Bank. “The findings of this report are sobering, but they also offer hope that once the extent of this issue is recognized, local and national leaders, as well as the international community, will mobilize to put in place programs to reduce, reuse, recycle, or recover as much waste as possible before burning it (and recovering the energy) or otherwise disposing of it. Measuring the extent of the problem is a critical first step to resolving it.”

The report notes that municipal solid waste management is the most important service a city provides. In low-income countries, MSW is often the largest single budget item for cities, and one of the largest employers. A city that cannot effectively manage its waste is rarely able to manage more complex services such as health, education, or transportation. Improving MSW is one of the most effective ways of strengthening overall municipal management.

The report shows that the amount of municipal solid waste is growing fastest in China (which surpassed the US as the world’s largest waste generator in 2004), other parts of East Asia, and part of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Growth rates for MSW in these areas are similar to their rates for urbanization and increases in GDP. There is a direct correlation between the per capita level of income in cities and the amount of waste per capita that is generated. In general, as a country urbanizes and populations become wealthier, the consumption of inorganic materials (e.g. plastics, paper, glass, aluminum) increases, while the relative organic fraction decreases.

“What we’re finding in these figures is not that surprising,” said Dan Hoornweg, Lead Urban Specialist in the Finance, Economics, and Urban Development Department of the World Bank and eco-author of the report, “What is surprising, however, is that when you add the figures up we’re looking at a relatively silent problem that is growing daily. The challenges surrounding municipal solid waste are going to be enormous, on a scale of, if not greater than, the challenges we are currently experiencing with climate change. This report should be seen as a giant wake-up call to policy makers everywhere.”

The authors of the report say an integrated solid waste management plan is needed in cities to approach solid waste in a comprehensive manner. Key to such a plan is consultation and input from all stakeholders, including citizen groups and those working on behalf of the poor and the disadvantaged. Public health and environmental protection aspects of any such plan are also critical.

The report also spells out policy recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, many of which emanate from inefficient solid waste management practices. Post-consumer waste is estimated to account for almost 5% of total global GHG, while methane from landfills represents 12% of total global methane emissions. The report says that a number of practical approaches could be applied in most cities, including:

· Public education to inform people about their options to reduce waste generation and increase recycling and composting;

· Pricing mechanisms (such as product charges) to stimulate consumer behaviour to reduce waste generation and increase recycling;

· User charges tied to the quantity of waste disposed of, with (for example) consumers separating recyclables paying a lower fee for waste disposal; and/or

· Preferential procurement policies and pricing to stimulate demand for products made with recycled post-consumer waste.

For a link to the report, click here: http://go.worldbank.org/BCQEP0TMO0

Contacts:

In Washington: Roger Morier, +1 202 473 5675, rmorier@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202 458 9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

World Bank Group Unveils New Focus on ‘Green, Clean, Resilient’ Development

2012-06-05T04:00:00.000Z

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2012 -- The World Bank Group today released its ambitious, new Environment Strategy for 2012-2022 aimed at supporting countries to pursue sustainable development pathways that are green, inclusive, efficient, and affordable. The new Strategy responds to calls from governments and the private sector for new approaches to development in light of unprecedented environmental challenges and lays out a vision for “a green, clean and resilient world for all”.

“We’re seeing that working through the nexus of food crises, water insecurity, and energy needs is being made all the more complicated by environmental degradation and climate change,” said World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte. “Countries and communities and the ecosystems they depend on need to build resilience while moving to more efficient growth paths. This Strategy lays out the areas where we will put emphasis as we work to respond to countries’ needs.”

As countries seek to reduce poverty in the face of climate change and other major environmental challenges, the Bank Group is providing knowledge, solutions and financing to foster an environment that is:

· Green where natural resources are sustainably managed and conserved to improve livelihoods and ensure food security;

· Clean in which cleaner air, water and oceans enable people to lead healthy, productive lives and where development strategies emphasize low-emission, climate-smart transport, energy, agriculture and urban development;

· Resilient in which countries are better prepared for shocks and less vulnerable to natural disasters, volatile weather patterns and other impacts of climate change.

World Bank commitments addressing environment and natural resource management have grown from $1.5 billion or 8.4 percent of World Bank lending in FY01 to $6.3 billion or 14.3 percent in FY11.

“The Strategy acknowledges the vital role of the private sector in achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development,” said International Finance Corporation (IFC) Vice President for Business Advisory Services Nena Stoiljkovic. “IFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter to help unlock this potential.”

The IFC invested $1.7 billion in climate-friendly projects in FY11, up 6 percent from $1.6 billion in FY10.

Under the “green” agenda, a key priority is the Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) global partnership which supports countries’ efforts to factor natural capital into national accounting systems and through the Global Partnership for Oceans, the focus is on restoring the world’s oceans to health and optimizing their contribution to economic growth and food security. The “clean” agenda prioritizes pollution management through river clean-up and legacy pollution projects while also encouraging low-emission development strategies and financing for renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and lower-carbon cities.

The “resilience” agenda, targets support to countries to adapt to climate change, improve disaster risk management, with a focus on vulnerable Small Island Developing States to reduce dependence on oil imports, build sound infrastructure, and restore protective coastal ecosystems such as mangroves.

The Strategy includes action plans for the specific environmental challenges in each developing region of the world.

· In Africa, work will focus on strengthening governance for natural resource management given growing pressure on the region’s agriculture, mining, forests, and water basins. In partnership with other agencies, the private sector, and civil society, the Bank Group is seeking to expand access to clean energy across the region.

· In East Asia and the Pacific the Bank Group is supporting renewable energy and energy efficiency, sustainable urban development and transport, as well as prioritizing the phase-out of numerous industrial pollutants; advising on carbon markets and adaptation in agriculture and coastal infrastructure; scaling up forest management; and strengthening regional partnerships to preserve biodiversity.

· In Europe and Central Asia where many countries are faced with energy shortages and a legacy of industrial pollution, the Bank Group is promoting clean energy and production while supporting programs to dispose of pollutant stockpiles, rehabilitate watersheds and improve disaster preparedness.

· In Latin America and the Caribbean where pressure continues on coastlines, wetlands, and the world’s largest forest cover, the Bank Group is supporting the management of protected areas, the integration of biodiversity conservation into productive landscapes and in some countries, the use of payments for environmental services. It is also providing the world’s most urbanized region with policy advice on cleaner development paths, supporting industrial pollution abatement, and promoting “green cities”.

· In Middle East and North Africa where high population density, water scarcity, and overfishing tend primarily to affect the poor, the Bank Group is supporting programs to strengthen the capacity of countries with shared seas—the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Gulf—to reduce marine pollution and manage fisheries. Other focus areas include desert ecosystems and livelihoods; improved urban and industrial planning; scaled-up solar power generation; and efforts to reduce vulnerability to drought.

· In South Asia where the poorest live in areas of high soil erosion, variable rainfall, and degraded forests, the Bank Group is helping to strengthen the role of natural resource management in the development agenda, strengthen environmental management in industry and reduce the costs to countries of environmental degradation.

Meeting the challenges of a green, clean, and resilient world requires leveraging the comparative advantage of all development partners. The new Strategy recognizes the growing role of the private sector in addressing sustainability concerns, developing sustainability standards, and ensuring that global markets can and do promote sustainable development.

The Strategy also encompasses the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) - the arm of the World Bank Group that promotes responsible foreign direct investment into developing countries by offering political risk insurance to the private sector.

"MIGA is pleased to have contributed to this strategy and to advance the notion that the private sector is absolutely crucial to affect change with respect to environmental issues," said Michel Wormser, MIGA's Vice President and COO.

To measure and monitor progress the Environment Strategy includes a results framework to track progress over time. The new Strategy also advances work to assess greenhouse gas emissions from the Bank Group’s portfolio of development projects with pilots being undertaken in a number of World Bank energy, transport and forestry sector projects.

Contacts:
In Washington: Elisabeth Mealey, +1 202-458-4475, emealey@worldbank.org

Vanessa Bauza, +1 202-458-1603, vbauza@ifc.org
Mallory Saleson +1 202-473-0844 msaleson@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202-458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

To read the World Bank Group Environment Strategy 2012-2022, click here.

For more information on Sustainable Development at the World Bank click here.

For more information on the IFC Sustainability: www.ifc.org/sustainability

For more information on MIGA: www.miga.org

World Bank Mission Ends With Agreement On Key Implementation Activities

2012-06-01T11:08:28.000Z

Lucknow, June 1, 2012 - An eight member World Bank team, led by Task Team Leader Vikram Rajan, has completed its first post signing mission to discuss implementation readiness of the Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening Project (UPHSSP), as it prepares for its formal launch next week. The $152 million project aims to finance efforts to help improve the efficiency, quality, and accountability of health services in the state.. The mission team interacted with counterparts led by Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Project Director and Mission Director (NRHM), Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Project Support Unit (PSU) of UPHSSP.

During the mission, the project team identified the new specialist cells which need to be set up in the Directorate of Medical Health (DOMH), for strengthening the health system functions of the state. These cells include the Electronic Data Processing – Data Resource Centre (EDP-DRC), Quality Assurance (QA) cell, the Public Private Partnership (PPP) cell and the Environment Management (EM) cell.

“With the project becoming effective on May 25, 2012, the mission focused on agreeing on steps to ensure speedy implementation. New cells at DOMH, aimed at better health data and quality management and a more effective engagement with the private sector, are being set up. There is also agreement on strengthening the planning function as well as the communication function of the Directorate," said Rajan, Task Team Leader, World Bank. “The Government of UP is keen to ensure that the project is responsive to the needs of consumers of health services across the state. The Bank will actively support the implementation of a robust communications and grievance redressal mechanism, to help meet this objective.”
The Bank team also discussed several of the new health initiatives recently announced by the government, including the strengthening the procurement and supply chain management under the Central Medical Stores Department (CMSD) and the grievance redressal systems. Many of these initiatives and others such as accreditation of hospitals to improve quality of care, will be supported by UPHSSP."

“UPHSSP will support the Health Directorate by strengthening its Institutional , Procurement and Supply Chain Management capacities with the help of Technical Assistance Provider and Procurement cum Capacity Building Agent for which hiring process is underway .UPHSSP will fulfill the gaps and complete the process of NABH Accreditation of 20 hospitals where Gap Analysis has already been completed by the department. Preparatory training of medical and para-medical staff of these hospitals has also been initiated. The project will undertake a gap analysis of a total of 130 hospitals out of which 40 hospitals will be accredited during the project period. UPHSSP has also prepared the micro plan of all activities under various components of the PIP for a period of 12 months after detailed discussion with the concerned officials of the health department during the world bank mission,” said Meshram, Project Director, UPHSSP. “The monitoring mechanism for Procurement and supply chain management of drugs is also under process to ensure proper and transparent distribution of medicine to the beneficiaries in the hospitals.”

About UPHSSP: The $152 million Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening Project, will comprise of two main components. The first component will focus on strengthening the Department of Health's management and accountability systems. In this context, the Project will improve, planning capacities, information flows and data inputs to enable policy-makers to better monitor and manage service delivery in UP.

The second component will support the state government improve the Department of Health’s capacity to perform its quality assurance role and engage more effectively with the private sector, which is already a significant player in the UP health system. Other quality enhancement interventions supported by the Project include the development and implementation of regulatory functions such as transparent licensing, strengthening the accreditation program and quality enhancement in public sector hospitals in order to bring quality health services to its people, especially the poor.

This Project builds on the earlier Bank-financed UP Health Systems Development Project (2000-2008), which supported investment in secondary health care services and systems strengthening. The interventions are complementary to other initiatives of the state and central schemes like the National Rural Health Mission.

This Project will be financed by a credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm – with a final maturity of 25 years including a grace period of five years and a 1.25 percent interest rate.

Contacts:
In New Delhi: Sudip Mozumder (91-11) 24617241, smozumder@worldbank.org
In Washington: Alison Reeves, (202) 473-8955 areeves@worldbank.org

For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org.in

World Bank Increases Transparency through Inaugural Publication of Sanctions Board Decisions

2012-05-30T13:30:00.000Z

Milestone in anti-corruption agenda unmatched by any other IFI

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2012 - Marking another advance in openness and accountability in its anti-corruption work, the World Bank Group today published for the first time a set of decisions issued by the World Bank Group’s Sanctions Board in cases of alleged fraud and corruption.

"The World Bank Group takes a hard line against corruption, and we believe that greater transparency must be part of that effort,” said World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “By publishing Sanctions Board decisions, we are making all parties involved in the sanctions process more accountable. This move should deepen the deterrent effect of debarments and enhance the educational value of the Sanctions Board’s findings."

The first published decisions were announced at a panel discussion hosted by the World Bank Group Sanctions Board Secretariat to take stock of recent developments and consider ongoing challenges for the Bank Group’s sanctions system. At the discussion, the Bank Group also announced the appointment of two new Sanctions Board members: Mr. Yves Fortier, an international arbitrator and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, who will serve as Chair of the Sanctions Board; and Ms. Catherine O’Regan, President of the International Monetary Fund Administrative Tribunal and former Judge of the South African Constitutional Court.

The Sanctions Board, an independent administrative tribunal with a majority of external members, serves as final decision-maker in all contested sanctions cases. Decisions are taken based on an adversarial process that includes written arguments and evidence and, where requested, an administrative hearing. More than 530 firms and individuals have been sanctioned by the World Bank Group for fraud, corruption and collusion since the sanctions system was established in 1999. Most of these sanctions have been in the form of debarments, where firms or individuals are rendered ineligible to participate in Bank Group-financed operations.

From December 2011, the Sanctions Board Law Digest has made publicly available summaries of past cases and the legal principles applied over time. The publication of full Sanctions Board decisions goes a step further and creates an unprecedented level of transparency by presenting the Sanctions Board’s detailed review of each new appeal to determine whether misconduct occurred and if so, what sanctions should apply.

"Publication of our decisions furthers the Sanctions Board's goal to fight fraud and corruption through the rule of law," said Fathi Kemicha, the first external Chair of the Sanctions Board. "Parties that come before the Sanctions Board, as well as our partners in the international community, will now have a more robust understanding of our process, case law, and careful examination of each case."

The decisions published today can be accessed on the World Bank’s external website, and explain the rationale for sanctions imposed in eight cases recently considered by the Sanctions Board:

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 46 (Sanctions Case No. 151): Income Electrix Limited debarred for six months for fraud.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 47 (Sanctions Case No. 121): M/s. Concept Pharmaceuticals Limited debarred for fraud, with conditional release after three years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 48 (Sanctions Case No. 118): Zhonghao Overseas Construction Eng. Co., Ltd. debarred for two years for fraud, with conditional early release after one year.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 49 (Sanctions Case No. 130): De Lorenzo of America, Corp., S.A. de C.V., and its affiliate Marketing Enterprises Latin America, LLC., each debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 50 (Sanctions Case No. 117): ASDECON Corporation Company Limited debarred for corrupt practices, with conditional release after five years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 51 (Sanctions Case No. 145 and Sanctions Case No. 146):

- Sanctions Case No. 145: General Consulting Training (GCT) and Mr. Ali Safi each debarred for one year for fraud.

- Sanctions Case No. 146: TEAM Engineering & Management Consultants (TEAM) debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

· Sanctions Board Decision No. 52 (Sanctions Case No. 134): Contransimex Nigeria Limited debarred for fraud, with conditional release after two years.

All sanctions are reflected on the World Bank Listing of Ineligible Firms & Individuals (www.worldbank.org/debarr).

For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/sanctions

Contacts:

In Washington: David Theis, (202) 458-8626, dtheis@worldbank.org;

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458-9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

New Initiatives Give Hope to a Carbon Market Facing Challenges

2012-05-30T12:30:00.000Z

World Bank releases State and Trends of the Carbon Market report 2012

COLOGNE, GERMANY, May 30, 2012 – The total value of the carbon market grew by 11 percent in 2011, to $176 billion, and transaction volumes reached a new high of 10.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) according to a new report from the World Bank.

According to State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2012 this growth took place in the face of economic turbulence, growing long-term oversupply in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and plummeting carbon prices.

The report, released here at the Carbon Expo in Cologne, describes how even as prices declined, the value of the global carbon market increased in 2011, driven predominantly by a robust growth in financially motivated transactions. By far, the largest segment of the carbon market was that of EU Allowances (EUAs), valued at $148 billion. There was also a substantial increase in the volume of secondary Kyoto offsets (which grew by 43 percent, to 1.8 billion tons of CO₂e, valued at US$23 billion) fueled by increased liquidity in the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) market and in the nascent secondary Emission Reduction Unit (ERU) market. Following the same pattern observed in previous years, the global carbon market in 2011 was primarily driven by the EU ETS.

With the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, the value of the pre-2013 primary CER, ERU and AAU markets declined once again in 2011. Not surprisingly, however, the market is starting to look beyond 2012 and consequently the post-2012 primary CDM market increased by a robust 63 percent, to US$2 billion, despite depressed prices and limited long-term-visibility. Although China remained the largest source of contracted CERs, African countries – largely bypassed in the pre-2013 market – emerged stronger in 2011 and accounted for 21 percent of post-2012 CERs contracted during the year.

Against this backdrop, several new domestic and regional carbon market initiatives gained traction in both developed and developing economies in 2011. Five new jurisdictions passed legislation adopting cap-and-trade schemes.

“It is heartening to see that, while leading economies continue to experience difficulties and the carbon market faces major challenges, we see increasing interest in, and support for, new market-based mechanisms to mitigate climate change in the long term,” said Joëlle Chassard, Manager of the Carbon Finance Unit of the World Bank.

The Australian Parliament passed the Clean Energy Act, the California Air Resources Board adopted a cap-and-trade regulation, and Québec adopted its own cap-and-trade program. The province is now working toward linking it with California’s starting in 2013. Last month, both Mexico and the Republic of Korea passed comprehensive climate bills, laying the foundation for future market-based mechanisms.

“Together, these initiatives will drive substantial resources towards low-carbon investments and they have the potential to unleash a truly transformational carbon market, in support of a global solution to the climate challenge,” said Alexandre Kossoy, Senior Financial Specialist, World Bank Carbon Finance Unit.

Contacts:

In Cologne: Isabel Hagbrink, +1 202 458 0422, ihagbrink@worldbank.org

In Washington DC: Elisabeth Mealey, +1 202 458 4475, emealey@worldbank.org

For an electronic version of the report and more information on the Carbon Finance Unit and its carbon funds, please see: www.carbonfinance.org

World Bank Welcomes African Leadership on Natural Capital Accounting

2012-05-25T14:17:29.000Z

Announces $3m in support from Japan to help countries around the world put it into action

GABORONE, BOTSWANA, May 25, 2012 – The World Bank’s Vice President for Sustainable Development, Rachel Kyte, today welcomed the strong endorsement from ten African countries for natural capital accounting - a tool for factoring countries’ natural assets into their systems of national accounting.

Speaking at the conclusion of the African Sustainability Summit in Botswana, Kyte said African leaders had shown the way forward through a joint communiqué on natural capital accounting which recognized GDP’s limitations as a measure of well-being and sustainable growth and underscored the importance of a tool for taking natural capital into account for improved economic decision-making.

“Africa is where sustained and sustainable economic growth and the stewardship of natural wealth become one and the same thing,” Kyte said. “Making progress means more than just a strong GDP - it means giving equal attention to the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development. By endorsing natural capital accounting as a tool for delivering on more inclusive green growth, Africa is showing the way for the rest of the world.”

Kyte said that 24 countries around the world were already compiling natural capital accounts. With so much on-the-ground experience to draw upon, she said the World Bank was hoping to see at least 50 countries and 50 private corporations follow Africa’s lead by endorsing natural capital accounting at the upcoming Rio+20 Conference.

The World Bank is supporting countries to factor their natural capital into systems of national accounts through a global partnership called WAVES (Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services). Ms Kyte took the opportunity of the Botswana Summit to announce the Government of Japan’s financial commitment of $US3 million to support the WAVES Partnership.

“Japan’s generous commitment helps us step up to meet the increasing demand from countries to make natural capital accounting a reality,” Kyte said.

Japan’s Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs and Executive Assistant to the Prime Minister for Global Environmental Finance, Naoko Ishii said “Japan has long been a supporter to enhancing biodiversity and preserving ecosystems, and is excited to strengthen this initiative.”

WAVES is working to build capacity in countries to implement Natural Capital Accounting based on the UN’s recently endorsed System for Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA). The SEEA provides an internationally agreed method, on par with the current System of National Accounts, to account for material natural resources like minerals, timber, and fisheries.

WAVES is also working to develop an agreed methodology for accounting for ecosystem services, including for example, the `regulating’ services of forests for pollination and wetlands for reducing the impacts of floods.

The WAVES partnership includes the United Nations Environment Program, the UN Development Program, and the UN Statistical Commission; the countries of Botswana, Colombia, Costa Rica, Madagascar, and the Philippines, which are implementing programs; as well as financial or technical support from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom, and several NGOS.

For a copy of the latest WAVES report “Moving Beyond GDP” go to:

http://www.wavespartnership.org/waves/

Contacts:

In Washington: Robert Bisset, +1 202 458 5191, rbisset@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, +1 202 458 9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org

For more information about WAVES and the World Bank’s work on sustainable development visit:

http://www.worldbank.org/sustainabledevelopment

For more information about the Summit For Sustainability in Africa, please visit here.

World Bank Database Shows Export Markets Are Dominated by Big Firms

2012-05-24T13:46:46.000Z

Difficult for Newcomers to Survive

WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 – A few large companies dominate export markets in developing and developed countries, with the top one percent often accounting for more than half – sometimes nearly 80 percent – of total exports, according to a new World Bank database with a wealth of details on exporting firms.

The new Exporter Dynamics Database offers the most comprehensive picture yet of exporter characteristics and dynamics – a firm’s entry, exit and survival in the export market – in 45 developed and developing countries. The database mainly covers 2003-2009, though data from the 1990s are also available for some countries.

A key finding is that the export market is difficult to tackle for newcomers, with 57 percent of companies on average – and two-thirds in Africa – quitting within a year of entering the export market.

“Governments traditionally have focused on helping exporters expand to new products and new markets, but they may need to do more to help firms survive,” says Ana Margarida Fernandes, the task leader of the database, which was developed by the Trade and International Integration team of the World Bank’s Development Research Group.

The global database allows for cross-country comparisons of exporters based on factors such as size, survival, growth, and concentration. More countries will be added as the database expands. Until now, most databases focus not on exporting firms, but on the aggregate flow of goods across borders based on countries or products.

Based on data sets covering the universe of export transactions obtained directly from customs agencies, the data are comparable across countries. Measures cover the size distribution of exporting firms, their diversification in terms of products and markets, the dynamics of exporting firms’ entry, exit and survival, and the average unit prices of the goods traded.

The Exporter Dynamics Database could help policy makers identify opportunities in particular sectors and address challenges faced by their exporters, especially in their entry and survival in export markets. For example, it can be used to analyze the performance of export sectors in a country, comparing them with their counterparts in the region or richer countries. The database can also make it easier to analyze the impact of tariffs and other trade barriers. For example, it can be used to assess the impact of stringent non-tariff measures on the numbers and average size of exporters.

The database reveals several interesting trends. For example, the rate of firms entering the export market is high, with more than half of the exporters in Laos, Malawi, Tanzania, and Yemen being newcomers in any given year. But their survival rate isn’t that good, generally with more than a third of companies on average leaving the export market every year.

“Our database shows how large the degree of churning in export markets is, particularly in less developed and smaller economies,” says Martha Denisse Pierola, an economist at the Development Research Group who started the project with Caroline Freund, now the chief economist at the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank. “We need further research to better assist governments in minimizing the costs associated with these high exit rates.”

Contacts:

In Washington: Jane Zhang, (202) 473-1376, janezhang@worldbank.org

For Broadcast Requests: Mehreen Sheikh, (202) 458-7336, msheikh1@worldbank.org

For more information, please visit: http://econ.worldbank.org/exporter-dynamics-database

For more information click here.