Law, Justice, and Development

2007, Christy, Lawrence C., Di Leva, Charles E., Lindsay, Jonathan M., Takoukam, Patrice Talla

This study is intended to be a systematic and practical guide to the basic features of modern forestry legislation. It identifies a range of issues that should be considered in assessing the adequacy of forest laws and presents options for addressing those issues in ways that may improve the effectiveness of law as a foundation for sustainable forest management. Part One locates forestry law within the wider legal framework, exploring its complex interrelations with other sectoral and general laws. Land issues are given special treatment because the relationship between forest access and use and land tenure is so important. Part Two explores in detail the legal treatment of core forest management issues, such as forest classification, planning, concessions, licensing, and private forest management. Part Three focuses on the role of national and sub-national institutions in the sustainable management of forest resources. As decentralization of forestry responsibilities and devolution of powers are growing, local actors are given more prominent roles in forest planning, use, and management, through such means as community-based arrangements. Part Four explores a range of environmental and trade issues. Part Five examines financial and enforcement measures, emphasizing that compliance and enforcement of forest law should be reinforced by financial and administrative sanctions. The study concludes with some reflections on how the effectiveness of forest law can be enhanced by attention to the principles that guide the process of drafting.

2006, Salman, Salman M. A., Bradlow, Daniel

Water is a scarce and finite resource with no substitute, and upon which the very existence of life on earth depends. The challenges facing water resources are daunting. The Millennium Development Goals aim, inter alia, at reducing by half, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation. Although progress thus far is not encouraging, it is hoped that necessary actions will be taken to achieve this goal during the remaining period. Such actions include financial, institutional, and legal measures. Indeed, without the appropriate legal framework, the ability of the state to regulate, control, and allocate its water resources is hampered; its role in ensuring their efficient and proper use is hindered; and its right to protect those resources is challenged. This study of the regulatory frameworks for water resources management examines water legislation in sixteen jurisdictions, and highlights, in a comparative manner, the key elements needed for an effective regulatory framework. Chapter 1 traces the relevance and importance assigned to water legislation by the different international conferences and forums, including the Mar del Plata, Dublin, and Rio, and the guidance provided by those conferences for preparing such legislation. Chapter 2 surveys the regulatory frameworks for water resources management in sixteen jurisdictions, based on certain key elements. Those jurisdictions were selected based on the availability and accessibility of a water law, as well as on the need to represent different regions and legal systems of the world. Chapter 3 presents a comparative analysis of these regulatory frameworks based on the same elements. The analysis examines the main similarities and differences in the approaches adopted by the jurisdictions selected. Chapter 4 highlights essential elements that need to be addressed in any regulatory framework for water resources management, and identifies emerging trends in water legislation. Finally, Chapter 5 underscores the relevance and importance of the regulatory framework, and specifies conditions supporting its utility and efficacy.

2006, Bruce, John W., Giovarelli, Renée, Rolfes, Jr., Leonard, Bledsoe, David, Mitchell, Robert

This book examines issues at the forefront of the debate on land law reform, pays particular attention to how reform options affect the poor and disadvantaged, and recommends strategies for alleviating poverty more effectively through land law reform. It reviews the role of the World Bank in land law reform, examining issues of process as well as substance. It also identifies key challenges and directions, and stresses the need to design law reforms in ways that suit diverse economic, legal, and institutional environments. This book is a contribution to comparative thinking on reform of the law relating to land. It examines the implications for land law reform in the broadening of development goals beyond growth to include environmental protection, poverty eradication, and achievement of gender equity, and it reviews a broad range of experience in land law reform. After the introductory chapter, chapter 2 examines how land law reform is achieved through World Bank initiatives. It reviews steps the Bank has taken to achieve comprehensive reforms of land law in the context of natural resource management and land reform programs and land administration projects. It also analyzes lessons learned from various land law reform processes. Chapter 3 addresses reform of rules affecting women's access to and rights in land. The topic is one in which broad recommendations are not necessarily easy due to cultural and other norms governing women's rights and freedoms regarding land. Chapter 4 examines how to develop land markets while minimizing adverse effects and enhancing positive impacts on the poor. Chapter 5 discusses the importance of titling and registration of land rights, reviews concepts that are supported by the Bank in many of its land projects, and describes how titling and registration can affect economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. Chapter 7 deals with issues of equity and poverty in the context of conservation and environmental protection of farms and forests. It examines the role of individual property rights, as well as the legal tools that can be used to encourage conservation. The conclusion draws together significant aspects from all the chapters that are needed for effective land law reform.

2003, World Bank

Legal and regulatory aspects of E-Commerece and the Internet, by Hank Intven, Rdichard Pfohl, Cheryl Slusarchuk, and Barry Sookman. Intellectual property rights and the protection of public health in developing countries, by Carlos M. Correa. Assessing a bill in terms of the public interest : the legislator's role in the law-making process, by Ann Seidman and Robert Seidman. Property rights issues in common property regimes for forestry, by John Bruce. The quality of Judges, by Hon. Sandra E. Oxner. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the World Bank, by Ko-Yung Tung. Islamic law on interest : the 1999 Pakistan Supreme Court decision on Riba, by Akhtar Hamid. The instrument establishing the World Bank prototype carbon fund (PCF) and the first PCF emission reduction purchase agreement. Ethical norms for the judicial branch of the Republic of Guatemala. The right to housing : Government of the Republic of South Africa, and others v. Grootboom and others. Agreement establishing the African trade insurance agency. China and the knowledge economy : seizing the 21st century . Principles and guidelines for effective insolvency and creditor rights systems.

2006, World Bank

The World Bank legal review: law, equity, and development, volume two, is a publication for policy makers and their advisers, attorneys, and other professionals engaged in the field of international development. It offers a combination of legal scholarship, lessons from experience, legal developments, and recent research on the many ways in which the application of law and the improvement of justice systems promote poverty reduction, economic development, and the rule of law. In keeping with the theme of the World Development Report 2006: equity and development, and following the success of the World Bank Group's legal forum on 'law, equity, and development' in December 2005, volume two of the World Bank legal review focuses on issues of equity and development. The volume draws together some of the key ideas of the Legal Forum, including articles by many of its distinguished participants, and explores the role of equity in the development process, highlighting how legal and regulatory frameworks and equitable justice systems can do much to level the playing field in the political, economic, and socio-cultural domains, as well as how they can reinforce existing inequalities.