IISD's SUMMARY REPORT  is available online in HTML TEXT PDF 

The workshop on Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development: Exploring the Links was held on 23 January 2001 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This one-day workshop was organized by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and was attended by 50 high-level participants representing government agencies, academic institutions, United Nations bodies, the World Bank, business and industry, and international and non-governmental organizations.  

The workshop aimed to address strategies and approaches to deal with the ongoing problem of widespread poverty, within the context of sustainable development. During the morning session, participants heard keynote speeches and engaged in discussions on three issues: social capital and sustainable development – the role of market and non-market institutions in a developing country; poverty alleviation and sustainable development – the implications for the management of natural capital; and the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and sustainable development. During the afternoon sessions, workshop participants considered an overview of a sustainable development framework elaborated by IISD and engaged in plenary and panel discussions on key issues raised during the meeting.

Discussions and conclusions from this meeting are expected to contribute to ongoing efforts to address poverty alleviation and sustainable development issues in relevant organizations and agencies both in Canada and internationally, as well as international processes such as the Financing for Development initiative and the Ten Year Review of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 2002 ("Rio+10").