The executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently signed a memorandum of understanding on the issue of environment and trade. According to Elizabeth Dowdeswell, the executive director of the UNEP, "The joint programme agreed upon by UNCTAD and UNEP with its focus on capacity-building is the key to sustainable development.' It would seek to integrate trade, environment and development concerns at the outset of the decision-making process. The general trend is to view environmental policies as appendages and to take remedial actions once other economic priorities have been met.

There may be fewer people worldwide by ad 2050 than previously projected. According to the UN Population Fund, population control is making progress and consequently fertility rates are going down all over the world. However, in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the decline in population growth is largely due to high mortality rates from AIDS. According to the US Census Bureau figures, the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime has declined by 26 per cent in India since 1985, 30 per cent in Brazil and 35 per cent in Bangladesh.