FUNDING Australia's grant system wastes centuries of researchers' time p.314 EVOLUTION First biography of W. D. Hamilton, the gentle giant of genetics p.313 HISTORY Ripping yarn of the ape-man of Victorian England p.310 ENVIRONMENT Conservationists call for a global zoning exercise for roads p.308

ABSTRACT. The United Nations (UN) Rio+20 summit committed nations to develop a set of universal sustainable development goals (SDGs) to build on the millennium development goals (MDGs) set to expire in 2015. Research now indicates that humanity's impact on Earth's life support system is so great that further global environmental change risks undermining long-term prosperity and poverty eradication goals. Socioeconomic development and global sustainability are often posed as being in conflict because of tradeoffs between a growing world population, as well as higher standards of living, and managing the effects of production and consumption on the global environment. We have established a framework for an evidence-based architecture for new goals and targets. Building on six SDGs, which integrate development and environmental considerations, we developed a comprehensive framework of goals and associated targets, which demonstrate that it is possible, and necessary, to develop integrated targets relating to food, energy, water, and ecosystem services goals; thus providing a neutral evidence-based approach to support SDG target discussions. Global analyses, using an integrated global target equation, are close to providing indicators for these targets. Alongside development-only targets and environment-only targets, these integrated targets would ensure that synergies are maximized and trade-offs are managed in the implementation of SDGs.

No abstract

Farmer profit can be increased and air quality improved

No abstract

No abstract

Community-based natural resource management is an important strategy to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and wildlife in Namibia. This paper examines the extent to which conservancies have been successful in meeting their primary goal of improving the lives of rural households. It evaluates the benefits of community conservancies in Namibia by asking three questions: (a) Do conservancies increase household welfare? (b) Are conservancies propoor? (c) And, do participants in conservancies gain more relative to those who choose not to participate? The analysis is based on a 2002 survey covering seven conservancies and 1,192 households. The results suggest that community conservancies have a positive impact on household welfare. This impact is poverty-neutral in some regions and pro-poor in others. Further, welfare benefits from conservancies appear to be some what evenly distributed between participant and non-participant households. at the Ministry of Environment of Namibia, and other World Bank colleagues who have commented on this paper. We would like to thank Kirk Hamilton, team leader, Policy and Economics Team, World Bank, who provided valuable guidance and support. We sincerely thank our donors from the Trust Fund for Environmental and Socially Sustainable Development. Funding for the survey was contributed by the Swedish government through Sida, and the UK government through DFID as well as the Namibian government. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3337, June 2004The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished.

Irrigation management transfer (IMT) is an important strategy among donors and governments that aims to strengthen farmer cotitrol over water and irrigation infrastructure. In this study, we use data from a survey of 68 irrigator associations (IAs) and 1020 farm households in the Philippines to examine the impact of IMT on irrigation association performance and on rice yields. We find that the presence of IMT is associated with an increase in maintenance activities undertaken by irrigation associations. While associations with and without IMT contracts undertake canal maintenance, the frequency of maintenance in IMT IAs is higher. IMT presence is also associated with an increase in farm yields by about 6%; rice production in IMT areas is higher even after we control for various differences amongst rice iarmers in IMT and non-IMT areas. Finally, IMT may even give poorerfarmersasmailboost in terms of rice yields. Wespeculatethatthisboost may be a result of improved water delivery and better resolution of conflicts related to illegal use.