Statement
of the executive director
Mr. Chairman, distinguished
delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
At the outset, I would like
to convey the regrets of UNEP's Executive
Director that, due to a conflict in his schedule,
he could not personally deliver this statement
to you today.
Mr. Chairman, you have before
you the report of the twentieth session of
the UNEP Governing Council that marked another
milestone in the revitalization of the organization.
Over the last year, having been provided with
a clearly defined and strengthened role and
mandate as well as a strong spirit of rejuvenation,
UNEP has moved to effectively implement its
new vision and programme of work. It has worked
to build on its traditional strengths and
solidify the institutional and operational
modalities needed to position the organization
to meet the evolving challenges and expectations
of the new millennium. The progress and results
that UNEP has attained over the last year
have been fueled by the strong expressions
of moral, financial and practical support
by member governments, as reflected in the
successful outcome of twentieth session of
UNEP's Governing Council. This has been given
enhanced impetus by the results of deliberations
by the Governing Council and the UN General
Assembly, of the recommendations contained
in the report of the Secretary General on
Environment and Human Settlements (A/53/465).
The resulting decisions have significantly
contributed to the continuing reform exercise
within UNEP, and have served to further equip
the organization to fulfil its mandate, building
on its key areas of competence.....
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Issues
arising for UNEP from the resolutions of the
General Assembly at its fifty-forth session.
Resolutions
of major significance to UNEP
Three resolutions were adopted based on
documentation submitted by UNEP, namely, 54/216
entitled “Report of the Governing
Council of the United Nations Environment
Programme”, 54/217
entitled “Enhancing complementarities
among international instruments related to
environment and sustainable development”
and 54/45
entitled “Question of Antarctica”.
Resolution
54/216 continued the
trend established at the fifty-third session
of the Assembly to adopt substantive resolutions
related to the report
of the UNEP Governing Council,
and should also be seen in the context of
supporting the revitalization of the Programme.
Of particular significance are paragraph 3,
related to environmental conventions, and
paragraph 4, in which the Assembly encouraged
the Governing Council, in particular, to contribute
to the preparation of the 10-year review of
the outcome of the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development in 2002. In
addition, the resolution called on all countries
to ensure the provision of sufficient, stable
and predictable financial resources for the
successful implementation of the work programme
for the biennium 2000-2001 and requested the
Secretary-General to provide the necessary
resources from the regular United Nations
budget to UNEP for the biennium. The Assembly
also encouraged UNEP’s supporting role
in developing countries, particularly in Africa,
through the development of policy support
and capacity-building for international environmental
negotiation, through such steps as the revitalization
of the African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment. Furthermore, the Assembly supported
the proposals made by UNEP and others for
enhancing linkages and coordination within
and among environmental and environment-related
conventions.
Resolution
54/217 on “Enhancing
complementarities among international instruments
related to environment and sustainable development”
was adopted in response to the
report of the Secretary-General on international
institutional arrangements related to environment
and development, prepared by
UNEP, with input from the secretariats of
the Convention on Biological Diversity, the
Climate Change Convention and the Convention
to Combat Desertification. It considerably
enhanced the recognition of UNEP’s role
in the coordination of and support for the
development of coherent interlinkages among
environmental conventions and provided a clear
rationale for UNEP’s institutional role
in this area, as well as a role for the Environmental
Management Group. It took note with appreciation
of the report of the Secretary-General, and
also noted Governing
Council decision 20/28 on interlinkages
among global environmental issues and human
needs.The Assembly encouraged the conferences
of the parties to, and the permanent secretariats
of, the Climate Change Convention, the Convention
on Biological Diversity and the Convention
to Combat Desertification to examine further
opportunities and measures to strengthen their
complementarities and to improve scientific
assessments of ecological linkages among the
three conventions. The Assembly also stressed
the need for the integrated consideration
of linkages, both among sectors and between
sectoral and cross-sectoral aspects of Agenda
21. It emphasized the importance of facilitating
and supporting the enhancement of linkages
and coordination within and among environment-related
conventions, including by UNEP, and in this
regard supported the establishment of the
Environmental Management Group for the purpose
of enhancing inter-agency coordination, as
stipulated in resolution
53/242.
The Assembly also encouraged the secretariats
of the various environmental and environment-related
conventions and international organizations,
with full respect for the status of the secretariats
of the conventions and the autonomous decision-making
prerogatives of the conferences of the parties
to the conventions concerned, to strengthen
cooperation in the implementation of those
conventions by: (a) identifying opportunities
for complementarity of activities undertaken
to facilitate the implementation of commitments
made by the parties to the various conventions;
(b) encouraging further scientific analyses
by relevant international organizations, such
as UNEP, the secretariats of the conventions,
their subsidiary bodies, the United Nations
Secretariat and relevant international scientific
bodies, to identify possible activities with
potential multiple benefits and to bring them
to the attention of conferences of the parties;
(c) promoting more effective and coherent
support from international organizations and
financial institutions and mechanisms for
national action aimed at the implementation
of the conventions, particularly in the area
of capacity-building; (d) addressing practical
issues, such as more effective information
exchange, enhanced awareness-raising and streamlining
of national reporting; (e) supporting, upon
request, efforts being made at the national
level towards adopting an integrated and holistic
approach to the implementation of environmental
and environment-related conventions; and (f)
bringing relevant issues to the attention
of the Assembly and relevant intergovernmental
bodies for consideration of Member States
and formulation of agreed policy recommendations
to promote a more holistic approach. The resolution
further requested the Secretary-General, in
consultation with the Executive Director of
UNEP and the executive secretaries of the
conventions, to prepare a report on the implementation
of such resolution to the fifty-fifth session
of the Assembly.
