UNEP could be beefed up and given formal responsibilities. Third, the Secretariat approach of the Vienna Convention could be embroidered and developed so that a series of secretariats operate for separate environmental issues. At present that is the way things are heading. The fourth broad option is to create a new international institution. It will take a lot of political commitment to take the high road now but it is likely to ensure that there will less trouble later on.
International norms gain legitimacy from the process bv which they are arrived at.
An enduring institutional framework in which the processes are thorough, based on a solid scientific base where there is plenty of opportunity for refinement and debate is likely to serve the world best in the long run. The most ambitious course is to create a new organ in the United Nations by amending the Charter. The procedures for changing the charter are by no means easy, and the permanent members of the Security Council have a veto. It would be the best possible outcome from the 1992 Conference for a new organ of the United Nations to be created for the Environment. But in some respects an option easier to achieve and one which could provide a more workable institutional framework would be the creation of a new specialised United Nations agency.