Controversial plans to involve global business in tackling world poverty will be unveiled at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg today.
Critics say the public-private partnerships (PPPs) benefit businesses more than the poor.
Delegates at the 10-day summit will also make a new bid to end a dispute over poor nations' calls for rich states to phase out vast subsidies to farmers.
The United States will today outline several partnerships, redirecting hundreds of millions of dollars in resources from existing programs and funds to schemes meant to meet summit goals of halving poverty by 2015.
UN organisers say the PPPs - which involve governments working with local communities, non-governmental organizations and businesses - could be a big innovation by the 10-day Johannesburg summit.
But many environmentalists are sceptical, saying they are likely to be poorly monitored and may be a way for governments to shirk responsibility for services such as affordable drinking water or electricity.
"Multinationals are unfit to deliver water to the world," Friends of the Earth said in a statement. It said the privatisation of water supplies in nations from Bolivia to the Philippines had meant higher prices. Nearly one in five people or 1.1 billion of the world's population have no access to drinking water.
The US is one of the principle advocates of PPPs which has led to increased anger among activists already annoyed at President Bush’s refusal to attend the Summit.