The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
This article outlines some key elements of a human-rights based approach to the compulsory acquisition of land. It shows that the compulsory acquisition of land often proceeds rapidly where the political, economic and legal power of those affected directly is weakest. While expropriation should be a powerful and beneficial tool …
New institutions created through decentralisation policies around the world, notwithstanding the rhetoric, are often lacking in substantive democratic content. New policies for decentralised natural resource management have transferred powers to a range of local authorities, including private associations, customary authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Scholars see such transfers as detrimental …
This edition of Environment Matters arrives just as the international community embarks on a two-year process to secure a new global framework to limit the amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) entering the atmosphere and devise ways to help developing countries adapt to and prepare themselves for the effects of climate …
Twenty-six years ago, people displaced by the Supa dam were resettled in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada district. The better irrigation facilities promised to them after they were relocated in the district's Ramnagar panchayat haven't materialized. They still face an uncertain future. The people are not allowed to use water from the …
the International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic influenza, conducted recently in New Delhi, came up with a New Delhi Road Map for 2008 for the 60 countries currently affected by the avian influenza virus h5n1, and the rest that are at risk. The roadmap, prepared by the government of …
Currently, over a quarter of the world’s primary energy supply comes from coal. Since the rich world has already created its coal infrastructure, the increased use of coal in China and India is now under scrutiny. In 1980, rich countries used over 65 per cent of the world’s coal; in …
No littering in bhutan: Bhutan has passed a law to prevent littering and pollution in the kingdom's capital Thimphu. The Thimphu Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules and Regulations 2007 will come into force from December 1, laying down stiff penalties for littering and illegal dumping of waste in and around …
www.worldbankcampaigneurope.org There has been lot of pressure on the World Bank of late. A recent tribunal in New Delhi recently came down heavily on the institution. Now it is been challenged by more than 70 European NGOs which say they "have fundamental concerns about the way the Bank operates'. The …
an ngo working with people affected by an urban transport project has been accused of irregularities. Mumbai's mayor, Shubha Raul has ordered an enquiry against Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (sparc) after charges of misappropriating funds were levied against the ngo. sparc has been involved in the relocation …
Pharmaceutical giants Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have developed two vaccines that they promise will eradicate cervical cancer. Soon after the companies announced their products in mid-2006, public health agencies in the us and Europe began discussing how to integrate them into their vaccine programmes. Now, plans are afoot to deliver the …
Iran's food and drink industry is the top polluter of the country's water resources, says a World Bank report. The report, The indices of world development, on water pollution around the world, has evaluated the role of different industries in polluting the waterbodies in Iran. The food and drink industry …
The latest report of the World Bank citing the death count due to air and water pollution in China has made the Chinese government uneasy. Chinese officials now urge the bank to revise the report, Cost of Pollution in China: Economic Estimates of Physical Damages. According to the report, every …
afghan debt relief: Afghanistan was recently granted interim debt relief meant for impoverished countries with heavy debt. Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, Afghanistan will now have its net public and private debt payments cut by 51 per cent so that more funds can be utilised for healthcare, education …
Every year, the World Bank channels about US $18-20 billion to developing countries in the form of loans and grants with the ostensible aim of reducing poverty and promoting economic growth. The bank always acts in tandem with its sibling agency, the International Monetary Fund, even in countries that no …
Even as uproar over Paul Wolfowitz' conduct as the World Bank (wb) president is subsiding, the us's nominee for the next president is causing familiar controversy. us President George W Bush nominated Robert Zoellick as the next wb president introducing him as a "committed internationalist, deeply devoted to the mission …
the controversy that had enveloped the World Bank has died down with the nomination of Robert Zoellick to succeed the scandal-hit Paul Wolfowitz. It would, however, be a pity if this opportunity to re-examine more fundamental questions about how the bank is run and its role in developing countries is …
The overall aim of the India Ecodevelopment Project, approved in 1996, was to conserve biological diversity in seven globally significant protected areas (PAS) by implementing an ecodevelopment strategy (prepared by the GOI). The strategy embraced a community based approach encouraging durab1e partner ships between Forest Department staff and local communities …
world Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on May 17 announced his "much-awaited' resignation following a protracted controversy over a generous pay and promotion package for his colleague Shaha Riza. According to Wolfowitz, he resigned in the "best interests' of the bank. He will remain in office until June 30. "I have …
The recently completed assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh witnessed an unprecedented public practise. In the drought-stricken Bundelkhand region, voters asked the candidates to take a written test on the problems of the region. Called
