United Nations General Assembly A/RES/58/242 Distr.: General 11 March 2004 Fifty-eighth session Agenda item 94 (b) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 23 December 2003 [on the report of the Second Committee (A/58/484/Add.2)] 58/242. Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 56/196 of 21 December 2001 and 57/259 of 20 December 2002 and other resolutions relating to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, 1 Recognizing the strong commitment of the international community, demonstrated at the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2 and the Second Assembly of the Global Environment Facility, to make the Facility available as a financial mechanism of the Convention, pursuant to article 21 of the Convention, Recognizing also the role of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, as the highest decision-making body, in providing guidance on matters regarding the implementation of the Convention and in encouraging financial mechanisms to seek to maximize the availability of resources for affected developing countries, while respecting the respective mandates of the mechanisms, Reaffirming that the Convention is an important tool for poverty eradication, particularly in Africa, and recognizing the importance of the implementation of the Convention for meeting the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 3 Reaffirming also the universal membership of the Convention, and acknowledging that desertification and drought are problems of a global dimension, in that they affect all regions of the world, _______________ 1 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1954, No. 33480. Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August-4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 1, annex, and resolution 2, annex. 3 See resolution 55/2. 2 03 50904