It would, of course, be possible for the new regime to be brought into existence by a resolution of the General Assembly rather than through the treaty process. For example, following a resolution adopted at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment the General Assembly on December 15, 1972 created the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Like the institutions formed via the treaty process the UNEP possesses a well-considered organizational structure. In this instance it consists of a governing council of 58 members, a secretariat, an Environmental Fund, an Environment Co-ordination Board, and an Executive Director. In this case, as in the others, one of the more difficult problems to be resolved was the size and basis for representation on the Governing Council. From the foregoing certain conclusions, involving political and legal policy matters, can be suggested. For the foreseeable future only those countries that have been described as space-resource States have the capacity to explore and use high altitude solar energy. Moreover, these same States have the greatest need to obtain and use alternative energy sources, including solar energy on a "wholesale" basis. Such States will be obliged to accept the world community judgment that such solar energy as well as the geostationary orbital slots constitute a natural resource of the world. As such, neither the energy nor the slots fall under the sovereignty of any State, the claims of eight of the equatorial States to the contrary notwithstanding. Nonetheless, it is evident that the space-resource States are anxious to cooperate with all countries in arriving at decisions relating to the capture and transmission to Earth of the solar energy of outer space. uA/RES/2997 (XXVII).
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