Sustainable Principles or Sustainable Institutions? The Long Way from UNCED to the Commission on Sustainable Development

Abstract

Summary Helge Ole Bergesen and Trond K. Botnen, ‘Sustainable Principles or Sustainable Institutions? The Long Way from UNCED to the Commission on Sustainable Development’, Forum for Development Studies, 1996: 1, pp. 35–61. The purpose of this article is to develop an analytical framework that makes it possible to evaluate the contents of political commitment, as expressed by UN conferences, and to explore the potential of this approach through an empirical study of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the institutional outcome of UNCED. The authors develop a typology of functions which intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) can have, ranging from arena for agenda-setting and discussion, to rule-making, monitoring, adjudication and enforcement. In an attempt to probe the commitments made at UNCED, the authors look at three substantive issue-areas: (1) finance; (2) consumption and population; and (3) reviews of national information on Agenda 21 implementation. They conclude that the Commission has, so far, not succeeded in going beyond the arena function.