ABSTRACT
Sustainable development has evoked the interest of the developing countries. This is especially true for the French-speaking African countries, which have long been confronted with almost endemic poverty and overexploitation of natural resources. They hope that the conditions imposed by the concept of sustainable development will make it possible to attain a level of development that allows for socioeconomic progress without the degradation of environmental resources. This concept would seem to be the focus of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It is incontestable that NEPAD's choice of a neoliberal type development for Africa is highly controversial. Firmly based on the three pillars of the environment dimension, the social dimension, and the economic dimension, Africa's development via NEPAD has some chance of being a true expression of sustainable development. It is not necessarily the type of development that, in the name of playing catch-up', seeks to take the same paths that are hurting the planet today.
