Many folks decry the New World Order, yet really it seems that they do not fully understand what they are talking about. As the coordinator for the Online Think Tank many people wish to warn us about the New World Order and ask if we know anything about this so-called conspiracy. What conspiracy? Actually yes I have heard of all this stuff.

My thoughts are that there are indeed too many people on the planet, yes, well I concur with that and unless, better infrastructure systems are built in order to handle these issues then we will continue to see problems and they will become bigger and bigger. Whether man-made or nature’s equilibrium does not matter too much. Too many people on the planet is an issue and the World Population Clock ticketh. This problem must be addressed, we simply cannot sweep it under the carpet any longer.

The “New World Order” in concept is potentially better than the continued “resonance and heightened dissident fiery incited debate” leading to chaos and controversy, perhaps anarchy and collapse of human civilizations. It seems that the ideal population for Earth is probably 100 to 300 million or less per continent with proper modern infrastructures, which will be needed to be in place, prior to any increase. But, with regards to some continents the 100 - 300 million would be better set at a far reduced multiple.

We have too many people and they are over producing more people, like rats. Something needs to be done, the solutions are unthinkable indeed. You see, I am not against a “One World, one currency, one direction” plan or time table for this human occupied planet, with regional variations and a sense of freedom. There are too many people on the planet that would be hard to deny really. It’s not very pretty.

Sure, living in the US seems doable but look at the infrastructure it takes to support it. Putting a Billion people in the Middle East, China or 2 billion in Africa is outrageous and the growth population rates are scary. We are doomed if we do not fix it you know? So, make less people, solve the real problems, rather than the band-aids. Today we can barely feed them, what about tomorrow when there are twice as many mouths to feed? What are you thoughts on that harsh reality?

Why are you against a one planet system? It might even be nice to take the best we have developed in the US and use that model, deleting the stuff that does not work. One World plan might actually be quite nice, so what’s the problem? Spell it out, let’s here the objections and rational behind that debate? Well, come on now, time is wasting and the population clock ticket.

L. Winslow is a Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entrepreneur. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

There is an overwhelming tidal wave of hot investment money roaming the Globe in search of instant gratification. This money wants to buy your country’s infrastructure, industry, businesses, homes, and assets. The Globalists insist that this will be for your own good, leading to lower costs for services, better services, greater variety, and more choice. Whatever may be the actual effects of Globalization, the personal effects will impact directly on you, the individual, and your family.

“Ownership” implies either one thing or another; “free use of”, or “profit to be gained from”. When we surrender ownership rights to our infrastructure, industry, businesses, homes, or assets we lose either free use of those items, or are forced to begin profiting someone else for the use of them. If the new owners are foreigners, this means that the profit gained from our use, and at our cost, leaves our own country for another place, or another pocket.

International trade is highly competitive. In a sense, there is an economic war waging everywhere. The ammunition for this trade warfare is the almighty dollar. When our dollars leave our pockets for foreign shores to pay for goods or services we once owned for ourselves, we are arming the enemy and exposing ourselves to even greater forays into our own ownership rights.

Even our money supply no longer belongs to “us” (perhaps it never did), being controlled in its entirety by anonymous persons existing outside our own governments’ jurisdiction. Someone, somewhere, is growing the world’s money supply at around 7.5% per year, actually creating that new money out of thin air and simply loaning it to local banks at high interest which we are then forced to borrow at higher interest in order to pay our taxes.

The fact is, foreign ownership is not the problem. It is merely a symptom of the real problem; a part being the fact that all our money is created by foreigners and loaned to us as interest-bearing debt. And when we pay this money back plus interest, it is further used against us in bidding up the price of our own assets.

And even this is not the real problem. The real problem is that taxes rob from us our liquidity, forcing us to borrow this fiat money from the banking monopoly at high interest.

Simply by removing all forms of taxation and re-empowering our governments with the right to issue new interest-free money based upon the growing economy, all these problems would simply disappear. Government services would be fully funded with this new interest-free money. Private disposable incomes would double or triple. Local production costs would fall. Private indebtedness would quickly dissolve away. And we would be able to repurchase our lost assets and resources; those already lost to ill-gotten foreign money.

Carl Peterson may be the foremost world expert on world economics, being the first to recognize the direct links between taxation, usury, environmental destruction, ongoing warfare, and the diabolical way all new money is created by a well entrenched banking monopoly. His recent book describing a no-tax alternative, “The Zen of No Tax” is available through his personal website http://www.truthaboutax.com

Summer olympics will be held in Beijing, China, from August 8 through August 24 2008.

China´s Olympiad is a great sport event. However, besides the great muscle and intelligence needed to succeed in China´s olympic games, there are other achievements which will precede this gigantic event.

Large architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Olympic Green Convention Centre, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. US $2.1 billion in corporate bids and tenders are expected to fund almost 85 percent of the construction budget for the six main venues. Investments are expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the 2008 Summer Olympics. Some venues will be owned and governed by the State General Administration of Sports, which will use them after the Olympics as facilities for all future national sports teams and events.

The centerpiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics is the Beijing National Stadium, construction of which began on December 24, 2003.

Internet is booming too. From 123 million users in june 2006, the count went up to 132 by december 2006, and the rate of increase is expected to be higher in the near future. Broad band users in China is growing too. The latest count was 52 million users and growing. It is said that official count of Internet users is underestimated and that China´s Internet users surpassed USA, going up to 200 millions internet users.

China´s government is encouraging internet use for education, online commerce, advertising and games promotion. As per China´s Internet center, 67.9 of time devoted to Internet surfing by chinese users is spent devouring news. Chinese people, like people all over the world, are realizing the Internet is not only helpful, but a necessity for daily life.

Yahoo is competing with its U.S. rivals Google, Search BigDaddy and local portals such as Sina and Netease.com for market share in China. Barron’s said in May, citing a Morgan Stanley analyst, Mary Meeker. China may become the biggest Internet market in the world within five years. Apparently China is #1 already

Yahoo is the No. 1 Chinese-keyword search engine, with 40 percent market share in terms of revenue, according to Analysys Consulting.

In a statement on its mainland Web site, the company said it has boosted the storage capacity for its free mail service from 100MB to 1GB, matching the storage of rival Google’s upcoming Gmail offering.
While Gmail’s trials are confined to a select group, Yahoo’s upgrade will be extended to all existing and new users of its mail service in China. However, subscribers must first log on to Yahoo’s instant messenger service and add other users to their contact lists to qualify for the 1GB of storage.
Web logs in China took 101 million hits in 2006, Xinhua news agency said, citing the China Internet Survey Report 2007.

“Web logs have gradually developed into a new trend in Internet information communication, many public figures as well as ordinary people use web blogs … to express their thoughts,” the report quoted Huang Chengqing of the China Internet Association as saying.

1984 Los Angeles Olympic games gave China its first gold medal. In fact, China was 4th and won 15 gold medals, 8 silvers and 9 bronzes. Since then, China has been consolidating as a world sports power. Beijing summer games are the showcase for China´s growth and development in all areas of human endeavors including sports, business and technology.

After a long selection process the Olympic commission concluded that Beijing games would leave a unique legacy to China and to sport and concluded that China is ready to organize excellent games. Then Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Comitee announced Beijing came out on top of its competitors as the organizer of the Summer Olympic Games for 2008.

Western companies have great hopes for the Olympics in Bijing. Great changes are taking place and the city has to improve its infrastructure , build modern communication facilities and modern sporting venues, modernize its tourist acomodations and invest in alternative energy sources. Economists assume that the Olimpic Games speed up the development of the city and create additional growth.

1.3 billion chinese are proud to show their country to the world in the 29th summer olympic games to be held in Beijing. Media facilities are very important and the media committee is working to provide the most advanced facilities for newsmen, photographers, technicians and radio and TV crews. It will be a great media event too.

Jose Damaso Ramon
www.josedwebsite.com

Many world economists see a time in the not so distant future when National Currencies are merged into one or a few. It makes sense considering the massive electronic flows of the money. Of course some nations are very concerned with this as no one wants to be on the losing end of the stick and get trapped with mass devaluation or hyper inflation after the switch-over.

When talking about One World Currency or the move closer towards that there are many things to consider indeed. Sure that makes sense eventually to have only a few or one currency in the long-term. For instance; maybe an Asian Dollar, Euro w/Australia/Japan/England joining in, US Dollar used throughout Western Hemisphere, Middle East-African Dollar. Then merge either Asian Currency with Euro or US with Asia, then when you have 3 merge them to one. Have supercomputers monitor the flow of money to insure stability?

This would be the best for humanity in the long run, although there are issues with a Global Currency Collapse in that case right? An “Earth Unit” or “Dollar” would make long-term sense. Earth Unit might even be better and more stable for an Earth Citizen, it also crosses cultural divides of what types of things people value. What are your thoughts on One-World Currency?

These are very tricky discussions when it comes to a nation’s currency, as everyone wants control. However, with World Trade things are moving faster and closer together and the debt on the currency needs to be set to the flow of the currency and not specifically to the nation borrowing the money.

Otherwise we will have continuous mini-economic collapses of emerging nations and currency crashes of first world nations. That does not serve the people or the bankers and certainly adds to the changes of civilization collapse. In reality no one wishes to discuss this, but in the future something must be done to shore up the risks being created in the present period, abstractly thinking of course.

L. Winslow is a Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entreprenuer. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

The Monterrey Consensus, in addition to framing commitments for increased ODA, “codified” the call for development effectiveness. This call was reinforced in July 2002, when donors to the Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)—the world’s primary source of concessional (near-zero-interest) finance for development in the low-income countries—made replenishment contingent on the establishment of a results-based measurement system for IDA programs. IDA provides assistance to the world’s 82 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. It is the single largest source of donor funds for basic social services in the poorest countries.

Donors agreed in March 2005 to a 14 th replenishment of IDA worth $33 million in new resources over three years. Now the 15 th replenishment of IDA is on the horizon, with donors expected to decide on contributions for the next three-year cycle by December 2007. IDA is at a watershed, in part because of debt relief contributions– IDA is providing $54 billion in debt reliefto poor countries: $18 billionunder the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and $36 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI).This represents one third of IDA’s total resources and it lowers available credit reflows. Without additional resources, IDA would need to cut its financial support for poor countries currently benefiting from debt relief. For this reason, a generous replenishment of IDA is crucial.

Through its leadership on harmonization and alignment, IDA also leverages the assistance of other donors in support of country-owned programs and projects. These efforts are forging stronger partnerships between aid providers and recipient countries.

Given its unique capabilities and its track-record, IDA serves as a cornerstone of the international aid system in many poor countries. IDA’s platform ensures that aid is less fragmented, more predictable, and increasingly results-focused, which is fundamental to countries seeking to achieve the MDGs.

Harmonization, the Results Agenda and the Bank’s role

Central to the international community’s more unified approach is a concerted focus on development results.

The Third Roundtable on Managing for Development, held in Hanoi in February 2007 and involving the World Bank and a range of other donors, built on the findings of the 2004 Marrakech Second Roundtable on Better Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing for Development Results. The Hanoi meeting enabled delegations from selected developing countries to compare their experiences and to initiate a country action planning process, with targets for steps to be completed in advance of the Ghana High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to be held in September 2008. The Hanoi Roundtable provided compelling evidence that country partners are eager to improve the effectiveness of development assistance and domestic resources by strengthening systems to enable information on expected and actual results to be used in decision making.

The inter-agency Common Performance Assessment System, or COMPAS initiative is developing common systems that all multilateral development banks can use to monitor their results orientation. Its 2006 report found that: efforts to implement country strategies are still weak in some cases; that performance based grants are on the rise; that efforts to apply operational lessons of experience are not systematic enough and that multilateral development banks are starting to link salary increases of staff to the accomplishment of agreed objectives.

Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entreprenuer and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management,merchandise,ownership,internet entreprenuership,investments, media and writing amongst others.
Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com,

http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com,

AT A GLANCE:

The international commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) recognizes the need for scaling up the volume and quality of aid. This commitment, stemming from a global consensus reached at the 2002 UN Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, also calls for all development partners to share the responsibility of making aid more effective —and it calls for action on both sides of the aid relationship.

Nationally, governments are increasingly setting clear goals and targets linked to public actions, improving their budgeting and monitoring systems and embracing a more inclusive discussion of national priorities and policies. Donors are working harder to align and harmonize assistance with countries’ priorities, and are trying to fill country-specific analytical gaps. Yet connecting results with resources remains a major challenge. Aid allocation based on country performance (in governance, policies and intermediate indicators of results) is on the rise.

The March 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, agreed to by more than 90 countries, represents a shift from past aid practices and appears to be slowly having an impact. In 2006, indicators of donor harmonization and alignment were collected and monitored for the first time.

But at the same time, the architecture of the global aid system is becoming more complex, with the emergence of new donors and a multitude of earmarked funds. Scaling up aid to meet the MDGs requires a more coherent ‘aid architecture’, with better donor coordination and less fragmentation and ‘ear-marking’ of aid.

The global community is also working on better practices to deliver aid to fragile states, where poverty is increasingly concentrated.

Recognition is growing that governance is crucial to ensuring aid effectiveness—the 2006 Global Monitoring Report on the MDGs(GMR) proposed a framework to monitor governance, including actionable indicators. Since then, developing countries, donors and international financial institutions began adapting parts of the framework to improve practices and to get more out of their development dollars. For its part, the World Bank is undertaking a new Governance and Anti-Corruption Strategy that places issues of institutional quality, accountability and better procurement and fiduciary rules at the center of the development agenda.

The 2007 GMR assesses recent trends in official development assistance (ODA) and examines the performance of international financial institutions (IFIs), since those entities aim to serve as standard-bearers for improved aid coordination, harmonization and effectiveness.

‘Confronting the Challenges of Gender Equality and Fragile States’ is the theme of the 2007 GMR. The report stresses that achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women (MDG3) is essential to advancing the other millennium goals of halving poverty, primary education for all, and a lowering of the under-five mortality rate. And, improving prospects for the 485 million people living in fragile states is vital as well.

Emmanuel Ayomide Praise
Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entreprenuer and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management,merchandise,ownership,internet entreprenuership,investments, media and writing amongst others.
Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com,

http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com,

On March 28, 2006, the Board of IDA approved IDA’s participation in the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), requiring IDA to cancel all debt outstanding and disbursed owed by HIPCs to IDA as of end-2003 as soon as these countries reached the HIPC completion point. The Bank began providing MDRI debt relief on July 1, 2006.

The MDRI provides HIPCs that have reached the completion point irrevocable, up-front cancellation of debt owed to IDA, the African Development Fund, and the IMF. Debt cancellation under the MDRI will be in addition to debt relief already committed under the HIPC Initiative.
The full benefit of the MDRI from all three institutions to the 21 countries that have so far reached completion point will be over US$18 billion (NPV) – about US$13 billion from IDA.
The MDRI aims to provide additional resources to help countries reach the MDGs, at the same time preserving the financing capacity of the International Financial Institutions. IDA donors therefore agreed to compensate IDA for all MDRI assistance provided.
MDRI donor contributions to IDA are used to benefit all IDA recipients: they are attributed to countries according to the performance-based allocation mechanism used by IDA.
For newly qualifying completion-point HIPCs (Cameroon was the first in May 2006), qualification for MDRI is automatic.

Avoiding the Need for another Debt Relief Initiative:

The Debt Sustainability Framework for Low-Income Countries

The debt sustainability framework is a forward-looking approach to guide borrowing and lending decisions to devote resources toward achieving the MDGs without creating the buildup of unsustainable debt. By assessing each country’s circumstances, the framework balances the need for funds with current and prospective ability to repay debt.

This approach puts responsibilities on both borrowers and creditors. Low-income countries that seek new loans are responsible for strengthening policies and institutions to enhance capacity to manage debt and reduce vulnerability to shocks. Creditors, for their part, review long-term debt projections, which incorporate forward-looking economic analysis and account for possible shocks.

Emmanuel Ayomide Praise
Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entreprenuer and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management,merchandise,ownership,internet entreprenuership,investments, media and writing amongst others.
Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com,

http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com,

The World Bank Institute (WBI) supports operations by strengthening country capacity in all these areas. WBI particularly works to strengthen societal instruments of accountability by supporting media development, parliamentarians, legal and judicial reform, civic participation, private sector capacity for collective action against corruption, and youth leadership.

The Bank Group also undertakes a range of empirical diagnostics and assessments, using tools such as ‘Doing Business’ reports, ‘Investment Climate’ surveys, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Indicators, and Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS). WBI Governance Indicators periodically monitor reforms and WBI Transparency Indices measure economic/institutional and political transparency dimensions in over 200 countries; and WBI Indicators of Media Sustainability assess the enabling environment for media development.

The Bank Group also undertakes a range of empirical diagnostics and assessments, using tools such as ‘Doing Business’ reports, ‘Investment Climate’ surveys, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Indicators, and Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS). WBI Governance Indicators periodically monitor reforms and WBI Transparency Indices measure economic/institutional and political transparency dimensions in over 200 countries; and WBI Indicators of Media Sustainability assess the enabling environment for media development.

Fighting Corruption in Projects

At the project level, the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), an independent unit reporting to the World Bank’s President, investigates allegations of corruption regarding Bank Group operations, as well as possible staff misconduct, and provides its findings to Bank management for decisions. Since its establishment in 2001, INT has handled more than 2,400 cases of alleged fraud, corruption or other wrongdoing. As a result, the Bank has sanctioned more than 330 companies and individuals, information on whom is publicly available on the Bank’s website. When appropriate, the Department also refers its findings to the prosecutorial authorities of relevant member countries for further action. INT is now incorporating lessons from past investigations upstream in project design and program development.

INT also conducts Detailed Implementation Review (DIR), a diagnostic tool designed to assess the risk of fraud, corruption and mismanagement in Bank-financed projects. Investigations following from DIRs have led to the debarment of 140 firms and individuals for fraud and corruption.

In FY2007, the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the programmatic elements of a new Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP), a proactive investigative tool designed to elicit voluntary cooperation in the fight against corruption from firms that have previously engaged in wrongdoing. In FY2007, INT also released Integrity Report of the World Bank Group, Fiscal Years 2005 - 2006, which details actions the Bank has taken to investigate fraud and corruption and to sanction companies found to have engaged in wrongdoing. The Bank offers multiple outlets to report allegations of fraud, corruption, and other misconduct in bank-financed projects, including an international hotline (1-800-831-0463).

Global Partnerships

To strengthen coordination and collective action, the World Bank works in partnership with other stakeholders, private sector companies, civil society groups, and multilateral and bilateral development partners. It is an active participant in promoting the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (1997), the UN Convention Against Corruption Treaty (2003), and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (2002), and the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Ministerial Processes, among others.

Through the Bank Group’s private sector investment arm—the International Finance Corporation, it works to promote better corporate governance in private sector companies to address the supply side of corruption through such mechanisms as the Global Corporate Governance Forum. The Bank also works closely with several international anticorruption organizations and networks such as Transparency International, Partnership for Transparency Fund, Financial Action Task Force, and the OECD-Development Assistance Committee.

Leading By Example

Recognizing that any program to assist in controlling corruption worldwide needs to start with the example of best practices at home, the Bank has taken initiatives to stamp out conflicts of interest and any possible corrupt practices among its own staff. In 2003, the Bank announced the strengthening of financial disclosure obligations for senior staff, and all senior managers are now required to provide an annual statement listing their financial interests and those of their immediate family.

Emmanuel Ayomide Praise
Emmanuel Ayomide Praise is a world leading internet entreprenuer and investor. Some of his areas of interest include sport management,merchandise,ownership,internet entreprenuership,investments, media and writing amongst others.
Business URL: http://www.emmapraise.blogspot.com,

http://www.nigeriasoccer.blogspot.com,

Civil society has grown exponentially over the past decades and today is recognized as an important development actor throughout the world; monitoring public policies, providing technical expertise, and partnering with governments to provide community services.

The Bank has greatly increased its cooperation with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) over the past 20 years, and today it is estimated that CSOs are involved in 72 percent of new Bank-financed projects each year.

The Bank funds thousands of civil society initiatives each year in areas such as: post-conflict reconstruction, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental protection, and poverty reduction.

More than 120 civil society specialists work at the World Bank to ensure the views of CSOs are considered and to encourage CSO involvement in Bank-financed projects.
The Growth of Civil Society

The Civil Society sector – composed of non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, trade unions, indigenous people’s groups, charitable organizations, community groups, and foundations among others – has emerged as a major force in international development in the past 20 years. There has been a dramatic expansion in the size, scope, and capacity of civil society which has come in the wake of growing democratic governance throughout the world. The number of international NGOs was reported to have increased from 6,000 in 1990 to 26,000 in 1999. CSOs have also become significant players in global development assistance, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reporting that as of 2003 at least $12 billion in international assistance flows through CSOs.

CSOs’ have demonstrated an increased influence and ability to shape global public policy over the past two decades. This dynamism is exemplified by successful advocacy campaign movements which have mobilized thousands of supporters around the world on issues such as: the banning of land mines, debt cancellation, and environmental protection. The most recent example of the vibrancy and importance of civil society was the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), which was organized by a coalition of international CSOs to influence the discussions on debt and trade at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in July 2005. The campaign was estimated to have mobilized over 100 million citizens around the world to demonstrate their concern for global poverty by wearing white wristbands, attending concerts, and lobbying their government officials.

Commodity risk management. Price and weather risk management insurance provide farmers and institutions in developing countries better tools to manage exposure to price and weather fluctuations and potentially expand access to credit. Pilots are underway in India, Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, Thailand, Nicaragua and Honduras and are under development in Kenya, Madagascar, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.

Community driven development (CDD). In contrast to past top-down development approaches, CDD puts the poor “in the driver’s seat” of development, creating organizations that can demand services and accountability from governments, NGOs, the private sector, and donors. Agriculture and rural development is the largest user of the CDD approach, with around $2 billion in rural investment through 96 projects in FY06.

Securing access to land. The Bank’s work on land administration addresses the state’s role in establishing secure property rights, well-functioning land markets, the social and economic costs of highly unequal land distribution, and the appropriate regulatory environment for effectively dealing with land. Since FY01, the Bank has created a significant body of research on land administration and reform, and it has invested just over $1 billion through 74 projects.

Investing in core public goods in rural areas. These investments contribute to the overall well-being, productive capacity, and economic potential of the rural population. Reflecting this importance and the multi-sector nature of rural development, 30 percent of lending in rural areas financed infrastructure investments, 20 percent financed social sectors, and 19 percent financed law, justice, and public administration.

Enhancing Sustainability of Natural Resources

Total Bank investments for natural resources management from FY02-06 amount to $1.4 billion. The average investment per year is $237 million. Bank investments for natural resources management doubled since FY01 from $266 million to $507 million in FY06.

The Bank’s investment in natural resources are beginning to focus more on integrated ecosystems management, which addresses forest, land, and water resources simultaneously. They also focus more on community participation, institutional development, and capacity building for economic development, environmental conservation, and poverty reduction. The Bank will also be publishing studies on aquaculture and capture fisheries in the next several months.