ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses primarily on ‘capacity development for the environment’ (CDE). ‘Development’ covers an enormous range of economic, social, cultural and political issues, and the term ‘sustainable development’ remains heavily contested. In practice, a major focus of sustainable development has been appropriate environmental management in the course of economic development. Much of the examination and programmatic efforts in the context of sustainable development also focus on environmental management. We use these as the point of departure for our discussion on capacity development. Certainly, there are a host of capacity issues involved with ongoing attempts to improve, for example, public health, alleviate poverty and engender improved human rights protection. It is not clear, however, that all such capacityrelated challenges in the North and the South can be systematically addressed together or treated as the same.
