General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

19 December 1994

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                 A/RES/49/111
                                                 92nd plenary meeting
                                                 19 December 1994
 
            49/111. Report of the Commission on Sustainable Development on its
                    second session
 
      The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling its resolution 47/190 of 22 December 1992, in which it
endorsed the results of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development,
 
      Recalling also its resolution 47/191 of 22 December 1992 on the
institutional arrangements to follow up the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development,
 
      Reaffirming the need for a balanced and integrated approach to
environment and development issues and the new global partnership for
sustainable development initiated at the Conference,
 
      Having considered the report of the Commission on Sustainable
Development on its second session, which was held in New York from 16 to 27
May 1994,
 
      Taking into account the recent national, subregional, regional and
interregional efforts and initiatives to promote sustainable development,
 
      1.    Takes note of the report of the Commission on Sustainable
Development on its second session and endorses the recommendations contained
therein; 
 
      2.    Welcomes the communications regarding the implementation of Agenda
21 and the action taken in many countries towards elaborating, as appropriate,
national sustainable development strategies and action plans provided on a
voluntary basis by a number of Governments and organizations at the second
session of the Commission, and encourages Governments to continue to share
among themselves their experiences in the implementation of Agenda 21;
 
      3.    Underlines the importance of preparing and carrying out national
sustainable development strategies, programmes or action plans, as the case
may be, and to that end calls for provision of financial resources and
transfer of technology;
 
      4.    Notes the ongoing work on the elaboration of sustainable
development indicators;
 
      5.    Expresses its deep concern that the financial recommendations and
commitments of Agenda 21, including those regarding official development
assistance, despite an increase in private investment in some countries, are
short of expectations and requirements and that the current availability of
financial resources for sustainable development and the limited provision of
adequate and predictable new and additional financial resources will constrain
the effective implementation of Agenda 21 and could undermine the basis of the
global partnership for sustainable development, and, in this context,
expresses its concern that overall official development assistance has even
decreased since the United Nations Conference on Environment and  Development;
 
      6.    Stresses the critical need for and importance of the provision of
means of implementation, in particular to developing countries, especially
those relating to new and additional financial resources and the transfer of
environmentally sound technology to developing countries on favourable terms,
including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed, in order
to assist them in implementing Agenda 21 and other decisions of the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development;
 
      7.    Also stresses the role of the Commission on Sustainable
Development, as a unique international forum for fostering multilateral
negotiations and promoting action in the area of changing consumption and
production patterns, calls on the Commission to promote the adoption of urgent
steps to implement the relevant chapters of Agenda 21 related to the crucial
issue of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, particularly in
the developed countries, which not only constitute the major cause of
continued global environmental deterioration but also aggravate poverty and
imbalances, and, in that context, reiterates that national authorities should
endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of
economic instruments, taking into account that the polluter should, in
principle, bear the costs of pollution;
 
      8.    Notes the work done so far by the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade/World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development and the United Nations Environment Programme in the fields of
trade, environment and sustainable development, underlines the need to ensure
close cooperation and complementarity of work with the Commission on
Sustainable Development, and recommends that the Commission, the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Environment
Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
continue to be appropriately represented at the Committee on Trade and
Environment of the World Trade Organization;
 
      9.    Stresses the importance of the decisions adopted by the Commission
on Sustainable Development, inter alia, on health, human settlements, fresh
water, toxic chemicals and hazardous wastes, as concrete steps in the
implementation of the sectoral clusters of Agenda 21;
 
      10.   Encourages the continuing participation of ministers in the
sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, including those
responsible for development, planning, finance and trade in the high-level
meetings of the Commission;
 
      11.   Calls upon the Commission on Sustainable Development, in
accordance with chapter 38 of Agenda 21, to develop close and clear
relationships with other relevant international organizations and entities,
such as the conferences of parties to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing
Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, and the Global
Environment Facility, in order to increase its effectiveness in monitoring the
implementation of Agenda 21 and other decisions of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development;
 
      12.   Urges the international community, in particular the donor
countries, to make efforts to strengthen further the funding capacity of
international financial institutions, regional banks and other international
organizations, and emphasizes that greater efforts need to be made by them
effectively and demonstrably to provide resources for the implementation of
Agenda 21;
 
      13.   Recommends that members of international financial institutions
take the necessary steps, through their respective governing bodies, to ensure
that their programmes and activities better reflect Agenda 21, particularly in
order to respond to the needs of developing countries;
 
      14.   Endorses the recommendation of the Commission on Sustainable
Development to draw up a matrix of policy options and financial instruments
and mechanisms that would facilitate the formulation of optimal financing
strategies for each of the sectoral clusters under review;
 
      15.   Requests the Secretary-General to promote further the involvement
of the High-level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development in the work of the
Commission, through more direct involvement of the members of the Board, in
their expert capacity, in the informal meetings of the Commission and in its
inter-sessional meetings, as well as to arrange briefing sessions open to all
interested parties to highlight the outcome of the Board's meetings, with a
view to increasing the transparency of its work and improving communication
and interchange between the Board and the Commission;
 
      16.   Underlines the need for balanced, transparent and coherent
inter-sessional processes, which are participatory in nature, to facilitate
the work of the Commission and its ad hoc working groups, and expresses its
appreciation to the various inter-sessional initiatives of national
Governments and international organizations;
 
      17.   Also underlines the need for an effective follow-up to the
decisions taken by the Commission at its second session, and notes the
commitments expressed by members to follow up their inter-sessional
initiatives in order to contribute to a comprehensive review of Agenda 21 in
1997;
 
      18.   Notes the indispensable role that major groups play in the
implementation of Agenda 21, and encourages them to contribute to the work of
the Commission on Sustainable Development;
 
      19.   Also notes the work of the Inter-agency Committee on Sustainable
Development and its task managers, and invites the Secretary-General to make
reports of the Committee available to the Commission;
 
      20.   Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to
the attention of all members of the international community, relevant
intergovernmental organizations, agencies, programmes and bodies within and
outside the United Nations system, and relevant non-governmental
organizations.