Synopses & Reviews
Three billion people will be added to the world's population over the next 50 years and 2.8 billion people today already live on less than $2 a day--almost all in developing countries. Ensuring these people have access to productive work and a better quality of life is the core development challenge of the first half of this century. Growth could itself be jeopardized over the longer term, unless a transformation of society and the management of the environment are addressed integrally with economic growth.Now in its 25th edition, this year's 'World Development Report' examines, over a 50 year period, the relationship between competing policy objectives of reducing poverty, maintaining growth, improving social cohesion, and protecting the environment. The 'World Development Report 2003' emphasizes that many good policies have been identified but not implemented due to distributional issues and barriers to developing better institutions. The Report reviews institutional innovations that might help overcome these barriers and stresses that ensuring economic growth and improved management of the planet's ecosystem requires a reduction in poverty and inequality at all levels: local, national, and international.As in previous editions, the 'World Development Report 2003' contains an appendix of selected indicators from the 'World Development Indicators'.
Synopsis
The World Development Report 2003 addresses how to lift from poverty the three billion people now living in severe deprivation. It also explores how to improve the quality of life for everybody today and for the two billion more who will join mankind in the next thirty years. Substantial increases in growth and productivity will be necessary to achieve this goal. The current scale of economic activity and speed of change is such that ecosystem and social structures cannot keep up. The Report puts forth two main messages: the first point is that enhancing prosperity and reducing poverty requires better care of the planet's ecosystem and social fabric. And secondly, that stronger collective action at all levels--from local to global--is essential for generating and scaling up the institutions that can transform growth.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Roadmap to World Development Report 2003
1. Achievements and Challenges
The core development challenge
Act now--even for long-term problems
2. Managing a Broader Portfolio of Assets
Sustainability--an evolving framework
Measuring sustainability
The importance of a range of assets
Why the need to manage a broader portfolio of assets?
Tradeoffs and sustainable development
Some assets are overused or underprovided--why?
Correcting the overuse or underprovision of important assets
3. Institutions for Sustainable Development
Institutions coordinating human behavior
Institutions protecting assets
Picking up signals, balancing interests, and implementing decisions
Overcoming barriers to coordination
Promoting inclusiveness
Catalysts for change
4. Improving Livelihoods on Fragile Lands
Inclusion, innovation, and migration
Managing fragile lands to improve livelihoods
Living on the edge--the arid plains
Living on a precipice--the mountains
Nurturing assets by listening--and by enabling communities to act
Nurturing women's human capital
The use of nonrenewable local resources--balancing interests
Balancing interests among governments, companies, and communities
Partnering for change
5. Valuing People, Land, and Water
Land and water constraints
Eliminate rural poverty and prepare outmigrants
Intensify the use of land
Intensify the use of water
Get Ahead of the Frontier
Conclusion
6. Getting the Best from Cities
The challenge of urban life
City Lights: Beacons of hope and warning flares
Building informed constituencies to address spillovers and anticipate risks
Balancing interests to provide urban public goods
Inclusion and access to assets--challenging the institutional roots of urban slums
Institutions for sustainable urban development
Conclusion
7. Strengthening National Coordination
Promoting inclusiveness
Creating a sound investment climate
Managing the environment
Managing natural resources and using aid effectively
Averting violent conflict
Conclusion
8. Global Problems and Local Concerns
Designing institutions to solve global problems
Conserving biodiversity: Maintaining current services and future options
Mitigating and adapting to risks of climate change
Conclusion
9. Pathways to a Sustainable Future
Acting today
A global vision and accord
Ongoing dialogue--some open questions