A/42/427
English
Page 304
In the case of environmental problems, it is obvious that the problems cannot be solved by one group, one group working in separation. You cannot say because people are dying of poisoning, it is the Ministry of Health that will solve, it. Or to say because it comes from factories. it is the Ministry of Industry. That is impossible.
I think the problems need a more holistic approach. The United Nations Organization. as a professional organization, has developed this fragmentation. It started automatically with no bad intention at all. But at the same time, the member countries requested and national bodies also requested entry points in recipient countries. So WHO corresponds with the Ministry of Health, UNESCO corresponds with the Ministry of Education, FAO corresponds with the Ministry of Agriculture the fragmentation is getting worse.
Speaker from the floor
government agency
WCED Public Hearing
Jakarta, 26 March 1985
2. The time has come to break out of past patterns. Attempts to maintain social and ecological stability through old approaches to development and environmental protection will increase instability. Security must be sought through change. The Commission has noted a number of actions that must be taken to reduce risks to survival and to put future development on paths that are sustainable.
5. Without such reorientation of attitudes and emphasis, little can be achieved. We have no illusions about. 'quick-fix' solutions. We have tried to point out some pathways to the future. But there is no substitute for the journey itself, and there is no alternative to the process by which we retain a capacity to respond to the experience it provides. We believe this to hold true in all the areas covered in this report. But the policy changes we have suggested have institutional implications, and it is to these we now turn emphasizing that they are a complement to, not a substitute for, the wider policy changes for which we call, Nor do they represent definitive solutions, but rather first steps in what will be a continuing process.
6. In what follows we put forward, in the first place, what are essentially conceptual guidelines for institutions at the national level. We recognize that there are large differences among countries in respect of population size, resources, income
level, management capacity, and institutional traditions, only governments themselves can formulate the changes they should make. Moreover, the tools for monitoring and evaluating sustainable development are rudimentary and require further refinement.
