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national and international political and economic institutions have not and perhaps cannot overcome, the pursuit of sustainable development requires:
- a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision making,
- an economic system that is able to generate surpluses and technical knowledge on a self-reliant and sustained basis,
- a social system that provides for solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development.
- a production system that respects the obligation to preserve the ecological base for development,
- a technological system that can search continuously for new solutions.
- an international system that fosters sustainable patterns of trade and finance. and
- an administrative system that is flexible and has the capacity for self-correction.
82. These requirements are more in the nature of goals that should underlie national and international action on development. What matters is the sincerity with which these goals ate pursued and the effectiveness with which departures from them are corrected.
Footnotes
1/ UNCTAD, Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics 1985 Supplement (New York 1985).
2/ Ibid.
3/ Department of International Economic and Social Affairs (DIESA) Doubling Development Finance, Meeting a Global Challenge, Views and Recommendations of the Commitee for Development Planning (New York: UN. 1986).
4/ One example of such a decision to forgo a developmental benefit in the interest, of conservation is provided by the dropping of the Silent Valley Hydro project in India
5/ Based on data from World Bank, World Development Report 1984 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984).
6/ Based on per capita consumption data from FAO.Production Yearbook 1984 (Rome: 1985) and population projections from DESA, World Population Prospects: Estimates and Projections as Assessed in 1984 (New York' UN, 1986).
