Report of the Secretary-General on Environment and Human Settlements

A/RES/53/242View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 30 United Nations reform : measures and proposals, published in 1998.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

3 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited
Programme 12	Human settlements	73
Programme 11	Environment	151
Programme 25	Management and support services	23

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

3 entities

(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
Programme 12	Human settlements	73	—
Programme 11	Environment	151	—
Programme 25	Management and support services	23	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 subjects

Capacity Building Environment Environmental Management Financing Human Settlements Inter-Agency Cooperation Scientific Research Technical Cooperation Working Groups

What’s in this document?

15 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the efforts undertaken to strengthen the United Nations in the field of environment and human settlements, and in that context takes note of the general thrust of the recommendations contained in the report of the Secretary-General on environment and human settlements,1 proposing actions to be taken by the Secretary-General, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), and takes note also of the recommendations outlined in section IV of the report;

Requests the Secretary-General to strengthen the United Nations Office at Nairobi, in its capacity as the only United Nations headquarters located in a developing country, through the provision of requisite support and stable, adequate and predictable financial resources, including by proposing additional regular budget resources, as envisaged by the General Assembly in its resolution 52/220 of 22 December 1997, for the consideration of the Assembly, with due regard for proper United Nations budgetary procedures;

Encourages the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi to take steps to increase the level of utilization of the Office, and in this regard encourages other agencies, funds and programmes to consider increasing their utilization of its facilities for their activities;

Calls upon the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) to increase cooperation in and strengthen coordination of their activities, within the framework of their respective mandates and separate programmatic and organizational identities, as well as their separate Executive Directors;

Supports the proposal of the Secretary-General regarding the establishment of an environmental management group for the purpose of enhancing inter-agency coordination in the field of environment and human settlements, and requests the Secretary-General to develop, in consultation with the Member States and members of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, the mandate, terms of reference, appropriate criteria for membership and flexible, cost-effective working methods of the proposed environmental management group and to submit them to the General Assembly for consideration at its fifty-fourth session;

Welcomes the proposal to institute an annual, ministerial-level, global environmental forum, with the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme constituting the forum in the years that it meets in regular session and, in alternate years, with the forum taking the form of a special session of the Governing Council, in which participants can gather to review important and emerging policy issues in the field of the environment, with due consideration for the need to ensure the effective and efficient functioning of the governance mechanisms of the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as possible financial implications, and the need to maintain the role of the Commission on Sustainable Development as the main forum for high-level policy debate on sustainable development;

Supports the proposals for the facilitation of and support for enhancing linkages and coordination within and among environmental and environment-related conventions, including by the United Nations Environment Programme, with full respect for the status of the respective convention secretariats and the autonomous decision-making prerogatives of the conferences of the parties to the conventions concerned, and emphasizes in this regard the need to provide the United Nations Environment Programme with adequate resources to perform this task;

Welcomes the proposals for the involvement, participation and constructive engagement of major groups active in the field of environment and human settlements, with due consideration for the relevant rules, regulations and procedures of the United Nations;

Reiterates the importance of strengthening the capacity and capability of the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), within the framework of their existing mandates, in the areas of information, the monitoring and assessment of global and regional environmental and human settlements trends and early warning information on environmental threats, so as to catalyse and promote international cooperation and action, and in this context emphasizes the importance of strengthening the system-wide Earthwatch as an effective, accessible and strictly non-political science-based system;

Reaffirms that, in accordance with its mandate, the United Nations Environment Programme should not become involved in conflict identification, prevention or resolution;

Stresses the need to ensure that capacity-building and technical assistance, in particular with respect to institutional strengthening in developing countries, as well as research and scientific studies in the field of environment and human settlements, must remain important components of the work programmes of both the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), within their existing mandates, and also stresses, in this regard, the need for adequate financial resources as well as the need to avoid duplication of efforts;

Also stresses the need to enhance further the role of the United Nations Environment Programme as an implementing agency of the Global Environment Facility, consistent with its role as defined in the Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured Global Environment Facility;⁷

⁷UNEP/GCSS.IV/2.

Reaffirms the role of the Commission on Human Settlements in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda,⁸ emphasizes the need for it to take steps to prepare for the review of its implementation in 2001, and welcomes the proposals that the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) should strengthen its core activities and develop into a centre for excellence with regard to human settlements;

⁸Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, 3-14 June 1996 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.IV.6), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.

Welcomes the proposal to continue ongoing work in the development of indicators in the field of environment and human settlements, and in this regard stresses the importance of the need to avoid duplication of efforts;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents

Who cites this mandate in the budget?