CM/Dec.336 (LXVI)
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE PAN-AFRICAN CONFERENCE AN ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, OUAGADOUGOU, MARCH 1997 - (DOC. CM/2015(LXVI)
Council:
TAKES NOTE of the Report;
REQUESTS the Secretary-General to pursue the activities aimed at preparing Africa towards the holding of:
The 19th Extraordinary Session of the UN General Assembly slated for 23 - 27 June, 1997 in New York devoted to the global assessment of the results of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference on Environment and Development;
the First Conference of States Parties to the Convention on Desertification to be held in Rome from 29 September to 10 October 1997, and
URGES all Member States to participate fully and effectively in the two meetings;
APPEALS to the African Member States which have not yet done so to finalize the ratification of the Convention an desertification control within the stipulated deadline to enable them to participate fully in the first conference of parties to the Convention slated for Rome from 29 September to 10 October, 1997;
REQUESTS ALSO the Secretary-General, pursuant to Decision CM/Dec.324 (LXV) adopted in Tripoli in February 1997, to cooperate with UNEP and ECA and the other interested parties to lend their support to Member States towards the process of drawing up the Regional Programme for Africa and the establishment of the Fund to finance the implementation of this Regional Programme;
REQUESTS FURTHER the Secretary-General to start initiatives aimed at establishing a line of cooperation between the OAU Special Emergency Assistance Fund for Drought and Famine in Africa and the funding mechanism for the implementation of the Convention on Desertification;
CALLS ON Member States to adopt a Common Position prior to the Mid-term Review of Agenda 21 scheduled for 23 - 27 June, 1997 in New York;
CALLS ON OAU, UNEP Regional Office for Africa, ECA and other interested parties to support the African Group in preparing a comprehensive report in the form of aide-memoire for
following up the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Africa as contained in Agenda 21 adopted in Rio de Janeiro;
REITERATES ITS SUPPORT for UNEP as the appropriate Forum to deal, fully with all environmental issues in Africa and worldwide and CALLS for adequate resources to be made available to UNEP to enable it to play its coordinating and analytic role in accordance with its mandate, enshrined in the Nairobi Declaration adopted in February 1997 by the Nineteenth Session of UNEP Governing Council on the role and mandate of UNEP and the SUPPORT given by the Ministers of Non-Aligned countries in New Delhi, April 1997.