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programmes will need to be strengthened and adapted to new priorities. The regional organizations in particular need to do more to integrate environment fully in their macroeconomic, trade, energy, and other sectoral programmes.
31. Similar organizations among developing countries should be strengthened, particularly at bilateral and subregional levels. Organizations such as the organization of African Unity, the Southern Africa Development Coordination Conference, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab League, the Organization of American States, the Association of South East Asian Nations, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation could work together to develop contingency plans and the capacity to respond quickly to critical situations and issues. They need in such bodies to develop comparable economic and environmental statistics, base-line quantity and quality surveys of shared resources, and early-warning capabilities to reduce environment and development hazards. They could develop and apply in concert basic common principles and guidelines concerning environmental protection and resource use, particularly with respect to foreign trade and investment. In this respect, developing countries have much to gain through sharing their common experiences and raking common action.
32. A new foetus on the sustainable use and management of transboundary ecological zones. systems, and resources is also needed. There are, for example, over 200 distinct biogeographic zones in the world. Moreover, most non-island countries in the world share at least one international river basin. The entire national territories of nearly one-quarter of those countries is part of an international river basin. Yet over one-third of the 200 major international river basins in the world are not covered by any international agreement, and fewer than 30 have any cooperative institutional arrangements, These gaps are particularly acute in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, which together have 144 international river basins.[1]
33. Governments, directly and through UNEP and IUCN. should support the development regional and subregional cooperative arrangements for the protection and sustained use of transboundary ecological systems with joint action programmes to combat common problems such as desertification and acidification.
1.3 Global Institutions and Proqrammes
34. At the global level, an extensive institutional capacity exists that could be redirected towards sustainable development. The United Nations, as the only intergovernmental organization with universal membership, should clearly be the locus for new institutional initiatives of a global character.
35. Although the funds flowing to developing countries through UN programmes represents a relatively small portion of total ODA flows, the UN can and should be a source of significant leadership in the transition to sustainable development and in support of developing countries in effecting this transition. Under existing condition the UN system's influence is often fragmented and less effective than it might be because of the
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- ↑ See 'Report of the Secretary-General: Technical and Economic Aspects of International River Basin Development'. UN E/C.7/35, New York, 1972. An updated list of relevant international agreements was provided by the IUCN Environmental Law Centre. See also Department of Technical Cooperation for Development. 'Experiences in the Development and Management of International River and Lake Basins. Proceedings of the Interregional Meeting of International River Orgaizations held a Dakar, Senegal, in May 1981 (New York: UN, 1983).
