AG/RES. 1357 (XXV-O/95)

INTER-AMERICAN PROGRAM OF ACTION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

(Resolution adopted at the ninth plenary session, held on June 9, 1995)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the Report of the Permanent Council on the Inter-AmericanProgram of Action for Environmental Protection (AG/doc.3224/95);

CONSIDERING:

That environmental conservation and the prudent use of natural resources call for a new and more effective partnership among states at the subregional, regional, and global levels;

That the Organization of American States is determined to strengthen cooperation among member states as a means of achieving sustainable development in the region;

That the General Assembly adopted the Inter-American Program of Action for Environmental Protection [AG/RES. 1114 (XXI-O/91)] and has noted with satisfaction the Permanent Council's efforts to carry out the regional measures established in that Program of Action [AG/RES. 1183 (XXII-O/92), AG/RES. 1241 (XXIII-O/93), and AG/RES. 1286 (XXIV-O/94)];

That, at its twentieth special session, the General Assembly adopted the General Policy Framework and Priorities: Partnership for Development [AG/RES. 1 (XX-E/94)] as well as the Commitment on a Partnership for Development and Struggle to Overcome Extreme Poverty [AG/DEC. 1 (XX-E/94)];

That the General Assembly, in resolution AG/RES. 1241 (XXIII-O/93), requested the Permanent Council to study and decide upon the advisability of updating the 1940 Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere or adopting a new convention; and

That the OAS member states have signed, and 24 of them have ratified, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), thus making it a privileged international instrument for cooperation in this field, which is so sensitive for the sustainable development of our region; and

BEARING IN MIND that the Government of Bolivia has promoted the holding of a Summit Conference on Sustainable Development to discuss the progress made in executing the national and international activities described in the Plan of Action agreed upon by the heads of state and government at the Summit of the Americas,

RESOLVES

  1. To thank the Permanent Council for presenting its report on the Inter-American Program of Action for Environmental Protection (AG/doc.3224/95) and the recommendations set forth therein.

  2. To note with satisfaction the Permanent Council's efforts to implement the measures specified in the Inter-American Program of Action for Environmental Protection.

  3. To note the conclusion reached by the Permanent Council to the effect that it would be neither necessary nor expedient to update the text of the 1940 Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere, or to adopt a new convention, on the premise that existing international and regional juridical instruments?in particular, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity?would suffice to ensure progress toward the common goal of conserving and making rational use of our Hemisphere's biological resources.

  4. To recommend that the Permanent Council consider the usefulness of the 1940 Convention as an instrument for inter-American cooperation within the broadest possible context of efforts to evaluate and update the Inter-American Program of Action for Environmental Protection.

  5. To instruct the Permanent Council, through its Committee on the Environment, to hold a seminar on "Public Participation in Decision-making for Sustainable Development" and to consider its agenda and working guidelines, prior to the twenty-sixth regular session of the General Assembly.

  6. To ask the organs, agencies, and entities of the Organization to report periodically to the Committee on the Environment on their activities in this area

  7. To instruct the Permanent Council to determine the most appropriate way to assist in preparations for and the holding of the Summit Conference on Sustainable Development.

  8. To ask the Permanent Council to present to the General Assembly at its twenty-sixth regular session its observations and recommendations on the work carried out by the OAS in the area of the environment with a view to achieving sustainable development in the Hemisphere.

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