General Assembly
Official Records
Fifty-fourth Session
Supplement No. 1 (A/54/1)

Chapter IV

Globalization and the environment

239. Changes in the global environment do not respect national boundaries and represent one of the most critical challenges of globalization. Nowhere is this more evident than in the threats posed to the world's population by global warming. These threats can only be addressed by far-reaching multilateral agreement, but the political consensus necessary to achieve this has not been easy to obtain. The fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Buenos Aires in November 1998 to begin the process of deciding the rules for implementation of the mechanisms agreed in Kyoto in 1997 and to adopt a two-year plan of action.

240. The Tenth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was held at Cairo in November 1998. Its agenda focused on strengthening international efforts to reverse the destruction of the Earth's protective ozone layer. For the first time, it took up the challenge of making policies to protect the ozone layer consistent with the ongoing efforts to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

241. In February 1999, at Cartagena, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity examined the risks that biotechnology may pose for biological diversity and human health, its socio-economic implications for developing countries and the relevance of biosafety concerns in developing a precautionary approach to risk prevention. The international community is pursuing a protocol on biosafety that, among other aims, seeks to ensure that living modified organisms are transported into countries only with their prior informed consent.

242. Headway continues to be made in the global chemical safety agenda. International consensus was finally reached on the need for a legally binding treaty to promote chemical safety by preventing unwanted trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides. In this regard, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was opened for signature in September 1998. In January 1999, at the second negotiating session, solid progress was made in the drafting of a global treaty to reduce and eliminate environmental emissions and discharges of persistent organic pollutants. The Criteria Expert Group has now met. The third negotiating session will be held at Geneva in September 1999, and a series of regional workshops are planned.

243. The Global International Water Assessment, a major initiative led by UNEP and financed by the Global Environment Fund, was launched to assess key issues and problems facing the aquatic environment over the next four years. The Assessment focuses on the problems of shared, transboundary waters. It is designed not only to analyse current problems but also to develop scenarios for the future condition of the world's water resources. Policy options will be analysed with a view to providing sound scientific advice for decision makers and managers concerned with water resources.

244. At the European regional level, the third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health was held in London in June 1999. The Protocol on Water and Health, attached to the United Nations/Economic Commission for Europe Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, was signed by 35 countries, including 16 countries in transition. The Conference built on foundations laid at previous environment and health conferences (Frankfurt, 1989 and Helsinki, 1994). It marked a new commitment to improving the environment and health in the twenty-first century in view of the need for international cooperation to deal with transboundary problems, such as air pollution, the continuing lack of access to safe water and sanitation, and transport, where solutions have yet to be found to the adverse effects of increasing traffic levels on health and the environment.

245. Achieving effective, legally binding agreements to safeguard the environment remains a major challenge, particularly with respect to creating environmentally sensitive international trade regimes. UNEP, together with UNCTAD, is analysing the social and environmental impact of the economic trends associated with globalization. It is focusing in particular on clarifying potential areas of conflict and convergence between the global trade and environmental agendas. It is also assessing the value of using economic instruments to help to implement environmental agreements.

246. UNEP has pursued my call at the World Economic Forum at Davos for engagement with the private sector, for example through the adoption of the International Declaration on Cleaner Production. There has also been substantial progress in the work of UNEP with the financial services industry and the telecommunication and tourism sectors, including through a new initiative with tour operators.