Community-based natural resource management is an important strategy to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and wildlife in Namibia. The authors examine the extent to which conservancies have been successful in meeting their primary goal of improving the lives of rural households. They...

Empirical studies on health at a disaggregate level-by socioeconomic group or geographic location-can provide useful information for designing poverty-focused interventions. Using Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data, the author investigates the determinants of health outcomes in low-income...

We use a competing risk model to analyze environmental determinants of child mortality using the 1992 China National Health Survey, which collects information on cause of death. Our primary question is whether taking into account of cause of death using a competing risk model, compared with a...

The authors focus on infant and child mortality in rural areas of India. They construct a flexible duration model framework that allows for frailty at multiple levels and interactions between the child's age and individual socioeconomic, and environmental characteristics. The model is estimated...

Using household data specifically collected for the purpose of evaluation, the authors empirically evaluate the impact on household income of a rural program in China that focuses on increasing women's economic and social participation in the local community. They find that the program...

In this paper, the authors seek to answer three questions about poverty and forests in Malawi: (1) What is the extent of biomass available for meeting the energy needs of the poor in Malawi and how is this distributed? (2) To what extent does fuelwood scarcity affect the welfare of the poor? (3)...

Decentralized forest management is an important policy issue in India and elsewhere. Yet there are few careful studies of the impacts of community forestry. The authors try to fill this gap by analyzing National Sample Survey data from 524 villages in five states in India. Their analysis seeks...

Irrigation management transfer is an important strategy among donors and governments to strengthen farmer control over water and irrigation infrastructure. This study seeks to understand whether irrigation management transfer is meeting the promise of its commitments. The authors use data from a...

This study investigates the choice of occupational focus versus diversification between household members in rural Bangladesh as an autonomous and proactive adaptation strategy against ex ante local rainfall variability risks. The analysis combines nationally representative household level...

The World Bank's new environment strategy advocates cost-effective reduction of air and water pollutants that are most harmful to human health. In addition, it addresses threats to the livelihood of over one billion people who live on fragile lands-lands that are steeply sloped, arid, or covered...