Assembly requested the Secretary-General to include in the report on the
effective mobilization and integration of women in development, to be submitted
to the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session, a section on the role of
women in environment and sustainable development,
Recalling Commission on the Status of Women resolution 36/6 of
20 March 1992, in which the Commission, inter alia, urged Governments to adopt
laws, policies and programmes to promote women’s participation in the
preservation of the environment, and invited the Governments of donor countries,
international organizations and relevant non-governmental organizations to
ensure that greater attention was given to women’s contributions to
environmental protection and management in their cooperation with and assistance
to developing countries, 25/
Welcoming General Assembly resolution 47/191 of 22 December 1992, in which
the Assembly took note of the decision of the Secretary-General to establish a
new Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, headed at
the Under-Secretary-General level and called upon the Secretary-General to
establish a clearly identifiable, highly qualified and competent secretariat
support structure for the Commission on Sustainable Development, the
Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development and the High-level Advisory
Board, taking into account gender balance at all levels,
Welcoming the inclusion of principle 20 in the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development, adopted by the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, 26/ according to which women have a vital role
in environmental management and development and their full participation is
therefore essential to achieving sustainable development, and the integration of
gender issues into Agenda 21, 27/ including the special focus on women in
chapter 24 of Agenda 21,
Noting that in Agenda 21, paragraph 24.9, it is recommended that the
Secretary-General review the adequacy of all United Nations institutions in
meeting development and environment objectives, consider how the environment and
development programmes of each body of the United Nations system could be
strengthened to implement Agenda 21, consider how to incorporate the role of
women in programmes and decisions related to sustainable development, and, in
particular, make recommendations to strengthen the capacities of United Nations
entities with a special focus on women, such as the Division for the Advancement
of Women of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs of the
Secretariat, the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the International
Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women,
Noting also the recommendations and objectives proposed for Governments in
Agenda 21, chapter 24, including the objective, contained in paragraph 24.2 (d),
to establish by 1995 mechanisms at the national, regional and international
levels to assess the implementation and impact of development and environment
policies and programmes on women and to ensure their contributions and benefits,
25/ Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1992, Supplement
No. 4 (E/1992/24), chap. I, sect. C.
26/ See Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the
Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8), resolution 1,
annex I.
27/
Ibid., resolution 1, annex II.
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