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This collection of analyses spotlight cases and interviews with prominent women activists involved in natural resource management in Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines and China to better understand the diverse challenges faced by Asian women in relation to limited rights and insecure tenure. Despite contextual differences, the studies identify a number of similarities and trends. The authors argue that many poor Asian women face challenges articulated around three nexuses: generic gender issues; the interrelations between poverty and tenure issues; and ill-conceived, gender blind and gender biased development interventions. The paper includes the following recommendations: increase women’s visibility through mobilisation and networking; improve capacity building within projects and organisations; reinforce participatory ethos; and increase links with policy planning and implementation.

Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable uncertainty about the appropriate regulatory response to this newly emerging service. This paper sets out a framework for considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it lies at the interface between financial services and telecoms, mobile banking also raises competition policy and interoperability issues that are discussed in the paper. Finally, by unbundling payments services into its component parts, mobile banking provides important lessons for the design of financial regulation more generally in developed as well as developing economies.

This study examines the role of informal health practitioners in delays in initiating tuberculosis (TB) treatment in new smear-positive TB patients. It aims to determine the time between the start of symptoms and the start of TB treatment in selected urban and rural a reas of Bangladesh, and to document the factors related to delay in treatment initiation, focusing on the role of informal health practitioners. The authors found that while informal practitioners appeared to provide more accessible services (patient delay was shorter when they first consulted informal practitioners, whether in urban or rural areas), the total and health systems delays were greater when the first practitioner was from the informal sector.

This study examines how energy needs for human and economic development can be met in a way that is compatible with long-term sustainable development at the global scale. It pulls together insights from global energy and sustainability scenarios, case studies of socio-technical transformation of energy systems on both the supply and demand sides, and reviews of policy mechanisms and governance frameworks. The report argues that there is a need for transparency in how climate finance and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) commitments contribute to investment in sustainable energy for all, particularly in developing countries. It also calls for a shared global development agenda in which energy goals are set as sustainable development goals.

The previous reports have outlined the current scientific knowledge of climate change and its impacts on tropical Andean glaciers and hydrology (Part I: The scientific basis) and the ongoing research and monitoring activities by the various institutions currently active in the region (Part II: Climate and Glacier Monitoring). It is clear that some practical measures to adapt and prepare for future changes in runoff behavior need to be implemented without delay (e.g. conservation, shift to less water-intensive agriculture, creation of water reservoirs, etc., see Vergara, 2005), but at the same time significant progress needs to be made on the scientific front. This third and final report (Part III: Future Recommendations) suggests a number of research strategies that would allow answering some of the most urgent scientific questions related to Andean climate change.

The paper comes to the conclusion that there is significant potential in Asia for innovative Indigenous media and ICT applications, which remains largely untapped. It introduces examples from Asian countries and describes an initiative that sets out to implement a Communication for Empowerment agenda on a regional scale. Finally, a detailed case study from Lao PDR puts the theoretical concepts into the perspective of a developing country with a nascent civil society. The case study analyzes the experience from an innovative project that has helped introduce the concept of community radio in Lao PDR and forms part of a larger governance reform effort.

Since the climate negotiations in Copenhagen (2009), many countries have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. These pledges were 'anchored' in the 2010 Cancún Agreements. Since the Cancún climate negotiations, developing countries have published new information about their business-as-usual emission projections . These – upward – projections have led to higher expected emission levels from the pledges, and have increased the emission gap towards achieving the 2 degree Celsius climate goal.

Putting a price on pollution is still a rather undeveloped practice. Doubts have been raised about its effectiveness and its negative impacts on economic growth. Emissions are still growing and it is vital that practical mechanisms continue to be explored and the techniques refined. In this paper the Nordic Council of Ministers looks into the possibility of developing 'Flexible Emissions Fees'. The main goal of the project has been to increase the understanding of flexible emission fee setting, answering the question: 'Can flexible emission fees be implemented to abate CO2 emissions whilst, simultaneously, stimulating technical and economic development?' The project is in two parts; a literature review and a workshop with invited and experienced participants.