United Nations
General Assembly
A/RES/59/228
Distr.: General
16 February 2005
Fifty-ninth session
Agenda item 85 (a)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2004
[on the report of the Second Committee (A/59/483/Add.1)]
59/228. Activities undertaken during the International Year of
Freshwater, 2003, preparations for the International
Decade for Action, “Water for Life”, 2005–2015, and
further efforts to achieve the sustainable development
of water resources
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 55/196 of 20 December 2000, by which it proclaimed
2003 the International Year of Freshwater, and its resolution 58/217 of 23 December
2003, by which it proclaimed that the International Decade for Action, “Water for
Life”, 2005–2015, would commence on World Water Day, 22 March 2005,
Emphasizing that water is critical for sustainable development, including
environmental integrity and the eradication of poverty and hunger, and is
indispensable for human health and well-being,
Recalling the provisions of Agenda 21, 1 the Programme for the Further
Implementation of Agenda 21 adopted at its nineteenth special session, 2 the Plan of
Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation”) 3 and the decisions of the Economic and Social Council
and of the Commission on Sustainable Development at its sixth session 4 relating to
freshwater,
Reaffirming the internationally agreed development goals on water and
sanitation, including those contained in the United Nations Millennium
Declaration, 5 and determined to achieve the goal to halve, by 2015, the proportion
of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water, and the goals set
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1
Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June
1992 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I: Resolutions adopted by the
Conference, resolution 1, annex II.
2
Resolution S-19/2, annex.
3
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
2, annex.
4
See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1998, Supplement No. 9 (E/1998/29).
5
See resolution 55/2.
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