UNITED NATIONS ACTIVITIES

General Assembly 1980/81 During the 49th Henary Session of

the United Nations General Assembly at the end of 1980, the G. A. adopted inter alia 1) a draft resolution on the histor- ical responsibility of States for the pre- servation of nature for present and fu- ture generations which the journal will print these in its next issue, together with a summary of the debate); 2) a re- solution on a draft World Charter for Nature; and 3) a draft resolution on international cooperation in the field of environment (see page 32).

Paragraph 8 of this last resolution welcomes the decision of the Goveming Council of the United Nations Environ- ment Programme to convene, prior to its tenth session an ad hoc meeting of gov- ernmental experts in environmental law, welcomes the offer by the Government of Uruguay to serve as host for the meet- ing and urges Governments and the Gov- erning Council to take all the necessary measures for the provision of adequate consultancy. (See also Environmental Policy &Law 6 (2) (1980) p. 103).

By paragraph 5 of this same resolu- tion, the General Assembly would re- quest the Secretary-General to take the requisite steps to implement the recom- mendations of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Pro- gramme (UNEP) on the work of the United Nations system on interrelation- ships between resources, environment, people and development, as well as those put forward by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1980/49 of 23 July 1980. The Secretary-General is of the opinion that this would give rise to financial implications for the regular budget.

Extracts from the statement submit- ted by the Secretary-General with regard to the resolution are printed on page 000.

The draft Charter for Nature was re- quested by President Mobutu during the General Assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in Kin- shasa in 1975. To ensure action, IUCN's Council requested the Chairman of its Commission on Environmental Policy, Law and Administration (CEPLA) to

establish a task force to assist in this. The draft charter is not to be construed as a binding legal document but rather as a declaration of principles, i.e., a "soft law" document to complement the World Conservation Strategy. (See report in Environmental Policy & Law, 6 (1) (1980) p.45, ibid., 6 (4) (1980) p. 153).

The resolution on the draft charter requests the Secretary-General to trans- mit the views and observations of Mem- ber States to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session and to formulate on the basis of the replies received, in co- operation with the United Nations Envi-

ronment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, appro- priate recommendations with a view to the adoption of a world charter for na- ture. []

ECA: Guidelines for Development

The Guidelines recommended by the ECA Conference of Ministers Respon- sible for Economic Development at its sixth meeting are printed on page 44.

Reaction to Deep Sea Mining Legislation

In view of the law passed by the United States of America in June 1980 unilaterally authorizing its nationals to explore and exploit the resources of the International Area (see Environmental Policy & Law, 6 (3) (1980) p. 134)equi- valent legislation in the Federal Republic of Germany (ibid., pp. 134 and 137),

and similar attempts being made in other industrialized countries (for mea- sures planned by France and the UK (see Selected Documents, p. 36 & 41), the le- gal experts of the Group of 77 recently issued a statement on the "legal position of the Group of 77 on the question of unilateral legislation concerning the ex- ploration and exploitation of the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof be- yond national jurisdiction". For text of this statement, see Selected Documents p. 33). []

Tolba Reappointed

At the thirty-fifth session of the U.N. General Assembly, the Secretary-General proposed Mostafa Tolba of Egypt for re- appointment as Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Pro- gramme (UNEP). Since his mandate ex- pired in Autumn 1980, his possible re- appointment has been the subject of considerable controversy.

We congratulate Tolba on his re- election and feet confident that he will now do everything in his power to coun- teract UNEP's - and his own - disputed image with some of the Member States.

MostafaTolba

2 Environmental Policy and Law, 7 (1981)