Dryland regions in Sub-Saharan Africa are home to one-half of the region’s population and three-quarters of its poor. Poor both in natural resources and in assets and income, the inhabitants of drylands are highly vulnerable to droughts and other shocks. Despite a long history of interventions...

This working paper draws from the joint World Bank and World Meteorological Organization / Global Water Partnership Integrated Drought Management Program (IDMP) work stream on benefits of action and costs of inaction (BACI) for drought preparedness and mitigation. It suggests a methodological...

A widely cited report from 1979 suggested that existing wood supplies in Haiti would be enough to meet increasing charcoal demand until around the year 2000, but that ongoing charcoal production could result in an environmental ‘apocalypse’ (Voltaire 1979, 21, 23) The prediction that wood...

Groundwater is playing an increasingly important role in domestic, industrial and agricultural water supply. With the advent of the tube well and driven by the rapid growth of demand for agricultural and municipal water, annual global groundwater extraction has increased in recent decades from 100 k