ABSTRACT
Sustainable development has increasingly been taken into policy consideration during the last century, with a fair amount of consensus generated over environmental sustainability (Rodrik 2001). However, sustainable development means different challenges as well as developmental outcomes for industrialized economies of the North and the primarily agrarian economies in the South, thereby creating a divide between them (Bond 1996). The sustainable development discussions at various global forums, including the World Trade Organization (WTO), remain mainly confined to evolving broad principles, declarations and, occasionally, specific resolutions (e.g. Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit 1992), rather than ensuring a sustainable global production system. As a result, the world forums aiming to achieve environmental sustainability generally set up different norms for the North and South.
