26 July 1991

32nd plenary meeting

International Conference on Water and the Environment

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989 on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, to be convened in 1992,

Recalling also the Mar del Plata Action Plan, adopted by the United Nations Water Conference, held at Mar del Plata, Argentina, in March 1977,

Noting with appreciation that the World Meteorological Organization, on behalf of the organizations of the United Nations system with programmes in fresh water that are represented in the Intersecretariat Group for Water Resources of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, will convene, at the government expert level, an International Conference on Water and the Environment in January 1992, as part of the preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and also noting with appreciation the kind offer of the Government of Ireland to act as host for the International Conference on Water and the Environment, hereinafter called the Dublin Conference,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 45/181 of 21 December 1990 on the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade and, in that connection, stressing the relevance for the Dublin Conference of the New Delhi Statement, adopted at the Global Consultation on Safe Water and Sanitation for the 1990s, which was held in New Delhi from 10 to 14 September 1990,

Welcoming the comprehensive documentation on integrated water resources development submitted to the Committee on Natural Resources at its twelfth session,

1. Stresses the need for an action-oriented outcome of the Dublin Conference in order to enable it to make a significant contribution to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development;

2. Recommends that in the preparations for the Dublin Conference efforts be made to prepare initiatives for integrated water resources development and management, containing, where feasible, targets, timetables and cost-estimates in the form of international action programmes and possible guidelines to enable Governments to formulate their national action plans;

3. Affirms the vital importance of water as a finite and fragile resource, as well as of the effective development and management of water at appropriate administrative levels;

4. Calls upon the governing bodies and secretariats of appropriate organizations of the United Nations system to submit, within their respective mandates and in close collaboration with Governments and the secretariats of the Dublin Conference and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, substantive contributions to the Dublin Conference;

5. Invites all Governments to engage actively in the preparatory process leading up to the Dublin Conference and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and to contribute to that process;

6. Calls upon the inter-agency steering committee established by the Intersecretariat Group for Water Resources of the Administrative Committee on Coordination for the purpose of preparing for the Dublin Conference to take fully into account the views expressed by Governments throughout the preparatory process when preparing the documentation for the Dublin Conference;

7. Invites the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, as the convener of the Dublin Conference, and on behalf of the participating United Nations agencies, to report to the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development at its third session on the status of the preparations for the Dublin Conference.