General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

20 December 1982

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                               Resolution 37/219
                                               20 December 1982
 
          Session of a special character of the Governing Council of the
          United Nations Environment Programme
 
          The General Assembly,
 
          Recalling its resolutions 35/74 of 5 December 1980 and 36/189 of 17
     December 1981, in which it decided to convene a session of a special
     character of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment
     Programme at Nairobi from 10 to 18 May 1982 to commemorate the tenth
     anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
     held at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972, and having considered the
     report of the session of a special character,
 
          Reaffirming its resolution 2997 (XXVII) of 15 December 1972, in
     which it declared itself convinced of the need for prompt and effective
     implementation by Governments and the international community of measures
     designed to safeguard and enhance the environment for the benefit of
     present and future generations of man,
 
          Taking into account the need to strengthen international
     co-operation in the field of the environment, particularly to deal with
     the most serious environmental problems of developing countries, in line
     with the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations
     Development Decade,
 
          Convinced that the principles of the Declaration of the United
     Nations Conference on the Human Environment are as valid today as
     they were in 1972, and, together with the Declaration adopted at Nairobi
     at the session of a special character, provide basic guidance for
     effective and sustained progress in the protection and enhancement of the
     environment,
 
         1.    Takes note with satisfaction of the report of the Governing
     Council of the United Nations Environment Programme on its session of a
     special character;
 
         2.    Expresses its appreciation of the positive manner in which
     Governments responded to its invitation to participate in the session at
     the highest political level;
 
         3.    Recognizes that the session of a special character represented
     a unique opportunity for Governments to re-emphasize their continued
     commitment and support to the cause of the environment and the United
     Nations Environment Programme;
 
         4.    Endorses the Nairobi Declaration, in which the world
     community, inter alia, reaffirmed its commitment to the Stockholm
     Declaration and the Action Plan for the Human Environment, as well
     as its support for strengthening the United Nations Environment Programme
     as the major catalytic instrument for global environmental co-operation,
     and urged all Governments and peoples of the world to discharge their
     historical responsibility to ensure that our planet is passed over to
     future generations in a condition that guarantees a life in human dignity
     for all;
 
         5.    Further endorses:
 
          (a)  The assessment by the Governing Council of the United Nations
     Environment Programme at its session of a special character of the major
     achievements and failures in the implementation of the Action Plan for
     the Human Environment and its conclusions that fair to good progress had
     been made in implementing some of the elements of the Action Plan while,
     in respect of other elements, the record had been very modest;
 
     (b)  The identification at the session of:
 
     (i)  The perceptions of environmental issues that had evolved
          over the past decade;
 
     (ii) The major environmental trends, potential problems and
          priorities for action by the United Nations system, during
          the period 1982-1992, co-ordinated by the United Nations
          Environment Programme in accordance with its catalytic
          mandate and role;
 
          (c)  The basic orientation of the United Nations Environment
     Programme for 1982-1992, as recommended by the Governing Council at its
     session of a special character;
 
          (d)  The conclusions reached at the session with respect to the
     institutional arrangements for the United Nations Environment Programme;
 
         6.    Invites all Governments, intergovernmental organizations and
     non-governmental organizations to ensure that the priorities for action,
     agreed upon by the Governing Council at its session of a special
     character in section III of its resolution I, are accorded high
     priority within their respective programmes at both the national and
     regional levels;
 
         7.    Also invites the governing bodies of the relevant organizations
     of the United Nations system to integrate the major environmental trends
     over the next ten years effectively in their action plans and, on the
     basis of those trends, in close co-operation with the United Nations
     Environment Programme, to draw up appropriate measures for environmental
     protection, particularly in developing countries, with due regard to
     available resources;
 
         8.    Reiterates the importance it attaches to the development of the
     Environmental Perspective to the year 2000 and beyond, and requests the
     Governing Council at its eleventh session to make, on the basis of a
     report by the Executive Director, concrete recommendations to the General
     Assembly at its thirty-eighth session, through the Economic and Social
     Council at its second regular session of 1983, on the modalities for
     preparing the Environmental Perspective;
 
         9.    Supports the view expressed at the session of a special
     character that the human environment would greatly benefit from an
     international atmosphere of peace and security, free from the threat of
     any war;
 
        10.    Emphasizes that the implementation of the priorities for action
     recommended by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment
     Programme at its session of a special character requires adequate
     financial resources and, in view of this, appeals to all Governments,
     particularly of developed countries, to respond positively and increase
     their contribution to the Fund of the Programme.