Special Session for the Purpose of an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of Agenda 21, G.A. res. 50/113, U.N. Doc. A/RES/50/113 (1995)



                       
 
     The General Assembly,
 
     Recalling its resolution 47/190 of 22 December 1992, in which it decided
to convene a special session, not later than 1997, for the purpose of an
overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21,
 
     Having considered the report of the Secretary-General containing
proposals on the format, scope and organizational aspects of such a special
session, 
 
     1.   Decides to convene the special session envisaged in resolution
47/190 for a duration of one week during the month of June 1997 at the highest
possible level of participation;
 
     2.   Encourages participants at the high-level meeting of the Commission
on Sustainable Development to be held during its fourth session, in 1996, to
address, inter alia, matters related to the special session of the General
Assembly decided on above;
 
     3.   Invites the Commission to devote its Ad Hoc Open-ended
Inter-Sessional Working Group meeting, to be held in February 1997, to
assisting the Commission in undertaking the review for the special session;
 
     4.   Welcomes the decision of the Commission to devote its fifth session,
in 1997, to preparations for the special session, and decides that that
session of the Commission will be open-ended in its deliberations, allowing
for the full participation of all States;
 
     5.   Invites the Commission to make available to the General Assembly at
the special session all relevant reports prepared under the aegis of the
Commission, along with the recommendations of the Commission thereon;
 
     6.   Welcomes the decisions of the Governing Council of the United
Nations Environment Programme, in which the Council emphasized the need for
the Programme, in accordance with its mandate in the implementation of Agenda
21, to continue to provide effective support to the work of the Commission on
Sustainable Development, and in which the Council decided to hold its
nineteenth session early in 1997 with a view to making a contribution to the
special session;
 
     7.   Invites Governments as well as relevant regional and subregional
organizations to consider undertaking reviews of progress achieved since the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at the national,
subregional, regional and interregional levels with a view to contributing to
the preparations for the special session;
 
     8.   Welcomes the preparation of hemispheric, regional and subregional
conferences on sustainable development, and in that context invites the
Governments concerned to contribute to the special session the outcomes of
such conferences;
 
     9.   Also invites all other relevant organizations and bodies of the
United Nations system, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development, the specialized agencies and other multilateral organizations,
including the multilateral financial institutions and the World Trade
Organization, to contribute to the special session, and requests the
Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development, in close coordination with
the Commission on Sustainable Development, to ensure an effective and
coordinated system-wide response to the preparation of the special session;
 
     10.  Further invites the conferences of parties or other regulatory
bodies of 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, as well as the regulatory bodies of
other relevant instruments, as appropriate, and the Global Environment
Facility, to provide their inputs to the special session;
 
     11.  Recognizes the important role played by major groups, including
non-governmental organizations, at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development and in the implementation of its recommendations,
and recognizes the need for their active involvement in preparations for the
special session, as well as the need to ensure appropriate arrangements for
their contribution during the special session;
 
     12.  Invites Governments to assist the developing countries, in
particular the least developed among them, in participating fully and
effectively in the special session and its preparatory process, and in that
regard invites them to make appropriate contributions to the Trust Fund to
Support the Work of the Commission on Sustainable Development;
 
     13.  Requests the Secretary-General to prepare, for the consideration of
the Commission on Sustainable Development at its fifth session, a
comprehensive report containing an overall assessment of the progress achieved
since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in the
implementation of Agenda 21 at all levels, 1/ and in the implementation of
related outcomes, as well as recommendations for future actions and
priorities, and requests that the report include:
 
     (a)  Concise reports containing an assessment of the progress achieved in
specific sectoral and cross-sectoral areas;
 
     (b)  Country profiles providing a concise presentation of progress made
and constraints encountered in implementing Agenda 21 at the national level,
compiled on the basis of national information received and in close
cooperation with the Governments concerned;
 
     (c)  Major and emerging trends and issues within the framework of Agenda
21 and related outcomes of the Conference in the area of sustainable
development, including the environmental impact of activities that are gravely
hazardous to the environment, taking into account the views of States;
 
     (d)  Recommendations on the future role of the Commission in the
follow-up to the outcome of the Conference and related outcomes, building on
experience gained since 1992;
 
     14.  Requests the Secretary-General to mount a public information
programme to raise global awareness of both the special session to review the
implementation of Agenda 21 and the work undertaken by the United Nations in
the follow-up to the Conference;
 
     15.  Decides that the preparations for the special session and the
special session itself shall be kept within the agreed appropriation level for
the 1996-1997 biennium;
 
     16.  Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-first
session a sub-item entitled "Special session for the purpose of an overall
review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21", and requests the
Secretary-General to submit to it at that session a progress report on the
state of preparations for the 1997 special session.
      

 

 



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