only an across-the-board approach will rrake it possible for them to be addressed. The envirooment is the first of these. The concem is general, but the developing countries are oonfronted with _specific problems in this respect. They are not always in a positicn to participate fully in defining and implementing overall policies designed to avert such w::>rld-wide threats as the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. It therefore falls to the international community as a whole to address the challenge. On the other hand, desertification, the management of natural resources, energy, and control of the urban explosion affect the South above all. We are all responsible for the protection of the environment; the interdependence of the causes and the answers requires comprehensive solidarity and a complementary approach. Progress ta,..rards a state of law is the second. Development is the bearer of denocracy, but the opposite is also true: the absence of denocracy blocks the process of development. The pursuit of democracy is therefore a goal we all share. We can move in that directicn through institutional co-operation, encouraging the establishment of structures to enable peoples to express their will freely and society to participate more actively in decisions that concern it. RH/13 A/S-18/PV. 2 59 (Mr. Pelletier, France) We should also give particular attention to the struggle undertaken in certain countries against corruption. The third challenge is population. Uncontrolled population grCMth, with its attendant social and health consequences, threatens the gains of development and accentuates the imbalance between cities and the rural world. Certainly, in the arm of deJTDgraphy France respects the independence of each State and its political choice with rega~d to population, as well as freedom of choice for couples and individuals. But we should also like to recall that the information and means necessary to oontrol reproduction should be made available to everyone. 
**Analysis**
The text discusses global challenges that require a comprehensive approach, focusing on three specific areas: environmental protection, democratization, and population control. The text emphasizes the interconnectedness of these challenges and the need for international cooperation to address them. While economic development is not the primary focus, it is implicit in the discussion of population control and the need for development to be balanced with environmental protection.

**Category**
Natural resources and environment, International relations, Health