The World Summit on Sustainable Development, or WSSD, begins at the end of August amid chaotic preparations and dire predictions of failure.
Since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, environment and development problems have steadily worsened. More than 8 percent of children in developing countries die before the age of 5, and in some of the poorest countries, one in five children die before their first birthday.
In many developing countries, poor health conditions prevail as a result of contaminated water, poor sanitation, severe air pollution, malaria and other infectious diseases and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Seventy-five percent of the world's energy comes from burning fossil fuels, increasing carbon-dioxide emission levels by 1 percent each year, despite reduction commitments being established since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.