The United Nations' role in sustainable development

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Abstract
Overhauling and coordinating the UN's internal organisation to reflect the change in consciousness from environment and development as two separate areas to sustainable development as an integrated policy is a formidable task. The newly created Commission on Sustainable Development has been charged with the tasks of UNCED follow up and national reporting, as well as aspects of UN system coordination. The role of UNEP has been strengthened. The UNDP has an important role to play; its finances far outstrip those of UNEP. New money for sustainable development, meagre though it is, is to be channelled through the Global Environmental Facility which is a cause for concern among developing countries suspicious of its ties with the World Bank. Perhaps more fundamental than organisational constraints are the financial constraints on the implementation of sustainable development policies. Unless the flow of resources via debt repayment from South to North is halted and reversed, even a streamlined UN system will have only a very limited impact on sustainable development.

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