Sector/Thematic Studies

6,688 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2110

Economic and Sectoral Work are original analytic reports authored by the World Bank and intended to influence programs and policy in client countries. They convey Bank-endorsed recommendations and represent the formal opinion of a World Bank unit on the topic. This set includes the sectoral and thematic studies which are not Core Diagnostic Studies. Other analytic and advisory activities (AAA), including technical assistance studies, are included in these sectoral/thematic collections.

Sub-collections of this Collection

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 59

Advancing Disaster Risk Financing in Sint Maarten

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-04) Boyer, Mary ; Wielinga, Doekle ; Gunaskera, Rashmin ; De Kort, Rendell Ernest ; Wrede, Peter ; Whyte-Givans, Sophia ; Justiniano, Ivelisse ; Macabuag, Josh

Historical losses due to hurricanes have been significant in Sint Maarten (SXM) since 1960, with the most severe impact having been experienced in 2017 following Hurricane Irma. The objective of this report is to provide recommendations to the Government of Sint Maarten (GoSXM) for the formulation of a country-specific comprehensive disaster risk financing (DRF) strategy based on the assessment of the legislative, financial management, fiscal, and insurance market environment in SXM. It is envisioned that this report will be used as a planning tool for the potential development of an all-encompassing DRF strategy that would equip the GoSXM with information and instruments to manage contingent liabilities posed by disasters.
Disability Inclusion in Disaster Risk Management - Assessment in the Caribbean Region

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-03-18) World Bank

Persons with disabilities make up just one of many groups in society that are systematically marginalized and disadvantaged. Gender, ethnic and religious diversity, poverty, age, homelessness, levels of education and literacy, gender preference and diversity, and geographic isolation are just some of the characteristics that can define social exclusion. The World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), with support from the Canadian government, have established the Canada–Caribbean Resilience Facility (CRF) as a single-donor trust fund aimed at achieving more effective and coordinated gender-informed climate-resilient preparedness, recovery, and public financial management practices in nine targeted CRF-eligible countries. The CRF is supporting, disability inclusive disaster risk management (DRM) as an essential element in building this societal resilience. The primary purpose of this assessment is to understand gaps better in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in national disaster risk management (DRM) and climate resilience (CR) processes and strategies in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. The report is based on the recognition that collectively people with disabilities are systematically marginalized and excluded from full and equal participation in society and societal processes. Primarily, the reasons are barriers to access that are both structural and nonstructural. These barriers can be removed or mitigated through effective social policy, implementation of existing norms and standards, and public will. The assessment will provide recommendations that make preparedness and recovery efforts more disability inclusive.
Not-So-Magical Realism: A Climate Stress Test of the Colombian Banking System

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11-01) World Bank

This report identifies and assesses relevant physical and transition risks with focus on the banking sector. Banks constitute the largest segment of the Colombian financial sector with asset holdings of Colombian peso (Col dollars) 720 trillion (US209 billion dollars or 78 percent of gross domestic product [GDP]) in 2020. This includes both foreign and domestic banks. Some banks are parts of larger conglomerates in which the related entities could be exposed to similar climate-related financial risks, such as foreign banks, insurance companies, and asset managers. Insurance companies and asset managers are, however, not part of this report. The scope of our analysis includes both physical risks (that is, those emanating from weather-related events and gradual changes in climatic conditions) and transition risks (that is, those emanating from decarbonization of the global economy in line with targets in the Paris Agreement). The authors note that we use a broad definition of physical risks, covering both climate-related disaster risks and the effects of climate change on their probability distribution. In the remainder of the report, authors refer to the collection of these risks as climate-related financial risks, or climate-related risks in short. The report also builds on quantitative data from a range of sources to explore the vulnerability of banks in specific scenarios. The report bases its analysis on data provided by the SFC, the Central Bank of Colombia (BR), the National Planning Department (DNP), and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), and further desk research. In general, the report focuses on three main channels through which climate-related risks affect Colombian banks’ balance sheet: the effects on credit risk in the loan portfolio, the effects on the market value of government bonds, and the effects on exposures through investments in other financial institutions. These three channels represent the most important asset classes, covering 79 percent of total assets in the Colombian banking sector. However, in some of our quantitative assessments, we limit our scope further owing to data limitations, including investments in related entities and noncorporate loans (the latter only for transition risk). Because data are not available for all potential channels that affect the financial sector, our outcomes can be conservative and lead to an underestimation of the total effect of climate risks on banks.
360° Resilience: A Guide to Prepare the Caribbean for a New Generation of Shocks

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-27) Rozenberg, Julie ; Browne, Nyanya ; De Vries Robbé, Sophie ; Kappes, Melanie ; Lee, Woori ; Prasad, Abha

Caribbean countries, a set of mostly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have a history of dealing with large shocks. The region is threatened by both economic and natural hazards. Nations have specialized in tourism and commodity exports, disproportionately exposing them to global economic cycles through changes in tourism demand and commodity prices. They are also located in a region that is highly exposed to a range of natural hazards, from volcanic eruptions to earthquakes and hurricanes, which damage their infrastructure stock, reduce tourism demand, and destroy agricultural production. Hazards have often caused severe damage to economies and livelihoods in the region. This report reviews existing assessments of past losses from natural and economic shocks in the Caribbean, looking at impacts on physical capital, private sector activity (especially tourism and agriculture), economic growth, poverty, and well-being. It concludes that, despite the damage to physical capital experienced by countries due to natural hazards (especially in housing and transport infrastructure), the impacts on growth are short-lived, possibly because many mechanisms are in place to help economies bounce back rapidly. However, natural hazards have a high impact on poverty and human capital and threaten the sustainability of economic growth.
Climate Change Risk Analysis of Argentina’s Land Transport Network

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-09) Kesete, Yohannes Y. ; Raffo, Veronica ; Pant, Raghav ; Koks, Elco E. ; Paltan, Homero ; Russell, Tom ; Hall, Jim W.

Argentina’s vast networks of national, provincial, and rural roads, spanning more than 240,000 kilometers, are critical for the country’s growth and development. However, climate change–induced hydrological extremes often disrupt road travel and raise logistics costs. The objective of this study is to quantify the impact of climate change induced flood risk on the transport network in Argentina. The study analyzes both current and future flooding scenarios, examines the resulting disruptions in the transport network, and estimates the direct and indirect macroeconomic losses. The study uses a system-of-systems approach, where network models are developed to suitably represent the transport system as nodes and links. For each node and link, the study analyzes criticality, vulnerability, and risk, and provides adaptation strategies. This paper is organized into four sections. Following the methodology and approach laid out in Section 2, the analysis and results are detailed in Section 3,Conclusions and policy recommendations are presented in Section 4.
Argentina: Valuing Water

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08-17) World Bank

This report assesses water security in Argentina, using a conceptual framework developed by the World Bank. The effects of the pandemic reinforce the importance of safe access to water, hygiene, and sanitation, both as the first barrier against virus transmission and as an essential factor during recovery to mitigate secondary impacts on livelihoods and community well-being. The clear need to ensure that water is available in sufficient quantity and quality for human and productive uses, together with controlling the effects of the excess of water, highlights its central role in the economy, and in particular in securing the well-being of vulnerable communities. Argentina is already taking key steps to close water security gaps. It is increasing access to water and sanitation services with a focus on the most vulnerable; defining planning instruments such as national water plans; reinforcing tools such as the national information system for water and sanitation, the national water network information system (SNIH) and management and results plans (PGRs) for public service companies; expanding the regulatory framework with law 27,520 on minimum budgets for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change; and creating new entities such as the national directorate of drinking water and sanitation (DNAPyS). This study builds on these efforts and recommends steps to take toward becoming a more water-secure country by 2030.
Using Blockchain to Support the Energy Transition and Climate Markets: Results and Lessons from a Pilot Project in Chile

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12) World Bank

Countries can achieve a successful energy transition and participate effectively in the climate market by applying available knowledge, good practices, and lessons learned. This paper provides an example of how blockchain technology contribute to these goals by linking energy and climate sectors, businesses, and customers. It assesses a pilot blockchain project undertaken in Chile to support distributed generation and carbon markets. Recommendations for scaling up innovative technologies to advance clean energy and climate change mitigation agendas are adduced.
A Forest’s Worth: Policy Options for a Sustainable and Inclusive Forest Economy in Paraguay

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12-01) World Bank

Endowed with rich forest resources, Paraguay has lost a large portion of its native forest cover in recent decades, primarily owing to the rapid expansion of the agricultural frontier and, to a lesser extent, the extraction of fuelwood, which underpins the country’s energy security. A forest plantation subsector is emerging, in part to address the annual deficit of sustainably sourced biomass of around 9 million cubic meters.
Metropolitan Mexico City: Megalopolitan Integration to Combat Black Carbon

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11-13) Garcia, Natalia ; Olberding, Beth ; Macias, Jorge

Globally, cities are the source of over 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Cities are also the engines of the global economy, concentrating more than half the world’s population, and they are where the middle class is rapidly expanding. Indeed, by the year 2050, two-thirds of the world will be urban, with cities accommodating an additional 2.5 billion people over today’s total. Nearly all of this urban growth will occur in developing countries. This concentration of people and assets also means that the impacts of natural disasters, exacerbated by the changing climate, may be even more devastating, both in terms of human lives lost and economic livelihoods destroyed. These effects will disproportionately burden the poor. Earth is on a trajectory of warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius unless important decarbonizing steps are taken.Often urban policymakers prescribe integration as the solution to steering urbanization towards decarbonization to achieve greater global and local environmental benefits. However, little is known about the struggles—and successes—that cities in developing countries have in planning, financing, and implementing integrated urban solutions. The main objective of this report is to understand how a variety of developing and emerging economies are successfully utilizing horizontal integration—across multiple infrastructure sectors and systems—at the metropolitan scale to deliver greater sustainability. This report explores how integrated planning processes extending well beyond city boundaries have been financed and implemented in a diverse group of metropolitan areas. From this analysis, the report derives models, poses guiding questions, and presents three key principles to provoke and inspire action by cities around the world.
Metropolitan Medellin: Somos10—Integrating Ten Municipalities into One Metropolis

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11-13) Restrepo-Mieth, Andrea ; Perez-Jaramillo, Jorge ; Montoya Pino, Felipe

Globally, cities are the source of over 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Cities are also the engines of the global economy, concentrating more than half the world’s population, and they are where the middle class is rapidly expanding. Indeed, by the year 2050, two-thirds of the world will be urban, with cities accommodating an additional 2.5 billion people over today’s total. Nearly all of this urban growth will occur in developing countries. This concentration of people and assets also means that the impacts of natural disasters, exacerbated by the changing climate, may be even more devastating, both in terms of human lives lost and economic livelihoods destroyed. These effects will disproportionately burden the poor. Earth is on a trajectory of warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius unless important decarbonizing steps are taken.Often urban policymakers prescribe integration as the solution to steering urbanization towards decarbonization to achieve greater global and local environmental benefits. However, little is known about the struggles—and successes—that cities in developing countries have in planning, financing, and implementing integrated urban solutions. The main objective of this report is to understand how a variety of developing and emerging economies are successfully utilizing horizontal integration—across multiple infrastructure sectors and systems—at the metropolitan scale to deliver greater sustainability. This report explores how integrated planning processes extending well beyond city boundaries have been financed and implemented in a diverse group of metropolitan areas. From this analysis, the report derives models, poses guiding questions, and presents three key principles to provoke and inspire action by cities around the world.