Year-by-year the areas in which the United Nations System is active expands and the work takes on new forms. Already there is scarcely any aspect of human life and environment which is the concern of Governments that is not within the programmes of the system: the subject of study, of exchanges of experts and expertise, of standard setting, of assistance programmes. And a host of new problems await international action, from the control of the disposal of nuclear waste to water utilization and resources, from the Law of the Sea and the Ocean Floor, to the attack on the vicious circle of ignorance, poverty and disease affecting two-thirds of mankind. While it reflects the innate strength of the United Nations System, the fact that far too much is being attempted at the same time, that there are far too many committees than can be properly manned by national delegates and supported by national administrations, and far too much pressure to find quick ‘solutions’ is an inevitable source of administrative weakness. In most instances, there is little enthusiasm on the part of the Membership as a whole to accept the financial obligations involved in new programmes. The line of least resistance is to create a new fund to which interested States may contribute and through which a special staff can be recruited and financed. Hence, as we have seen, the proliferation of semi-autonomous units and funds, the consolidation or rationalization of which it has become a priority task to bring about.