United Nations General Assembly A/RES/59/226 Distr.: General 14 February 2005 Fifty-ninth session Agenda item 85 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 22 December 2004 [on the report of the Second Committee (A/59/483)] 59/226. Report of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme on its eighth special session The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 2997 (XXVII) of 15 December 1972, 53/242 of 28 July 1999, 56/193 of 21 December 2001, 57/251 of 20 December 2002 and 58/209 of 23 December 2003, Taking into account Agenda 21 1 and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation”), 2 Reaffirming the role of the United Nations Environment Programme as the principal body within the United Nations system in the field of environment, which should take into account, within its mandate, the sustainable development needs of developing countries as well as countries with economies in transition, Recalling the provisions of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation 3 on the full implementation of the outcomes of the decision on international environmental governance adopted by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme at its seventh special session, 4 Reiterating the need to ensure that capacity-building and technology support to developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition, in environment-related fields, remain important components of the work of the United Nations Environment Programme, and noting in this regard the ongoing work of the High-level Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group to prepare an intergovernmental strategic plan for technology support and capacity-building, Recalling its resolutions 57/251 and 58/209, by which Member States, the Governing Council and the relevant bodies of the United Nations system were _______________ 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 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. 3 Ibid., para. 140 (d). 4 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/57/25), annex I, decision SS.VII/1. 04-48982