Sustainable development is a multi-faceted undertaking, requiring
a breadth of response that can make a study of the topic with regard
to the United Nations difficult. The work of nearly every body within
the system can be seen to contribute to the overall project in one
way or another. What marks that project in many cases is the drive
to bring about change through the medium of international agreements
that enshrine sustainable development principles and act as binding
instruments upon the contracting parties. These legal instruments
address environmental and developmental problems on an issue by issue
basis, building up, incrementally, a network of commitments. The United
Nations has facilitated, and continues to monitor, agreements on such
issues as climate change, pollution, ocean resources, human rights,
criminal justice, drug control, biodiversity, forests and desertification.
It is our goal in these pages to present the United Nations activities
in the area of global sustainable development in a manner which, while
acknowledging its complexity, allows as clear and comprehensive an
overview as possible.
