Recalling its resolution 42/186 of 11 December 1987, by which it adopted the Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond as a broad framework to guide national action and international co-operation on policies and programmes aimed at achieving environmentally sound development,

Recalling also its resolution 42/187 of 11 December 1987, in which it welcomed the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development,

Bearing in mind that the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, convened in 1972 in accordance with Assembly resolution 2398 (XXIII) of 3 December 1968, recommended that the Assembly convene a second United Nations conference on the subject,

Believing it highly desirable that a United Nations conference on environment and development be convened no later than 1992,

Aware that serious environmental problems are arising in all countries and that these problems must be progressively addressed through preventive measures at their source,

Emphasizing the common goal of all countries to strengthen international co-operation for the promotion of growth and development worldwide and recognizing that, in view of the global character of major environmental problems, all countries have a common interest in pursuing policies aimed at achieving sustainable and environmentally sound development within a sound ecological balance,

Noting that the critical objectives for environment and development policies that follow from the need for sustainable and environmentally sound development must include creating a healthy, clean and safe environment, reviving growth and improving its quality, remedying the problems of poverty and the satisfaction of human needs through raising the standard of living and the quality of life, addressing the issues of population and of conserving and enhancing the resource base, reorienting technology and managing risk and merging environment and economics in decision-making,

Aware that a supportive international economic environment that would result in sustained economic growth and development in all countries, particularly in developing countries, is of major importance for sound management of the environment,

Stressing that it is important for all countries to take effective measures for the protection, restoration and enhancement of the environment in accordance, inter alia, with their respective capabilities, and, at the same time, acknowledging the efforts being made in all countries in this regard, including international co-operation between developed and developing countries,

Noting the fact that the largest part of the current emission of pollutants into the environment, including toxic and hazardous wastes, originates in developed countries, and therefore recognizing that those countries have the main responsibility for combating such pollution,

Reaffirming the need for additional financial resources from the international community effectively to support developing countries in identifying, analysing, monitoring, managing or preventing environmental problems in accordance with their national development plans, priorities and objectives,

Reaffirming also the need for developed countries and the appropriate organs and organizations of the United Nations system to strengthen technical co-operation with the developing countries to enable them to develop and strengthen their capacity for identifying, analysing, monitoring, managing or preventing environmental problems in accordance with their national development plans, priorities and objectives,

Recognizing the importance of international co-operation in the research and development of environmentally sound technology and recognizing the need for an international exchange of experience and knowledge as well as the promotion of the transfer of technology for the protection and enhancement of the environment, especially in developing countries, in accordance with national laws, regulations and policies,

Reaffirming the need for the international community to play a catalytic role in technical co-operation among developing countries in the field of the environment, and inviting the appropriate organs and organizations of the United Nations system to co-operate, at the request of the parties concerned, in the promotion and strengthening of such co-operation,

Aware that threats to the environment often have a transboundary impact and that their urgent nature requires strengthened international co-operative action, inter alia, by assessing and providing early warning to the world community on serious environmental threats within the framework of Earthwatch,

Taking note with appreciation of the progress report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 42/187,

Recalling that, in its resolution 42/187, the General Assembly invited Governments, in co-operation with the regional commissions and the United Nations Environment Programme and, as appropriate, intergovernmental organizations, to support and engage in follow-up activities, such as conferences, at the national, regional and global levels,

Noting the importance of exploring the best ways and means to promote sustainable and environmentally sound development in all countries, taking into account General Assembly resolutions 42/186 and 42/187,

Considering in this context that the conference could, inter alia:

(a) Review trends in policies and action taken by all countries and international organizations to protect and enhance the environment and to examine how environmental concerns have been incorporated in economic and social policies and planning since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972,

(b) Assess major environmental problems, risks and opportunities associated with economic activities in all countries,

(c) Make recommendations for further strengthened international co-operative action within a set of priorities to be established by the conference, define the research and development effort required to implement such recommendations, and indicate financial requirements for their implementation, together with a definition of possible sources for such financing,

1. Decides to consider at its forty-fourth session the question of the convening of a United Nations conference on the subject of the present resolution no later than 1992, with a view to taking an appropriate decision at that session on the exact scope, title, venue and date of such a conference and on the modalities and financial implications of holding the conference;

2. Requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, urgently to obtain the views of Governments on:

(a) The objectives, content, title and scope of the conference;

(b) Appropriate ways of preparing for the conference;

(c) A suitable time and place and other modalities for the conference;

and to submit those views to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, and to make them available to the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme at its fifteenth session;

3. Also requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Executive Director, to obtain the views of appropriate organs, organizations and programmes of the United Nations system and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations on the objectives, content and scope of the conference, and to submit those views to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, and to make them available to the Governing Council at its fifteenth session;

4. Further requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of the Executive Director, to prepare a statement of the financial implications of preparing and convening the conference, and to submit that statement to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, and to make it available to the Governing Council at its fifteenth session;

5. Invites the Governing Council to consider the documents referred to in paragraphs 2 to 4 above and, on the basis of that consideration, to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, its views on the matters referred to in the present resolution, in particular its views on the objectives, content and scope of the conference.

83rd plenary meeting
20 December 1988