Although forest covers 40 per cent of Nepal, the forestry sector’s potential to generate huge employment opportunities is largely untapped. Private sector involvement and investment could create 1.38 million work days a year. But certain policies and administrative hurdles hinder both community and private investment in the sector. The lack...
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set a new agenda for development, with the ambitious aim of eradicating extreme poverty within the next 15 years while also recognising environmental limits.
This new post-2015 agenda exposes the shortfalls of current approaches and demands a new approach to economic development. African countries are...
When five per cent of milk fails to meet standards, you have a problem with milk. When 50 percent does not meet standards, you have a problem with standards. In developing countries, perishable food is mostly sold in informal markets and often does not meet national food safety standards. Government...
Our decreasing forest landscapes are under huge pressure to deliver local and global needs, from a village’s food and firewood to mitigating climate change. With demand unlikely to fall, the key issue is how we extract what we need. Governments are faced with two contrasting business models: the profit-maximising, often...
This report discusses the opportunities presented by the Amapá State government’s intention to make the transition to a green economy. It explores initial progress in green policy and activity, and associated dynamics in the political economy, and lays out a broad but feasible set of sectoral and cross-sectoral policy options...
Investment in Tanzania’s energy sector is growing, but how much attention is being given to decentralised energy solutions for people who still lack energy for their basic needs: to light their homes and power their farms and businesses? This study maps the available data on finance for decentralised energy access...
This paper examines community participation in housing projects for low-income communities in Thailand and how they have sought to ‘leave no one behind’. Baan Mankong, the government slum upgrading programme, is unique in how it has institutionalised participation. Housing projects funded by international funders, community savings or small government subsidies...
Karnataka has a population of over 60 million which is growing at over 2% per annum. It is the eighth largest and fifth most urbanised state in India, with 37% population living in cities. It contributes over 5% to India’s GDP and has been growing at over 7% in the...
This report covers case studies with three companies: Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), capturing their experiences and lessons learn preparing for and operating under policies that price carbon emissions. It is relevant for private companies and countries interested in seeing how companies are putting...
Land degradation is a severe economic and environmental challenge for Uzbekistan. It has a negative impact on agricultural production, and on rural incomes and livelihoods. It thus poses one of the major problems for sustainable development in Uzbekistan, though numerous efforts to address it have been made. Uzbekistan's government is, for example, planning to allocate more than 1 billion...