Follow-Up to the Report of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group Established Pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 72/277

A/RES/73/333No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 14Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, published in 2019.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Environmental Agreements Environmental Law Environmental Protection Trust Funds Working Groups

What does this mandate say?

2 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the work of the ad hoc open-ended working group established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 72/277, as well as its report, and endorses all its recommendations, as set out in the annex to the present resolution;

Decides that costs associated with the implementation of the present resolution and with the facilitation of the participation of representatives from developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, in any future meeting related to the implementation of the recommendations on the consideration of further work as set forth in the annex, shall be met from voluntary contributions, requests the Secretary-General to continue to make use of the special voluntary trust fund established pursuant to paragraph 10 of resolution 72/277 for this purpose, and invites Member States, international financial institutions, donor agencies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and natural and juridical persons to make financial contributions to the voluntary trust fund.

Recommendations of the ad hoc open-ended working group established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 72/277

Objectives guiding the recommendations

Reinforce the protection of the environment for present and future generations;

Uphold the respective obligations and commitments under international environmental law of States Members of the United Nations and members of specialized agencies;

Contribute to the strengthening of the implementation of international environmental law and environment-related instruments;

Support the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want”, including paragraphs 88 and 89 thereof;

Not undermine existing relevant legal instruments and frameworks and relevant global, regional and sectoral bodies;

Substantive recommendations

Reaffirm the role of the United Nations Environment Programme as the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment, and also reaffirm the role of the United Nations Environment Assembly;

Call for renewed efforts at all levels to enhance the implementation of existing obligations and commitments under international environmental law, stressing the importance of enhanced ambition regarding means of implementation, including the provision and mobilization of all types and sources of means of implementation, consistent with the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Recognize the role of discussions on principles of international environmental law in enhancing the implementation of international environmental law, also noting the ongoing work in the International Law Commission on general principles of law;

Invite the scientific community to further its work on interconnected and cross-cutting issues by sharing information among the leading scientific, technical and technological bodies that inform the work of multilateral environmental agreements and environmental processes, and encourage the scientific, technical and technological bodies to strengthen cooperation among themselves;

Invite the governing bodies of the multilateral environmental agreements, while preserving their independence and respective mandates, to increase their efforts to promote policy coherence across environmental instruments at all relevant levels and to consider identifying and addressing implementation challenges in their regimes, with a view to strengthening implementation at the national and international levels;

Invite the governing bodies and secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements to enhance cooperation and collaboration among themselves within the scope of their respective mandates, as well as between themselves and the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Environment Assembly, building on work already done;

Encourage the governing bodies of multilateral environmental agreements and scientific, technical and technological bodies to exchange information and experiences, including with a view to considering the streamlining of reporting and/or monitoring processes;

Encourage all that have not yet done so to consider ratifying multilateral environmental agreements and to effectively implement them;

Encourage States Members of the United Nations and all members of the specialized agencies to strengthen, where needed, environmental laws, policies and regulatory frameworks at the national level, as well as capacities across all sectors for the effective implementation of international environmental law, including in the administrative and justice sectors in accordance with national legal systems, while acknowledging the importance of international cooperation in supporting and complementing national actions;

Encourage States Members of the United Nations and all members of the specialized agencies to mainstream environment into sectoral policies and programmes at all levels, including into national development and sustainable development plans, to enhance the implementation of international environmental law and applicable environment-related instruments;

Encourage the active and meaningful engagement of all relevant stakeholders at all levels in the different forums related to the implementation of international environment law and environment-related instruments;

Encourage the exploration of further ways for States Members of the United Nations and all members of the specialized agencies to support and make full use of the fifth Programme for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law (Montevideo Programme V), adopted at the fourth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly, in order to foster environmental rule of law and advance the implementation of environmental law at all levels;

Encourage the United Nations Environment Programme, as chair of the Environment Management Group, in collaboration with the other members of the Group, to continue to strengthen system-wide inter-agency coordination on the environment and to call for the active involvement and support of all members of the Group in the implementation of system-wide strategies on the environment.

Further work

Circulate the above-mentioned recommendations and make them available to States Members of the United Nations, the members of specialized agencies and the governing bodies of multilateral environment agreements for their consideration and action, as appropriate;

Forward these recommendations to the United Nations Environment Assembly for its consideration, and to prepare, at its fifth session, in February 2021, a political declaration for a United Nations high-level meeting, subject to voluntary funding, in the context of the commemoration of the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972, with a view to strengthening the implementation of international environmental law and international environmental governance, in line with paragraph 88 of the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, entitled “The future we want”.

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