After centuries of external oppression as well as civil war, the
             the Democratic Republic of East Timor is facing both challenges and
             opportunities with regard to the country's economic and environmental
             sustainability. Politically, oppression has been suffered at the hands of
             the Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, and Indonesians. The country has finally
             overcome all these invasions and gained its independence under the United
             Nations mandate, to become a sovereign state on 20 May 2002. However, the
             repercussions of poor governmental management along with other issues have
             kept East Timor wedged in its third-world status, with few resources to
             promote either financial or environmental sustainability.
             Combined with political difficulties, East Timor is furthermore
             challenged by its geographic environment. The country is for example very
             mountainous, which causes agricultural problems. Few crops will grow in
             such a region. Developments such as roads and other modern infrastructure
             are also difficult and expensive, due to the landscape structure.
             The current situation of the people in East Timor is that the nation
             comprises more or less four million inhabitants, relying mostly on crops
             such as rice, coffee and coconuts. Poverty and unemployment are two of the
             biggest social problems in the country. However, its recent gain of
             independence has injected into the country and its people a sense of both
             urgency and eagerness to rise above their situation. This paradigm should
             then be used by the international community to help the country achieve its
             ideal of becoming economically and environmentally sustainable.
             Being a representative of the global community, the United Nations
             Development can make a significant contribution to improving East Timor's
             situation by means of its Environment and Natural Resources Unit.
             Inherently, East Timor has the capacity to be both environmentally and
             economi...