September 13, 2002

A Network of Global Solutions

By MALCOLM G. SCULLY

To Jean-François Rischard, the chances that conferences such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which ended this month in Johannesburg, can make real progress on environmental and social issues are slim.

Not because the delegates -- and the many protesters focused on specific issues -- aren't sincere or because the problems aren't serious, but because, in his view, such conferences, and most of the other structures set up to find solutions to what he calls