UN General Assembly
1990

The global environment is certainly one of the key international issues of the 1990s. We are working towards the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development which should deal with these two issues in an integrated way. The Conference will not succeed, however, unless considerably more effort is put into reconciling the conflicts between environmental and economic development policies. The two are not inconsistent: the goal of sustainable development can be achieved. But if the United Nations is to lead international efforts in this sphere, we must stop discussing the processes and start debating the substance. For the United Nations to make the most constructive input into solving these problems, there has to be greater co-ordination between the United Nations environment agencies, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNKP) and United Nations development agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). There is no obvious need for more agencies and institutions to deal with these issues; we do used to strengthen our existing institutions and to improve communication and co-ordination between them.