Issues
arising for UNEP from the resolutions of the
General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session–
The Millenium Assembly.
On 8 September 2000, the General Assembly
adopted the United Nations Millennium
Declaration resolution
55/2, by which over 150
heads of State and government declared their
commitment and political will to the United
Nations and its future priorities. Stressing
that the central challenge faced today is
to ensure that globalization becomes a positive
force for all the world’s people, the
Declaration outlines a series of fundamental
values considered essential to international
relations in the twenty-first century. One
of these values is “respect for nature”.
In this regard, the Declaration states that
prudence must be shown in the management of
all living species and natural resources,
in accordance with the precepts of sustainable
development, as “only in this way can
the immeasurable riches provided to us by
nature be preserved and passed on to our descendants”.
The Declaration further states that current
unsustainable patterns of production and consumption
must be changed “in the interest of
our future welfare and that of our descendants”.
In order to translate these shared values
into actions, the Declaration identifies key
objectives, one of which is “Protecting
our common environment”. It states that
“We must spare no effort to free all
of humanity, and above all our children and
grandchildren, from the threat of living on
a planet irredeemably spoilt by human activities,
and whose resources would no longer be sufficient
for their needs”. Reaffirming support
for the principles of sustainable development,
including those set out in Agenda 21, as agreed
upon at the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development, the heads of State and Government
resolved to adopt in all environmental actions
a new ethic of conservation and stewardship.
The first steps in this endeavour are: to
make every effort to ensure the entry into
force of the Kyoto Protocol, preferably by
the tenth anniversary of the Rio Conference
in 2002, and to embark on the required reduction
in emissions of greenhouse gases; to intensify
collective efforts for the management, conservation
and sustainable development of all types of
forests; to press for the full implementation
of the Convention on Biological Diversity
and the Convention to Combat Desertification
in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought
and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa;
to stop the unsustainable exploitation of
water resources by developing water management
strategies at the regional, national and local
levels which promote both equitable access
and adequate supplies; to intensify cooperation
to reduce the number and effects of natural
and man-made disasters; and to ensure free
access to information on the human genome
sequence.
Another key objective identified in the
Declaration is "meeting the special needs
of Africa". In this regard, the Declaration
underscores the need to take special measures
to address the challenges of poverty eradication
and sustainable development in Africa, including
debt cancellation, improved market access,
enhanced official development assistance and
increased flows of foreign direct investment,
as well as transfers of technology.
The Declaration also devotes a section to
the objective of “strengthening the
United Nations” in order to make it
a more effective instrument for pursuing priorities,
including “the fight for development
for all the peoples of the world, the fight
against poverty, ignorance and disease; the
fight against injustice; the fight against
violence, terror and crime; and the fight
against the degradation and destruction of
our common home”. Furthermore, the heads
of State and government resolved to encourage
regular consultations and coordination among
the principal organs of the United Nations
in pursuit of their functions; to ensure that
the Organization is provided on a timely and
predictable basis with the resources it needs
to carry out its mandates; and to give greater
opportunities to the private sector, non-governmental
organizations and civil society, in general,
to contribute to the realization of the Organization’s
goals and programmes.
Subsequently, the Assembly, in recognition
of the need to create a framework for the
implementation of the Declaration, adopted
resolution
55/162 on “Follow-up
to the outcome of the Millennium Summit”,
which called for an integrated, coordinated,
comprehensive and balanced approach in the
implementation of the Declaration, and for
the entire United Nations system to assist
Member States in every way possible to that
end. The Assembly decided to use existing
structures and mechanisms, upcoming events,
special sessions of the Assembly, as well
as related conferences and events, to the
maximum extent possible in the implementation
of the Declaration. It called on the whole
United Nations system to be involved in the
follow-up to the Summit, and invited specialized
agencies and related organizations to strengthen
and adjust activities, programmes and medium-term
strategies, as appropriate. It also requested
the United Nations to take action to meet
the special needs of Africa and to strengthen
the broad range of its engagement in Africa,
so as to intensify support for such objectives
as poverty eradication and sustainable development.
The Assembly requested the Secretary-General
to ensure system-wide coordination to assist
with the follow-up and invited him to identify,
within the framework of the Administrative
Committee on Coordination, innovative ways
of enhancing cooperation and coherence throughout
the United Nations system. In this context,
it requested him to prepare a long-term “road
map” towards the implementation of the
Declaration. It also requested him to prepare
a periodic report every five years and annual
reports to review progress towards implementing
the Declaration, reflecting the broad array
of specific goals and commitments, while allowing
each annual report to look in greater depth
at one or two areas covered in the Declaration,
with a focus on results and benchmarks achieved,
major gaps and strategies for reducing them,
cross-sectoral issues and cross-cutting themes.
The Assembly stressed that the reports should
draw on the work of the entire United Nations
system.
