Recalling its resolution 45/211 of 21 December 1990, on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,

Having considered the reports of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development on its second and third sessions, held at Geneva from 18 March to 5 April and from 12 August to 4 September 1991, respectively,

1.Reaffirms its resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989, on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and calls for its full implementation;

2.Reiterates the fundamental interrelationship between environment and development, stresses the need to integrate fully and keep the balance between the developmental and environmental dimensions during the entire preparatory process and during the Conference, and further stresses the importance of the need for cross-sectoral issues to be fully integrated into that work;

3.Decides that the fourth session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development should be held in New York from 2 March to 3 April 1992;

4.Stresses the importance of the regional meetings held within the framework of preparations for the Conference, and, in this regard, calls upon the Preparatory Committee at its fourth session to continue to give due attention to the recommendations of all regional meetings, including those held recently;

5.Urges once again that representation at the Conference be at the level of head of State or Government;

6.Takes note of the reports of the Preparatory Committee on its second and third sessions and endorses the decisions contained therein;

7.Endorses section B of Preparatory Committee decision 3/11 of 4 September 1991, in which the Preparatory Committee recommended to the General Assembly that pre-session consultations on the Conference be held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 29 and 30 May 1992, and section C of that decision, on participation in the Conference;

8.Also endorses Preparatory Committee decision 3/12 of 4 September 1991, on participation in the Conference, stresses the importance of the participation of developing countries in the preparatory process and in the Conference, and requests the Preparatory Committee at its fourth session to review relevant parts of the annex to section E of its decision 3/11, with a view to ensuring adequate and full participation of developing countries in the Conference and in its subsidiary bodies;

9.Requests the Secretary-General to invite the following to the Conference:

1. All States Members of the United Nations or members of the specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency;

2. Representatives of organizations that have received a standing invitation from the General Assembly to participate, in the capacity of observers, in the sessions and work of all international conferences convened under its auspices; such representatives would participate in the Conference in that capacity, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 3237 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974 and 43/177 of 15 December 1988;

3. Representatives of the national liberation movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity in its region; such representatives would participate in the Conference in the capacity of observers, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 3280 (XXIX) of 10 December 1974;

4. All executive heads of specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency, as well as other organs, organizations and programmes of the United Nations system;

5. All intergovernmental organizations that have been invited to participate in the work of the Preparatory Committee;

6. All non-governmental organizations accredited to participate in the work of the Preparatory Committee by the conclusion of its fourth session; those organizations should receive invitations to participate as observers at the Conference;

10.Expresses its appreciation to the Governments and others that have contributed to the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development for the preparatory process;

11.Decides to extend the validity and use of the Voluntary Fund established by its resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989 in order to assist developing countries in participating fully and effectively in the Conference, requests the Secretary-General to mobilize the necessary resources to ensure the full participation of developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, in the Conference and its subsidiary organs, and urges Governments to contribute urgently and generously to the Voluntary Fund in order to achieve that goal;

12.Also decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-seventh session an item entitled "Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development", and, in this regard, requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session the report on the Conference.

78th plenary meeting
19 December 1991