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A lack of finance for water resources management is a primary concern for most OECD countries. This is exacerbated in the current fiscal environment of tight budgets and strong fiscal consolidation, as public funding provides the lion’s share of financial resources for water management.The report provides a framework for policy discussions around financing water resources management that are taking place at local, basin, national, or transboundary levels. The report goes beyond the traditional focus on financing water supply and sanitation to examine the full range of water management tasks that governments have to fulfill; when appropriate, a distinction is made on distinctive water issues.The report identifies four principles (Polluter Pays, Beneficiary Pays, Equity, Policy Coherence), which have to be combined. In addition, it identifies five empirical issues, which have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Finally, it sketches a staged approach that governments might wish to consider, to assess the financial status of their water policies and to design robust financial strategies for water management. Case studies provide illustrations of selected instruments and how they can be used to finance water resources management.    

'Healthy Development: The World Bank Strategy for Health, Nutrition, and Population Results' updates the Bank's contribution to improving health outcomes, including the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, at a time when new and existing multilateral organizations, bilateral partners, and foundations are increasing their commitment to global health.

A Development Emergency: the title of this year's Global Monitoring Report, the sixth in an annual series, could not be more apt. The global economic crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression, is rapidly turning into a human and development crisis. No region is immune. The poor countries are especially vulnerable, as they have the least cushion to withstand events. The crisis, coming on the heels of the food and fuel crises, poses serious threats to their hard-won gains in boosting economic growth and reducing poverty. It is pushing millions back into poverty and putting at risk the very survival of many. The prospect of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, already a cause for serious concern, now looks even more distant. A global crisis must be met with a global response. The crisis began in the financial markets of developed countries, so the first order of business must be to stabilize these markets and counter the recession that the financial turmoil has triggered. At the same time, strong and urgent actions are needed to counter the impact of the crisis on developing countries and help them restore strong growth while protecting the poor. Global Monitoring Report 2009, prepared jointly by the staff of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, provides a development perspective on the global economic crisis. It assesses the impact on developing countries, their growth, poverty reduction, and other MDGs. And it sets out priorities for policy response, both by developing countries themselves and by the international community. This report also focuses on the ways in which the private sector can be better mobilized in support of development goals, especially in the aftermath of the crisis.

Virtual water trade can generate an aggregate value gain or loss when there is a regionally disparity in the value of water resources. This paper proposes a novel integrated model to evaluate the impact of virtual water trade on the gain and loss in both environmental and economic dimensions. Environmentally, when virtual water flows from regions rich in water to regions short of water, the scarcity of water resources at the aggregate level is alleviated and positive gains are obtained. Economically, as virtual water is transferred from economically less developed regions to those that are economically developed, the marginal economic value of water resources is enhanced, resulting in a positive gain. China is characterized by significant disparities in the degree of water scarcity and the level of economic development in different areas of the country. This study therefore focuses on China as a case of how interregional virtual water trade leads to a loss or gain in aggregate value. We employ a Multi-regional Input–Output model to analyze the virtual water flows within China and adopt the Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate the water shadow price. Results show that the virtual water flow in China in 2015 was mostly from water-scarce to water-rich regions, resulting in a loss of 8 billion m3 of scarce water; however, at the same time, economically developed areas received large amounts of virtual water from less developed areas, thereby generating a net economic gain of 8.5 trillion CNY. In particular, the virtual water trade from Heilongjiang to Shandong yielded the largest of environmental gains, saving 1.65 billion m3 of scarce water, and the virtual water trade from Xinjiang to Guangdong produced the largest of economic gains, hitting 479 billion CNY. This paper aims to serve as an inspiration for regional, national and even global virtual water trade practices.

Purpose Freshwater availability is reducing globally, due to increasing demand with population growth and climate change and is disproportionately impacting developing countries. This study aims to investigate the dynamics of water access and consumption across all regions of Thailand with various characteristics and water systems. Understanding the relationship between institutional, economic and climate variables in Thailand’s water management is important for water scarcity planning. Our paper fills a gap in the literature by examining the determinants of water consumption and exploring potential water management policies. Design/methodology/approach The authors empirically analyze the determinants of water consumption in Thailand, including institutional, economic and climate variables. The authors use data sets from both metropolitan and provincial waterworks authorities (PWA), as well as economic and meteorological macro-level data. The authors also adopt an auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and a Johansen cointegration test to estimate short- and long-run effects of the variables on water consumption. Findings The authors confirm a negative relationship between water pricing and consumption and verify a positive relationship between economic growth and water consumption across most regions of Thailand. Furthermore, the authors reveal a clear relationship between climate factors and water consumption and an inverse relationship between income and water consumption in metropolitan area. Findings indicate that authorities, especially PWA, should examine high water use in agriculture and develop regulations to ensure equitable water distribution to sustain economic growth. The authors recommend that water prices are increased within specific income thresholds to prevent impacting low-income families and to secure higher public revenue. In pursuit of environmental sustainability, the authors also recommend increasing public awareness of freshwater scarcity through education programs and investment in water-saving technologies. Differences among regions should be considered when developing water management strategies, which could be monitored through the respective water boards. Originality/value This study provides deep insight into the key factors that drive both water prices and water consumption in poor and rich areas. The unique nature of the research indicated that the paper will be of interest to policymakers and the academic community. The findings are relevant for water consumption management in Thailand and other developing countries with similar characteristics.

Agricultural water management is a vital practice in ensuring reduction, and environmental protection. After decades of successfully expanding irrigation and improving productivity, farmers and managers face an emerging crisis in the form of poorly performing irrigation schemes, slow modernization, declining investment, constrained water availability, and environmental degradation. More and better investments in agricultural water are needed. In response, the World Bank, in conjunction with many partner agencies, has compiled a selection of good experiences that can guide practitioners in the design of quality investments in agricultural water. The messages of Shaping the Future of Water for Agriculture: A Sourcebook for Investment in Agricultural Water Management center around the key challenges to agricultural water management, specifically:Building policies and incentives Designing institutional reforms Investing in irrigation systems improvement and modernization Investing in groundwater irrigation Investing in drainage and water quality management Investing in water management in rainfed agriculture Investing in agricultural water management in multipurpose operations Coping with extreme climatic conditions Assessing the social, economic, and environmental impacts of agricultural water investmentsShaping the Future of Water for Agriculture is an important resource for those interested and engaged in development with a focus on agricultural water.

The adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) has been recommended by many experts and international institutions to address food security and climate change problems. Global support for the Sustainable Development Goals has focused attention on efforts to up-scale the adoption of SAPs in developing countries where growth in populations and incomes compromises the resilience of natural resources. This study investigates the factors affecting smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt SAPs (improved seed, fertilizer, and soil and water conservation) and the impacts of the adoption on farm income and food security, using data collected from Ghana. Food security is captured by the reduced coping strategy index and household dietary diversity. The multinomial endogenous switching regression model is utilized to address selection bias issues. Results show that farmers’ decisions to adopt SAPs are influenced by the social demographics of the households, plot-level characteristics, extension services and locations. Adopting all three SAPs has larger positive impacts on farm income and food security than adopting single or two SAPs. Our findings advocate for policies that enhance the quality of extension service and strengthen farmer-based organizations for the wider dissemination of adequate SAP information. Farmers should be encouraged to adopt SAPs as a comprehensive package for increasing farm income and ensuring food security.

Green finance is profoundly affecting the energy transition, and at the global level, renewable energy has entered a leapfrog development phase. Unlike the research object that existing studies focus on, this paper selects 53 countries and regions that have launched green finance businesses as research sample, and empirically assesses the effect of green finance on the development of renewable energy based on cross-country panel data spanning 2000 to 2021. The results show that renewable energy development is positively impacted by green finance, and the marginal impact of green finance is gradually growing as renewable energy development level improves; the contribution of green finance to renewable energy development holds only in developed countries, emerging economies, countries with high green financial development levels, and countries with strong environmental regulations, but not in relatively backward developing countries, countries with low green financial development levels, and countries with weak environmental regulations; sectors of renewable energy that rely more heavily on external financing are more likely to be promoted by green finance; green finance supports renewable energy development mainly through promoting investment in renewable energy fixed assets and innovation in technology of the sector. This study provides an empirical and theoretical basis for green finance to promote renewable energy development.

The ground-breaking research on the electricity sector and its effects on energy efficiency (EE) in advanced and emerging economies are crucial in developing a futuristic pathway, leading to self-sustainable energy use. Therefore, this research investigates the functions of sustainable investments to ensure EE in advanced and emerging economies in a decade, ranging from 2008 to 2018, by applying the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. The findings reveal a lower degree of EE in advanced and emerging economies (0.44), discovering only seven nations, saving energy with DEA and the West Asia and North Africa groups as the top energy savers. Moreover, the mean EE ratio of the advanced and emerging countries plummeted, dating back to 2013, whereas financial investment positively impacts EE. Similarly, the study perceives how open structures in the nations' economic systems can advance ecological conditions by reducing pollution levels and graft enable EE and reduce pollution levels. Simultaneously, natural resources and technological advancements can accelerate the course of EE and ecological dimensions. Therefore, analysis of causality reinforce the response hypotheses between EE, Environmental carbon emissions levels, financial advancements, graft control, proceeds from mineral resources, technological creativity, commerce, and localization of industries, respectively.