United Nations General Assembly Resolution 51-189 on the Institutional arrangements for the implementation of Global Programme of Action for the Protection of Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, New  York, 1996

Done at New York 16 December 1996

Primary source citation: Copy of text provided by the United Nations

Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

 

General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

21 February 1997

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

 
Fifty-first session
Agenda item 12


                  RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

              [on the report of the Second Committee (A/51/601)]


            51/189.     Institutional arrangements for the
                        implementation of the Global Programme
                        of Action for the Protection of the
                        Marine Environment from Land-based
                        Activities

      The General Assembly,

      Recalling the relevant provisions of Agenda 21, 1/ in
particular chapters 17, 33, 34, 38 and other related chapters, and the
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 2/

      Recalling also its resolution 50/110 of 20 December 1995 on the
report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment
Programme, in which it endorsed, inter alia, Governing Council
decision 18/31 on the protection of the marine environment from land-
based activities,

      Noting the successful conclusion of the Intergovernmental
Conference to Adopt a Global Programme of Action for the Protection of
the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, which was held in
Washington, D.C., from 23 October to 3 November 1995,

      Having considered the Washington Declaration on Protection of the
Marine Environment from Land-based Activities 3/ and the Global
Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from
Land-based Activities, 4/ as well as the proposal of the United
Nations Environment Programme on institutional arrangements and
implementation of the Global Programme of Action and relevant
recommendations of the Commission on Sustainable Development,

      1.    Endorses the Washington Declaration on Protection of the
Marine Environment from Land-based Activities and the Global Programme
of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based
Activities;

      2.    Stresses the need for States to take the necessary measures
for the implementation of the Global Programme of Action at the
national and, as appropriate, the regional and international levels;

      3.    Also stresses the need for States to take action for the
formal endorsement by each competent international organization of
those parts of the Global Programme of Action that are relevant to
their mandates and to accord appropriate priority to the
implementation of the Global Programme of Action in the work programme
of each organization;

      4.    Further stresses the need for States to take such action at
the next meetings of the governing bodies of the United Nations
Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Health
Organization, the International Maritime Organization, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Labour
Organization and the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization and in the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
and the relevant bodies of the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank, as well as in other competent international and regional
organizations within and outside the United Nations system;

      5.    Further stresses the need for international cooperation, as
outlined in sections IV.A and B of the Global Programme of Action, in
capacity-building, technology transfer and cooperation, and the
mobilization of financial resources, including support, in particular
for developing countries, especially the least developed countries,
countries with economies in transition and small island developing
States, and to this end calls upon bilateral donors and international,
regional and subregional financial institutions and mechanisms,
including the Global Environment Facility, and other competent
development and financial institutions:

      (a)   To ensure that their programmes give appropriate priority
for country-driven projects aimed at the implementation of the Global
Programme of Action;

      (b)   To assist with capacity-building in the preparation and
implementation of national programmes and in identifying ways and
means of funding them;

      (c)   To improve their coordination so as to enhance the delivery
of financial and other support;

      6.    Invites non-governmental organizations and major groups to
initiate and strengthen their actions to facilitate and support the
effective implementation of the Global Programme of Action;

      7.    Requests the Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme to prepare, for the consideration of the
Governing Council at its nineteenth session, specific proposals on:

      (a)   The role of the United Nations Environment Programme in the
implementation of the Global Programme of Action, including the
relevant role of its Regional Seas Programme and Freshwater Unit;

      (b)   Arrangements for secretariat support to the Global Programme
of Action;

      (c)   Modalities for periodic intergovernmental review of progress
in implementing the Global Programme of Action;

      8.    Calls upon the United Nations Environment Programme, within
its available resources, and with the aid of voluntary contributions
from States for this purpose, to take expeditious action to provide
for the establishment and implementation of the clearing-house
mechanism referred to in the Global Programme of Action, and requests
the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme to
prepare and submit to the Governing Council at its nineteenth session
specific proposals on, inter alia:

      (a)   The establishment of an inter-organizational group to
develop the basic design and structure of the clearing-house data
directory and its linkages to information delivery mechanisms;

      (b)   The means of linking the inter-organizational group to
ongoing work within the United Nations system on the identification of
and access to relevant databases and the comparability of data;

      (c)   The outline of a pilot project on the development of the
clearing-house's source category component on sewage, to be
implemented in partnership with the World Health Organization;

      9.    Calls upon States, in relation to the clearing-house
mechanism, to take action in the governing bodies of relevant
intergovernmental organizations and programmes so as to ensure that
those organizations and programmes take the lead in coordinating the
development of the clearing-house mechanism with respect to the
following source categories, which are listed in conjunction with the
relevant organization(s) or programme(s) but not in order of priority:

      (a)   Sewage - the World Health Organization;

      (b)   Persistent organic pollutants - the Inter-organization
Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals, the International
Programme on Chemical Safety and the Intergovernmental Forum on
Chemical Safety;

      (c)   Heavy metals - the United Nations Environment Programme in
cooperation with the Inter-organization Programme for the Sound
Management of Chemicals;

      (d)   Radioactive substances - the International Atomic Energy
Agency;

      (e)   Nutrients and sediment mobilization - the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations;

      (f)   Oils (hydrocarbons) and litter - the International Maritime
Organization;

      (g)   Physical alterations, including habitat modification and
destruction of areas of concern - the United Nations Environment
Programme;

      10.   Decides to determine, at its special session to be held in
June 1997 in accordance with its resolution 50/113 of 20 December
1995, specific arrangements for integrating the outcomes of periodic
intergovernmental reviews, as envisaged in paragraph 7 (c) above, in
the future work of the Commission on Sustainable Development related
to the monitoring of the implementation of and follow-up to Agenda 21,
in particular chapter 17.

                                                          86th plenary meeting
                                                              16 December 1996


                                     Notes

1/    Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992 (A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol.
I and Vol. I/Corr.1, Vol. II, Vol. III and Vol. III/Corr.1)) (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I:
Resolutions Adopted by the Conference,  resolution 1, annex II.

2/    Ibid., annex I.

3/    A/51/116, annex I, appendix II.

4/    Ibid., annex II.