The General Assembly,
 
      Recalling the relevant provisions of Agenda 21, in particular chapters
17, 33, 34, 38 and other related chapters, and the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development,
 
      Recalling also its resolution 50/110 of 20 December 1995 on the report
of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, in which
it endorsed, inter alia, Governing Council decision 18/31 on the protection of
the marine environment from land-based activities,
 
      Noting the successful conclusion of the Intergovernmental Conference to
Adopt a Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities, which was held in Washington, D.C.,
from 23 October to 3 November 1995,
 
      Having considered the Washington Declaration on Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities and the Global Programme of Action for
the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, as well
as the proposal of the United Nations Environment Programme on institutional
arrangements and implementation of the Global Programme of Action and relevant
recommendations of the Commission on Sustainable Development,
 
      1.    Endorses the Washington Declaration on Protection of the Marine
Environment from Land-based Activities and the Global Programme of Action for
the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities;
 
      2.    Stresses the need for States to take the necessary measures for
the implementation of the Global Programme of Action at the national and, as
appropriate, the regional and international levels;
 
      3.    Also stresses the need for States to take action for the formal
endorsement by each competent international organization of those parts of the
Global Programme of Action that are relevant to their mandates and to accord
appropriate priority to the implementation of the Global Programme of Action
in the work programme of each organization;
 
      4.    Further stresses the need for States to take such action at the
next meetings of the governing bodies of the United Nations Environment
Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Centre
for Human Settlements (Habitat), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Maritime
Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Labour
Organization and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and in
the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the relevant bodies of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as in other
competent international and regional organizations within and outside the
United Nations system;
 
      5.    Further stresses the need for international cooperation, as
outlined in sections IV.A and B of the Global Programme of Action, in
capacity-building, technology transfer and cooperation, and the mobilization
of financial resources, including support, in particular for developing
countries, especially the least developed countries, countries with economies
in transition and small island developing States, and to this end calls upon
bilateral donors and international, regional and subregional financial
institutions and mechanisms, including the Global Environment Facility, and
other competent development and financial institutions:
 
      (a)   To ensure that their programmes give appropriate priority for
country-driven projects aimed at the implementation of the Global Programme of
Action;
 
      (b)   To assist with capacity-building in the preparation and
implementation of national programmes and in identifying ways and means of
funding them;
 
      (c)   To improve their coordination so as to enhance the delivery of
financial and other support;
 
      6.    Invites non-governmental organizations and major groups to
initiate and strengthen their actions to facilitate and support the effective
implementation of the Global Programme of Action;
 
      7.    Requests the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment
Programme to prepare, for the consideration of the Governing Council at its
nineteenth session, specific proposals on:
 
      (a)   The role of the United Nations Environment Programme in the
implementation of the Global Programme of Action, including the relevant role
of its Regional Seas Programme and Freshwater Unit;
 
      (b)   Arrangements for secretariat support to the Global Programme of
Action;
 
      (c)   Modalities for periodic intergovernmental review of progress in
implementing the Global Programme of Action;
 
      8.    Calls upon the United Nations Environment Programme, within its
available resources, and with the aid of voluntary contributions from States
for this purpose, to take expeditious action to provide for the establishment
and implementation of the clearing-house mechanism referred to in the Global
Programme of Action, and requests the Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme to prepare and submit to the Governing Council at its
nineteenth session specific proposals on, inter alia:
 
      (a)   The establishment of an inter-organizational group to develop the
basic design and structure of the clearing-house data directory and its
linkages to information delivery mechanisms;
 
      (b)   The means of linking the inter-organizational group to ongoing
work within the United Nations system on the identification of and access to
relevant databases and the comparability of data;
 
      (c)   The outline of a pilot project on the development of the clearing-
house's source category component on sewage, to be implemented in partnership
with the World Health Organization;
 
      9.    Calls upon States, in relation to the clearing-house mechanism, to
take action in the governing bodies of relevant intergovernmental
organizations and programmes so as to ensure that those organizations and
programmes take the lead in coordinating the development of the clearing-house
mechanism with respect to the following source categories, which are listed in
conjunction with the relevant organization(s) or programme(s) but not in order
of priority:
 
      (a)   Sewage - the World Health Organization;
 
      (b)   Persistent organic pollutants - the Inter-organization Programme
for the Sound Management of Chemicals, the International Programme on Chemical
Safety and the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety;
 
      (c)   Heavy metals - the United Nations Environment Programme in
cooperation with the Inter-organization Programme for the Sound Management of
Chemicals;
 
      (d)   Radioactive substances - the International Atomic Energy Agency;
 
      (e)   Nutrients and sediment mobilization - the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations;
 
      (f)   Oils (hydrocarbons) and litter - the International Maritime
Organization;
 
      (g)   Physical alterations, including habitat modification and
destruction of areas of concern - the United Nations Environment Programme;
 
      10.   Decides to determine, at its special session to be held in June
1997 in accordance with its resolution 50/113 of 20 December 1995, specific
arrangements for integrating the outcomes of periodic intergovernmental
reviews, as envisaged in paragraph 7 (c) above, in the future work of the
Commission on Sustainable Development related to the monitoring of the
implementation of and follow-up to Agenda 21, in particular chapter 17.