ABSTRACT
Inspired by the notion of sustainable development, there is an increasing re alization of the need to go beyond the traditional sectoral approach in national development planning. It has been demonstrated that, at least in the medium to long term, a country’s economic performance and the food security of its citizens are closely related to its demographic and educational trends, as well as to the health of the natural environment. Since these issues are closely interconnected in the real world, they should also be viewed together in national politics and devel opment planning. The scientific understanding of their mutual interdependencies is, however, not yet sufficiently reflected in the political institutions of individual countries. There is tremendous inertia in such systems, partly because of the tradi tional training of experts, which is often characterized by the compartmentalization of disciplines, and partly because the impact of developments in one sector is often invisible in another sector in the short term.
