World Bank Backs Anti-Aids Experiment

“Thousands of people in Africa will be paid to avoid unsafe sex, under a groundbreaking World Bank-backed experiment aimed at halting the spread of Aids.

The $1.8 million trial - to be launched this year - will counsel 3,000 men and women aged 15-30 in southern rural Tanzania over three years, paying them on condition that periodic laboratory test results prove they have not contracted sexually transmitted infections. The proposed payments of $45 equate to a quarter of annual income for some participants.

The program, jointly funded by the World Bank, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Population Reference Bureau and the Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund, marks an important step in the fight to tackle Aids, which claims 2 million lives a year. …The Tanzanian experiment is a big advance in efforts to test public health ideas more rigorously, with some participants placed in a control arm not offered payment in order to track the effects of the program precisely. …” [The Financial Times (UK, 04/26/)/Factiva]

In a separate piece, FT also notes that “…Cash today may be a more powerful incentive than the risk of an unseen killer disease many years hence. …The question should be: can this plan really work?

It might. Such ‘conditional cash transfer’ programs have become popular in development circles since the success of Mexico's Progresa program, which paid parents if their children attended school and went to the health clinic. The approach has even been imitated in New York. …The world of development policy needs more dangerous ideas, rigorously evaluated. This one is a long shot. It should be supported anyway.” [The Financial Times (UK, 04/26/)/Factiva]

Palestinian Incomes 'Static'

“[According to a World Bank report] Palestinians are unlikely to see a rise in their incomes this year …The report points out that the GDP of Gaza and the West Bank did not grow during 2007, which meant real incomes fell because of the rise in the population. This year, the Bank expects GDP growth of 3 percent, but adds that ‘taking into account population growth, (this) leaves per capital income static if not lower than the year before’.

The Bank estimates that average Palestinian incomes have dropped 40 percent from 1999 to last year. Unemployment in the territories reached 23 percent last year and 33 percent in Gaza. More broadly, the Palestinian economy moved from ‘being driven by investment and the private sector productivity to one sustained by government spending and donor aid’. …” [The Financial Times (UK, 04/28)/Factiva]

The Guardian adds that “Gaza's economic growth has ground to a halt and will continue to shrink unless Israel lifts its economic blockade on the beleaguered Palestinian territory, a new World Bank report says. After three years of warning that Palestinian businesses were on the brink of collapse, the World Bank Sunday reported that Gaza's economy had recorded zero growth in 2007...The World Bank modeling suggests that the Palestinian economy as a whole could achieve double-digit growth, but that given the stalemate in peace negotiations, is more likely to grow by just 3 percent in 2008. Even then individual incomes are likely to fall, as population growth is expected to outstrip economic activity. …” [The Guardian (UK, 04/28)/Factiva]

AP reports that “…The Bank noted that the Gaza economy has sharply contracted because of the virtually complete closure of the Gaza strip... In the West Bank, where Israel maintains a network of hundreds of checkpoints, gates and earthen barriers, GDP growth was only modest, the Bank said. …” [The Associated Press/Factiva]

Reuters writes that “…The World Bank said Israel's tightened cordon of the Gaza Strip has ‘considerably eroded whatever private sector backbone remained in the economy and in a manner that is progressively more difficult to reverse’. The Bank, citing business associations in Gaza, said the current restrictions have led to the suspension of 96 percent of Gaza's industrial operations. …” [Reuters (04/27)/Factiva]

Oil Multinationals Rebuked For Reluctance To Tackle Corruption

“Most leading oil multinationals fall well short of best practice on revealing financial data and combating corruption, a survey unveiled today by Transparency International… claims. …The survey of 42 companies highlights growing worries that - in an era of booming crude prices - too little is being done to combat corruption and state mismanagement of oil wealth. …

TI says oil companies have important responsibilities in the areas its report assesses, including publishing the sums paid to host countries, revealing details of reserves and production costs, and publishing data on anti-graft policies and sanctions on employees who break them.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - an alliance of governments, business and civil society set up to increase openness in oil industry finances - said the research showed companies had made some progress, but still had much more to do. …” [The Financial Times (UK, 04/28)/Factiva]

AP adds that “…The Transparency International report published Monday places 42 oil and gas companies into three tiers based on their level of transparency in revenue disclosure. …Companies were placed in the lowest tier for disclosing information only by geographical segments and providing almost no additional information. …

Companies placed in the highest tier disclose payments systematically on a country-by-country basis or in a few select countries and go beyond the mandatory reporting regulations. … ‘The high level of transparency demonstrated by these companies proves that secrecy is both morally and commercially indefensible.’

 Transparency International said the report aimed to help fight the so-called ‘resource curse’ - oil can generate great wealth for a country, but if poorly managed can also discourage the development other areas of the economy, spur corruption and trigger conflict.

The report said that if 10 percent of the estimated $866 billion generated worldwide in oil revenues in 2006 was set aside, it would have been enough to cover the total cost of meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals. The cost of meeting the set of development standards on education, health, literacy and poverty was estimated at $73 billion in 2006, the report said.” [The Associated Press (04/28)/Factiva]

Asia's Rainforests Vanishing As Timber, Food Demand Surge: Experts

“Asia's rainforests are being rapidly destroyed, a trend accelerated by surging timber demand in booming China and India, and record food, energy and commodity prices, forest experts warn.

The loss of these biodiversity hot spots, much of it driven by the illegal timber trade and the growth of oil palm, biofuel and rubber plantations, is worsening global warming, species loss and poverty, they said…at the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week conference in Hanoi. …

Commercial crops ‘will be the most important factor contributing to deforestation in Asia-Pacific countries,’ said and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, citing record prices for food grains, energy and commodities. …The illegal timber trade, fuelled by poverty and corruption, is rife in much of Asia, where 78 percent of forests are state-owned and often managed by the armed forces, not the people who live in or near them, experts said. …” [Agence France Presse (04/27)/Factiva]

The Jakarta Post notes that “Delegates from the Asia Pacific ended a meeting in Hanoi Saturday calling for forestry policies to focus on people-centered development to help alleviate global poverty. They said the now much-debated climate change issues had been one of the vehicles to return forestry affairs to the top of the world's agenda during the past two years.

‘A key recommendation from the Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) is to continue efforts to enhance community-based forest management and forestry initiatives that help reduce poverty,’ said Jan Heino, assistant director of the FAO, which organized the week-long Asia-Pacific forestry forum.

The commission also called for greater attention and assistance to build the capacities of forestry countries to enable them to participate in increasingly complicated mechanisms being developed as part of the climate change agenda. …The commission said emerging forest carbon funding mechanisms must reward countries for retaining forests and reducing damage to existing forests. …Some delegates, however, expressed concerns that the complexity of forest carbon accounting mechanisms might constrain some countries from participating in forest-based responses to climate change. …” [The Jakarta Post (04/28)/Factiva]

Commentary: Trade Agreement Needed Now Dawdling On Doha

A commentary by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Secretary-General Angel Gurría published in the IHT writes: “Governments around the world face weakening economies and soaring food prices. Amid the hand-wringing, an important and immediate step they can take to help would be to agree on a new multilateral trade deal.

Freeing up trade in goods and services can give the world economy a powerful boost in terms of increased innovation and productivity. …Developing countries in particular stand to gain GDP per capita growth of 2 percent a year from full liberalization of tariffs. …

With prices of in agricultural commodities at all-time highs, we have a unique opportunity in both developed and developing countries to cut trade-distorting farm support, open agricultural markets and free up productive capacity. That route, rather than protectionism, is the way to address soaring food prices and slumping economies. Export restrictions and embargos may provide short-term relief to consumers in a given country, but they discourage farmers from producing more food in response to higher world prices. ...

An old trading adage says ‘the best cure for high prices is high prices.’ Higher oil prices prompt exploration and the exploitation of hitherto marginal resources, as well as increased efforts to develop alternative energy sources. Similarly, higher commodity prices can be expected to lead to higher supply - as long as governments allow price increases to be passed on to farmers.

….But governments should also take a hard look at other policies affecting food supplies, such as those that have contributed to rising demand for biofuels. …Other ways of reducing energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, combined with freer trade in biofuels and their production using new ‘second generation’ technologies that do not rely on commodity feed stocks, offer potentially greater benefits without the unintended impact on food prices.

In parallel, we need to foster growth and development in the world's poorest countries. OECD analysis shows investment in agriculture, including both research and education and bringing new land into production, to be an important factor in reducing poverty and stimulating economic activity. …A tailored approach is needed, building on the capacity and potential of individual countries.

Which brings us back to the Doha Round. World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations cover all goods and services, and a host of related issues. An agreement now would provide a much needed endorsement of the rules-based multilateral trading system. … Above all, however, a new trade agreement would bring large and widespread economic gains. In today's gloomy environment, this is no longer the unnecessary luxury some may have mistakenly considered it to be. It's a matter of real urgency.”  [The International Herald Tribune (04/26)/Factiva]

Also in this Edition; Briefly Noted…

Key UN development agencies are meeting in Berne to try to come up with solutions to ease the escalating global food crisis. The UN's two-day meeting will be attended by the heads of 20 agencies as well as World Bank President Robert Zoellick and World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy. [BBC News (UK, 04/28)]

Oslowill host a conference in May to generate pledges of support for the further reconstruction and development of southern Sudan, Norway announced today. The meeting was initially scheduled to be held in Paris. [BBC Monitoring Middle East/Sudanese Media Centre (04/27)/Factiva]

Mozambique is setting up a new government committee to tackle food shortages by boosting agriculture in the southern African state, President Armando Guebuza told reporters late on Friday. [Agence France Presse (04/26)/Factiva]

The Bank of the South should launch this year with $7 billion in capital once each of its seven founding members approves the initiative, officials said on Friday. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez originally spearheaded the idea as an alternative to traditional multilateral lenders, with Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay signing up. [Reuters (04/25)/Factiva]

Farm ministers from some of Latin America's poorest countries met on Saturday to seek a regional solution to soaring food prices that have sparked violent protests in the Caribbean. Farm ministers from Central America, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela held talks in Managua to boost corn, rice and bean production, as well as lifting output of the animal feed sorghum. [Reuters (04/26)/Factiva]

The Vietnamese government will ban new rice export contracts until June, despite a bumper harvest, to ensure food security and boost the value of the grain, state media reported Saturday. [AFX Asia (04/27)/Factiva]

The Philippines has asked the World Bank to persuade rice-exporting nations to lift shipment curbs that threatened the food security of importing countries, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told local television. [Reuters (04/28)/Factiva]

Africa and Latin America should adopt their own versions of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy as a response to rising demand for food, French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier told the FT. [The Financial Times (04/28)/Factiva]

The economy of Bangladesh should grow up to 6 percent in the current year as agriculture, exports and domestic revenue collection were showing positive signs, the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday. [Reuters/Factiva]

Donors will meet at Foreign Minister level in London May 2 to discuss future support for the Palestinian territories. They will try to keep the momentum behind the $7.7 billion pledge made when they last met in Paris less than five months ago. [Development Today (Norway, 04/25)/Factiva]

Cultivation of khat in Yemen has increased thirteen fold in three decades and now uses 30 percent of the nation’s water, the World Bank says. [Sunday Independent (04/27)/Factiva]