ENB:03:03
[Next] .
[Previous] .
[Contents]
REPORT OF THE UN CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (A/C.2/47/L.51)
When the UNGA established UNCED in Resolution 44/228, one of the provisions required the Preparatory Committee to report annually to the General Assembly. Last year, in Resolution 46/168, the General Assembly requested the UNCED Secretary-General to submit a report of the Conference to this session of the UNGA. Thus, the first agenda item for the Razali Group was to consider a draft resolution endorsing the report submitted by UNCED. This resolution endorses the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Agenda 21 and the Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests. The resolution also urges governments, the UN system, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to take the necessary action to give effective follow-up to these agreements. The resolution also notes that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity were opened for signature at UNCED and stresses the need for these Conventions to be put into force as soon as possible. Paragraph 5 calls upon all concerned to implement all commitments, agreements and recommendations reached at UNCED, especially by ensuring provision of the means of implementation. Finally, the resolution requests the Secretary-General to submit proposals to the General Assembly at its 49th session regarding the recommendation of the Conference that the UNGA hold a special session, not later than 1997, for overall review and appraisal of Agenda 21.
Negotiations on this resolution began on 5 November. The paragraph that proved the most difficult was paragraph 5, on the need to implement financial commitments made in Rio. By 13 November, Razali was able to incorporate the concerns of the Group of 77, the European Community, the United States and Japan into a single paragraph that reads: "Calls upon all concerned to implement all commitments, agreements and recommendations reached at the UNCED, especially by ensuring provision of the means of implementation under Section IV of Agenda 21, stressing in particular the importance of financial resources and mechanisms, transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and capacity building, and international institutional arrangements, in order to achieve sustainable development in all countries;".