International Co-Operation in the Field of the Environment

A/RES/44/229No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 82fEnvironment, published in 1990.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 1980–1990

1990A/RES/44/229International co-operation in the field of the environmentLatestCompare with previous version
1988A/RES/42/184International co-operation in the field of the environmentCompare with previous version
1986A/RES/40/200International co-operation in the field of the environmentCompare with previous version
1984A/RES/38/165International co-operation in the field of the environmentCompare with previous version
1983A/RES/37/217International co-operation in the field of the environmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

25 operative paragraphs

Endorses the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, welcomes the report of the Governing Council on the work of its fifteenth session and takes note with appreciation of the decisions therein, as adopted, in the light of the present resolution;

Reaffirms the mandate ofthe Programme as defined in General Assembly resolution 2997 (XXVII)

of 15 December 1972, and supports further strengthening of the role of the Programme as the central catalysing, coordinating and stimulating body in the field ofthe environment within the United Nations system;

Welcomes the measures adopted by the Governing Council, in its decision 15/1 of25 May 1989,47 to improve its own effectiveness and efficiency;

Reaffirms that, owing to its universal character, the United Nations system, through the General Assembly, is the appropriate forum for concerted political action on global environmental problems;

Considers, in this regard, that the structure of the United Nations and its responsiveness in dealing with major environmental issues should be reviewed in order to strengthen its capacity to deal with these matters in an integrated, coherent and effective way, and requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report on this issue, taking into account the views expressed by Governments, to be considered in the preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development;

Takes note of the areas of concentration for the international community set out by the Governing Council

SUfj:,lement No. 25 and corrigendum (A/42125 and Corr, I), annex I.

in section IV of its decision 15/1 and the list of issues within those areas, which are not listed in any particular order of priority, to which the Programme should give special attention;47

Takes note of Governing Council decision 15/4 of 26 May 198947 and supports the decision of the Council to hold a special session in 1990 of three days' duration at the same location as, and in conjunction with, the first substantive session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which, at its organizational session, should bear this issue in mind with a view to achieving an effective preparatory process for the Conference; this special session should deal with the elaboration of and the process of making and implementing decisions on priority environmental issues, in particular ways and means of enhancing the role of the Programme within the United Nations system in addressing those issues;

Reaffirms the need to provide new and additional financial resources to support developing countries in identifying, analysing, monitoring, preventing and managing environmental problems primarily at their source, in accordance with their national development goals, objectives and plans, so as to ensure that their development priorities are not adversely affected;

Stresses the need for new and additional financial re- 9. sources for measures aimed at solving major environmental problems of global concern, and especially to support those countries, in particular developing countries, for whom the implementation of such measures would entail a special or abnormal burden, due, in particular, to their lack of financial resources, expertise and/or technical capacity;

Expresses its satisfaction at indications that the flow ofresources to the Environment Fund is increasing in real terms, endorses the annual target of a minimum of one hundred million United States dollars in contributions by the year 1992, taking into account the increasing tasks of the Programme, and calls upon all Governments to contribute or increase their contributions to the Fund by at least 35 per cent per annum from the 1 January 1989 level to enable that target to be met by 1992;

Endorses the views and suggestions of the Governing Council as expressed in its decision 15/2 of 26 May 198947 on the implementation of General Assembly resolutions 42/186 and 42/187 of 11 December 1987 as a positive step towards a better understanding of the concept of sustainable and environmentally sound development by all countries;

Takes note of the recommendation made by the Governing Council in its decision 15/5 of 25 May 198947 and stresses that sustainable and environmentally sound development in all countries should become one of the central guiding principles in the international development strategy being elaborated for the fourth United Nations development decade;

Concurs with Governing Council decision 15/14 of25 May 198947 on the clearing-house function, in which it is considered that the Programme should play a more vigorous role in supporting developing countries, upon their request:

To establish and strengthen their institutions and professional capacities to integrate environmental considerations into their development policies and planning;

To formulate and initiate programmes and activi- (b) ties for dealing with their most serious environmental problems;

To formulate and participate in action plans for the common management of eco-systems and critical environmental problems at the national, regional and global levels;

that sustainable and environmentally 14.

Stresses sound development requires changes in the unsustainable pattern of production and consumption, particularly in industrialized countries, and the development of environmentally sound technologies, and, in this context, stresses also the need to examine, with a view to making recommendations, effective modalities for favourable access to, and transfer of, environmentally sound technologies, in to the developing countries,

including on concessional and preferential terms, and modalities for

supporting all countries in their efforts to create and develop their endogenous technological capacities in the field of scientific research and development, as well as in the acquisition of relevant information, and, in this context, stresses further the need to explore the concept of assured access for developing countries to environmentally sound technologies, in its relation to proprietary rights, with a view to developing effective responses to the needs of developing countries in this area;

Takes note ofGoverning Council decision 15/24 of 25 May 198947 on sustainable agriculture, and calls upon the Governing Council to pay special attention to the implementation thereof;

Reaffirms the urgent need for Governments, multilateral organizations and governmental and nongovernmental financial institutions to take into account in their policies, decision-making processes and financial mechanisms the relationship between the foreign debt and the ability of developing countries to strengthen their capacity to address the critical environmental issues fundamental to development and protection of the environment;

Urges the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 17. Change to take the necessary steps to ensure the participation of developing countries in scientific and policy aspects of its work, and calls upon the international community, in particular the developed countries, to consider contributing generously to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Trust Fund with a view to financing the participation of experts designated by Governments of the developing countries in all the meetings of the Intergovernmental Panel, including those of its working groups and sub-groups;

Supports the request made by the Governing Council, in its decision 15/36 of25 May 1989,47 that the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, in co-operation with the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, begin preparations for negotiations on a framework convention on climate, taking into account the work of the Intergovernmental Panel and its interim report, as well as the results achieved at international meetings on the subject, including the Second World Climate Confererce, and recommends that such negotiations begin as soon as possible after the adoption ofthe interim report of the Intergovernmental Panel and that the General Assembly at an early date during its forty-fifth session take a decision recommending ways and means and modalities for further pursuing these negotiations, taking into account the work of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, to be held in 1992;

Notes with satisfaction the progress made in the protection of the ozone layer and urges all States to cooperate with the Executive Director of the United Nations

Environment Programme in the process of strengthening the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, adopted on 16 September 1<)87, in the light of the Helsinki Declaration on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, adopted on 2 May 1989, S3 and emphasizes the importance of taking into account the special needs and requirements of developing countries and developing appropriate funding mechanisms in order to enable all countries, in particular developing countries, to participate effectively in the revised Protocol;

Notes the adoption, on 22 March 1989, of the Basel 20. Convention on the Control ofTransboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,118 and calls upon all States to consider signing the Convention without prejudice to the final position to be adopted by regional organizations in this regard and to strengthen their cooperation in problem areas within the scope of the Convention;

Supports Governing Council decision 15/23 of 25 May 198947 on desertification, in which the Council, inter alia, invites donor Governments and intergovernmental bodies to accord high priority in their bilateral and multilateral assistance activities to national programmes for combating desertification and for the rehabilitation of land resources;

Considers the conservation and utilization of biological diversity to be a priority issue, an important element of ecological balance and a source of benefit to mankind, and welcomes Governing Council decision 15/34 of 25 May 1989;47 Notes the consideration given by the Governing 23. Council in its decision 15/10 of 25 May 198947 to the proposed establishment of a United Nations centre for urgent environmental assistance and takes note of the information provided by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme on the preliminary results of his consultations regarding the views expressed by Governments and organizations on this matter, bearing in mind the mandates of the Programme, the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as other relevant United Nations specialized agencies and bodies;

Expresses its satisfaction at the impetus given to addressing environmental concerns through meetings at the regional level, and calls on the Programme and other relevant organizations to continue to play an effective role in this regard.

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International Co-Operation in the Field of the Environment

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