Joint Assembly of the Convention concluded between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) - Resolutions adopted on the special session of the United Nations General Assembly in June 1997 to review AGENDA 21 (ACP-EU/2110/97/fin.)

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Brussels from 17 to 20 March 1997,

- having regard to the resolutions of the Joint Assembly on the results of the Rio Conference of 1 October 1992 in relation to the environment and development as well as desertification,

- having regard to its resolution on all small island States of the ACP - climatic change and the environment, adopted in Luxembourg on 26 September 1996,

A. bearing in mind the Commission Communication on a common platform: guidelines for the European Union's preparation for the special session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in June 1997 to review the AGENDA 21 and the connected results of the United Nations Conference on the environment and development (Rio 1992),

B. whereas AGENDA 21 has been only incompletely implemented even in the EU and ACP States,

C. whereas industrialized countries and developing countries have different priorities, which already found expression at the 1992 Rio Conference, i.e. environmental protection on the one hand and economic and social development on the other,

D. whereas spending by industrialized countries on financial cooperation with the countries of the South reached an historic low-point in 1995, fell by 14 % in real terms between 1992 and 1995 and still shows no sign of an upturn,

1. Welcomes the holding of the special session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in June 1997 to review AGENDA 21 (UNGASS);

2. Calls on the heads of State and government of the EU and ACP States to take part in the UNGASS to ensure the necessary public awareness of the issue of the environment and development;

3. Hopes that the ACP and EU governments cooperate as extensively as possible in the context of the UNGASS, represent common positions and try to ensure that the Rio follow-up process is substantively and organizationally coordinated with other activities in the UN context;

4. Calls on the Commission and the governments of the European Union States and the ACP group to immediately develop and consistently implement programmes to promote sustained development;

5. Notes that the industrialized countries have still not fulfilled the obligations handed down in Rio as to financial support for developing countries and calls on the European Union to meet those obligations and to exert pressure on the other industrialized countries to likewise improve their financial support;

6. Urges the participants in the UNGASS to agree on a further review of the implementation of AGENDA 21 in five years in order to maintain the present dynamism;

7. Stresses the importance of the regional and local levels for the implementation of AGENDA 21 and calls for non-governmental organizations and other groups in civil society to be extensively involved in the Rio follow-up process;

8. Recognizes the greater inclusion in principle of environmental aspects in development cooperation, which also finds expression in Lomé IV, but regrets that it often does not go beyond declarations and lip-service, and calls for enhanced implementation of environmental elements and projects;

9. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the Commission, the ACP-EU Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the special session of the United Nations in June 1997 in New York to review AGENDA 21, the governments of the signatory States of the Lomé Convention.