The principal aim of the meeting is to provide an international platform for Southern experiences to inform the agenda for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. The conference will mark IIED's 30th Anniversary. Since its creation, IIED has explored and analysed the linkages between environmental, economic and social factors that affect development and aimed to design 'policies that work', both for society as a whole and for the poor and marginalized within societies.
Participation is by invitation and application.
Chair, Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives, India. Parallel workshop sessions will focus on Southern models and experiences of successful livelihoods development in the context of both globalisation and local private sector investment. Workshop participants will be drawn from Southern and Northern organisations, including representatives from government, the multilateral system, academics and the private sector. The debate from the workshop will feed directly into the forum following day. Keynote speakers will present their views on the central themes of the conference and outline their hopes for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.