Forty-ninth session
Agenda item 67
RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly,
Having considered the item entitled "Question of Antarctica",
Taking into account the debates on this item held since
its thirty-eighth session,
Reaffirming the interest of the international community
in information on Antarctica,
Welcoming the provision by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative
Parties to the Secretary-General of the final report of the Eighteenth
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, See A/49/370. 95-76069
held at Kyoto, Japan, from 11 to 22 April 1994,
Conscious of the particular significance of Antarctica
to the international community, including for international peace
and security, the global and regional environment, its effects
on global and regional climate conditions, and scientific research,
Reaffirming that the management and use of Antarctica should
be conducted in accordance with the purposes and principles of
the Charter of the United Nations and in the interest of maintaining
international peace and security and of promoting international
cooperation for the benefit of mankind as a whole,
Recognizing that the Antarctic Treaty, United Nations,
Treaty Series, vol. 402, No. 5778. which provides, inter alia,
for the demilitarization of the continent, the prohibition of
nuclear explosions and the disposal of nuclear wastes, the freedom
of scientific research and the free exchange of scientific information,
is in furtherance of the purposes and principles of the Charter,
Conscious also of the interrelationship between Antarctica
and the physical, chemical and biological processes that regulate
the total Earth system,
Taking into account the Protocol on Environmental Protection
to the Antarctic Treaty, adopted by the Antarctic Treaty Parties
at Madrid on 4 October 1991,
Welcoming the designation, in the Protocol, of Antarctica
as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and the procedures
contained in the Protocol regarding the protection of the Antarctic
environment and dependent and associated ecosystems in the planning
and conduct of all activities in Antarctica,
Commending the prohibition on mineral resource activities
contained in the Protocol,
Welcoming the recognition by the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development of the value of Antarctica as an
area for the conduct of scientific research, in particular research
essential to understanding the global environment, See 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, chap. 17, para. 17.104.
Welcoming also the continuing cooperation among countries
undertaking scientific research activities in Antarctica, which
may help to minimize human impacts on the Antarctic environment,
Welcoming further the increasing awareness of an interest
in Antarctica shown by the international community, and convinced
of the advantages to the whole of mankind of a better knowledge
of Antarctica,
Affirming its conviction that, in the interest of all mankind,
Antarctica should continue forever to be used exclusively for
peaceful purposes and that it should not become the scene or object
of international discord,
1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on
Antarctica and on the report of the Eighteenth Antarctic Treaty
Consultative Meeting, 1/ held at Kyoto, Japan, from 11 to 22 April
1994;
2. Welcomes the practice whereby the Antarctic Treaty Consultative
Parties regularly provide the Secretary-General with information
on their consultative meetings and on their activities in Antarctica,
encourages the Parties to continue to provide to the Secretary-General
and other interested States information on developments in relation
to Antarctica, and requests the Secretary-General to submit that
information in a report to the General Assembly at its fifty-first
session;
3. Notes the role accorded by the Secretary-General to
the United Nations Environment Programme in relation to Antarctic
matters;
4. Urges the Antarctic Treaty Parties to extend invitations
to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
to attend future consultative meetings in order to assist them
in the substantive work;
5. Welcomes the statement under chapter 17 of Agenda 21,
3/ adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, that States carrying out research activities in Antarctica
should, as provided for in article III of the Antarctic Treaty,
2/ continue to:
(a) Ensure that data and information resulting from such research are freely available to the international community;
(b) Enhance access of the international scientific community and specialized agencies of the United Nations to such data and information, including the encouragement of periodic seminars and symposia;
6. Urges the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties to
take into account in their deliberations the outcomes of the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, particularly
as noted in paragraph 5 above;
7. Requests the Antarctic Treaty Parties to continue to
make available information on Antarctica as a means of promoting
further public awareness of the importance of Antarctica to the
global and regional environment;
8. Urges the Antarctic Treaty Parties to consider becoming
parties as soon as possible to the Protocol on Environmental Protection
to the Antarctic Treaty, and so bring the Protocol into force,
in order to ensure the implementation of strengthened measures
for the protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent
and associated ecosystems;
9. Urges countries whose nationals undertake activities
in Antarctica to ensure that all such activities are carried out
in a manner consistent with the principles of the Protocol;
10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its
fifty-first session the item entitled "Question of Antarctica".
90th plenary meeting
15 December 1994