Forty-ninth session
Agenda item 88 (b)
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming the importance and continued validity of the Declaration
on International Economic Cooperation, in particular the Revitalization
of Economic Growth and Development of the Developing Countries,
Resolution S-18/3, annex. the International Development Strategy
for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade, Resolution 45/199,
annex. the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa
in the 1990s, Resolution 46/151, annex, sect. II. the Programme
of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, Report
of the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed
Countries, Paris, 3-14 September 1990 (A/CONF.147/18), part one.
the Cartagena Commitment, See Proceedings of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development, Eighth Session, Report and
Annexes (TD/364/Rev.1) (United Nations publication, Sales No.
E.93.II.D.5), part one, sect. A. Agenda 21, Report of the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro,
3-14 June 1992 (A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. I and Vol. I/Corr.1,
Vol. II, Vol. III and Vol. III/Corr.1)) (United Nations publication,
Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I: Resolutions adopted
by the Conference, resolution 1, annex II. and the various consensus
agreements and conventions that were adopted in the context of
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
Reaffirming also its resolutions 45/207 of 21 December
1990, 47/149 of 18 December 1992 and 47/193 of 22 December 1992,
Recognizing that freshwater resources are a scarce commodity
in a growing number of countries and that there is a need to increase
food production in developing countries, in part through the improved
use of irrigation and water-resource management suitable for agricultural
production, and stressing in this context the need to give special
attention to the issues agreed upon by the Commission on Sustainable
Development, in particular those in paragraph 139 of the report
of the Commission on its second session, E/1994/33.
Recognizing also the importance of rehabilitating and upgrading
present projects and conserving scarce water and land resources
by the improved use of irrigation and water-resource management
for agricultural production,
Stressing the importance of the full implementation of
the decisions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, and,
in particular, recognizing the importance of the work undertaken
by the Commission in the area of freshwater resources,
Stressing with concern that hunger and malnutrition have
been increasing in many countries, particularly in Africa,
Reaffirming its commitment to helping to improve the living
conditions of rural women, recognizing their critical role as
farmers and food producers,
Stressing the need to provide the organizations and bodies
of the United Nations system that operate in the areas of food
and agriculture with adequate resources to implement their mandates,
Recognizing the importance of stimulating food production
and productivity in developing countries through appropriate policies,
taking fully into account Agenda 21, in particular its chapter
14, and of ensuring a sustainable economic environment, including
a more open trading system, for the development of a viable agricultural
sector and improved food security,
1. Takes note with interest of the report of the Secretary-General
on food production, including agro-industrial products, international
markets for agricultural and tropical products and global food
security; A/49/438.
2. Notes with concern that, in the face of the enormous
challenges in the area of agricultural development and food security,
the overall resource allocation for the development of food and
agriculture in developing countries has continued to decline;
3. Urges the international community to place food and
agricultural development high on the development agenda and to
mobilize resources at the national, bilateral and multilateral
levels in support of sustainable productive agriculture and food
security in developing countries;
4. Affirms that increasing food production and improving
access to food by low-income people in developing countries will
contribute to the alleviation of poverty and the elimination of
malnutrition and help to raise their standard of living;
5. Notes that the agreements reached in the context of
the Final Act of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations
See Legal Instruments Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round
of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, done at Marrakesh on 15 April
1994 (GATT secretariat publication, Sales No. GATT/1994-7), vol.
1. have established a basis for initiating a process of reform
of trade in agriculture and will have an important impact on the
development of food production, agro- industrial products and
international markets for agricultural and tropical products and
on global food security;
6. Urges all countries, particularly developed countries,
to strengthen their efforts to create a more favourable international
economic environment, in particular a more open agricultural trading
system which will stimulate food production and productivity in
developing countries, and in this context stresses the importance
of the urgent and full implementation of the agreements contained
in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round;
7. Notes with satisfaction the individual and collaborative
efforts of the food and agricultural bodies based in Rome, namely,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the
International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World
Food Programme, calls upon these organizations to strengthen their
collaboration in the area of food and agriculture, including with
the United Nations Development Programme, and welcomes the programmes
of these organizations directed to food production for food security
in low-income food-deficit countries, including the initiation
of two special programmes of the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations;
8. Attaches special importance to the assistance from the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to developing
countries on policy transformation and technical assistance in
the light of the Final Act of the Uruguay Round and in the context
of the Uruguay Round decision on measures concerning the possible
negative effects of the reform programme on least developed and
net food-importing developing countries;
9. Urges the international community to give special attention
to the promotion and revitalization of economic growth and sustainable
development in developing countries through, inter alia, a more
diversified food and agricultural sector, focusing in particular
on agro-industrial activities in developing countries;
10. Invites the organizations and bodies of the United
Nations system and the multilateral financial institutions working
in the field of food and agriculture to support developing country
efforts in the development of small and medium-sized agro-industries
and cooperatives and in the improvement of processing, transportation,
distribution and marketing modalities of their food and other
agricultural products;
11. Welcomes the successful conclusion of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing
Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa
A/49/84/Add.2, annex, appendix II. and hopes that the Convention
will attract the support of the international community towards
solving the important problem confronting, in particular, Africa
in that area, and in that regard supports the contribution made
by, inter alia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development
to deal with the problem of land degradation in Africa and invites
those organizations to consider extending their programmes to
other affected regions;
12. Urges relevant organizations and bodies of the United
Nations system, the multilateral financial institutions and non-governmental
organizations to strengthen their efforts towards a comprehensive
assessment of freshwater resources, with the aim of identifying
the availability of such resources, making projections of future
needs and identifying problems to be considered by the General
Assembly at its special session in 1997;
13. Requests the organizations and bodies of the United
Nations system, and the multilateral financial institutions, to
assist interested developing countries in the formulation and
implementation of national water policies and strategies;
14. Invites Governments, international organizations and,
as appropriate, scientific/technical organizations to promote
sustainable water use for food production and rural development
by improving the efficiency of current water use for irrigation
in developing countries, particularly at the village level;
15. Requests the relevant regional and international organizations
to assist the cooperative efforts of developing countries in the
area of conservation, sustainable use and integrated management
of water, and stresses the need for full implementation of the
decisions of the Commission on Sustainable Development, particularly
in the area of fresh water;
16. Welcomes the pledges that have been made by Member
States to the Fourth Replenishment of the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, and in that context invites countries
that have not yet done so to consider their pledges as soon as
possible, taking into account the decisions taken by the Fund's
Special Committee on Resource Requirements and Related Governance
Issues;
17. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with
the relevant organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations
system, to submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-first session
a report on the implementation of the present resolution, focusing
in particular on the use of freshwater resources, as well as on
the effects of the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral
trade negotiations on food production, including agro-industrial
products and global food security in developing countries;
18. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its
fifty-first session the sub-item entitled "Food and agricultural
development" under the item entitled "Sustainable development
and international economic cooperation".
92nd plenary meeting
19 December 1994