Introduction

Can the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) hope for success independent of other international processes? The clear answer to this question is NO. It has become evident in the months leading up to the WSSD that its success is highly contingent upon the outcomes of several other international meetings which have occurred in the last two years.

Although the quest for sustainable development began back in 1972 with the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, the outcomes of four recent key meetings, beginning in late 2000, namely, the Millennium Summit in New York City, the Doha ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Financing for Development meeting in Monterrey, and the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, will inevitably affect the outcome of the WSSD due to the overlapping of crucial issues such as trade, financing and development targets.

This section aims to familiarize the reader with the vital details about each of the meetings in the context of sustainable development, and will then discuss how exactly the expectations for success at the WSSD relates to the outcomes of the four meetings.