The results of UNCED are all based on agreements made by governments and are not schemes proposed by United Nations agencies such as FAO or by NGOs. The initiative and responsibility for their implementation, therefore, lies with gov-ernments which are expected to mobilize the energies of all interest groups such as local governments, NGOs, the private sector and local community organizations in their countries for action. The UN system and external donors or partners, however, have an important supporting role.
In order to chart the progress in implementation, encourage further action, promote international partnerships and provide a forum for agreeing on new orientations, the United Nations General Assembly established the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). The CSD, comprising more than 50 member countries, meets annually to review a number of key cross-sectoral issues (such as finance) as well as a sectoral theme under a cluster of Agenda 21 chapters. For the third session in April 1995, CSD reviewed the "land cluster" consisting of the Forest Principles and the following land-using sectors under Agenda 21 chapters: Chapter 10 (integrated land management); Chapter 11 (forests); Chapter 12 (desertification); Chapter 13 (mountains); Chapter 14 (agriculture and rural development); and Chapter 15 (biological diversity).
Under the Administrative Committee on Coordination, the heads of UN agencies have established an Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD) to ensure harmonized UN system activities and support to countries in the implementation of UNCED decisions. The IACSD has allocated what is known as "task manager" responsibilities for various UNCED programmes to specialized UN agencies. These responsibilities are to: encourage and support initiatives in relation to the sector in question; facilitate interagency cooperation and liaison; propose joint initiatives; and report to the CSD. Under the "land cluster", FAO is Task Manager for Chapters 10, 11, 13 and 14 while the United Nations Environment Programme covers Chapters 12 and 15.
The UN Department for Policy Co-ordination and Sustainable Development (UNDPCSD), which serves as the secretariat of the CSD, cooperates with task managers. In the case of preparations for the third session, UNDPCSD requested task managers to prepare reports on the UN system's follow-up to UNCED and to assemble overall sector reports for the UN Secretary-General using inputs also from governments, NGOs and other major groups.
These arrangements provide the necessary institutional basis for the international follow-up. UNCED cannot, and should not, be considered a success until national programmes and the above-mentioned international arrangements result in meaningful progress and change at the household level; until then, UNCED would remain merely the largest world summit ever held.