The Maldives has propelled itself to middle-income status despite its geographic constraints and the risks it faces as a small island economy. The economy has been growing in the last 5 years, but development challenges remain formidable. How can the Maldives sustain and improve the pace of its economic growth and reduce poverty and inequality? This report identifies the critical constraints to inclusive growth and discusses policy options to overcome such constraints.

This handbook contains the full texts of the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol, including amendments and decisions adopted by the Parties upto the end of the year 2002, as well as information on the rule of procedure for meetings, the evolution of the Montreal Protocol, and on sources of further information.

Asian populations are among some of the fastest growing cultural groups in the US. While books on serving other target groups in libraries have been published (e.g., disabled, Latino, seniors, etc.), few books on serving library users of Asian heritage have been written. Thus the timely need for this book. Rather than a generalized overview of Asians as a whole, this book has 24 separate chapters—each on 24 specific Asian countries/cultures of East, Southeast, and South Asia—with a wealth of resources for understanding, interacting with, outreaching to, and serving library users of each culture. Resources include cultural guides (both print and online), language helps (with sample library vocabulary), Asian booksellers, nationwide cultural groups, professional literature, and more. Resources and suggestions are given for all three types of libraries—public, school, and academic—making this book valuable for all librarians. The demographics of each Asian culture (numbers and distribution)—plus history of immigration and international student enrollment—is also featured. As a bonus, each chapter spotlights a US public, school, and academic library providing model outreach to Asian library users. Additionally, this book provides a detailed description and analysis of libraries in each of the 24 Asian countries. The history, development, facilities, conditions, technology, classification systems, and more—of public, school, and academic libraries—are all discussed, with detailed documentation. Country conditions influencing libraries and library use are also described: literacy levels, reading cultures, languages and writing systems, educational systems, and more. Based on the author’s 15 years of research and travels to Asia, this work is a must-have for all librarians.

"The Expert Meeting on Methodologies for conducting fishing fleet techno-economic performance reviews was held in Chennai, India, 18-20 September 2018. The Meeting was attended by fisheries economists from China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Norway, Thailand, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The Meeting was co-organized by the Bay of Bengal Programme - Intergovernmental Organization (BOBP-IGO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Meeting brought together a group of key fisheries economists with experience in fishing fleet reviews to: 1) present and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various methodologies applied for reviewing the economic and technical performance of fishing fleets, 2) develop and agree on a general sampling/survey methodology for conducting technoeconomic performance reviews, which can be applied also in developing countries, and 3) discuss technological innovations that have taken place in the last 10 years that had an impact on the economic and financial performance of fishing fleets. The Expert Meeting agreed on data and information to be collected in the 2018-2019 surveys for the FAO global review of techno-economic performance of fishing fleets and on the financial and economic indicators to be applied in the analysis."--Page 4 of cover.

The Working Group on Fisheries for Small Pelagic Fish (WGSP) reviewed the state of knowledge on the main fisheries harvesting small pelagic fish in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) region, identified the species to be analysed in greater detail by the Working Group and carried out a Productivity-Susceptibility Analysis (PSA) of ten Small Pelagic fish stocks from the region. A total of 38 species of small pelagic fish were identified for future work of the Working Group. Of the ten (10) stocks analysed using the Productivity-Susceptibility Analysis, eight (8) were scored as being at low risk, while two (2) scored as medium risk. The WGSP will continue working by correspondence during the intersessional period, until the second meeting, to be held during the first semestre of 2021.