[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 166 Introduced in House (IH)]
103d CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 166
Providing for the United States to assume a strong leadership role in
implementing the decisions made at the Earth Summit by developing a
national strategy to implement Agenda 21 and other Earth Summit
agreements through domestic policy and foreign policy, by cooperating
with all countries to identify and initiate further agreements to
protect the global environment, and by supporting and participating in
the high-level United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 1993
Ms. Pelosi (for herself, Mr. Ackerman, Mr. Bacchus of Florida, Mr.
Beilenson, Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Brown of California, Mrs. Collins of
Illinois, Mr. Dellums, Mr. Edwards of California, Mr. Evans, Mr.
Foglietta, Mr. Flake, Mr. Frost, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. Gilman, Mr.
Hockbrueckner, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Lehman, Mr.
McDermott, Mr. Machtley, Mr. Markey, Mr. Mazzoli, Mr. Miller of
California, Mr. Moran, Mrs. Morella, Ms. Norton, Mr. Owens of New York,
Mr. Porter, Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Schroeder, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Studds, Mr.
Towns, and Mrs. Unsoeld) introduced the following joint resolution;
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
JOINT RESOLUTION
Providing for the United States to assume a strong leadership role in
implementing the decisions made at the Earth Summit by developing a
national strategy to implement Agenda 21 and other Earth Summit
agreements through domestic policy and foreign policy, by cooperating
with all countries to identify and initiate further agreements to
protect the global environment, and by supporting and participating in
the high-level United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.
Whereas the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(hereinafter in this resolution referred to as ``UNCED''), known as the
Earth Summit, assembled in June of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the
largest summit of heads of state in history and outlined a comprehensive
action plan (hereinafter in this resolution referred to as ``Agenda
21'') for environmentally sustainable development (hereinafter in this
resolution referred to as ``sustainable development'');
Whereas the United States has a strong national interest in the environmental
sustainability of global economic development;
Whereas Agenda 21 offers a significant starting point for continuing progress in
avoiding environmental degradation and social and economic
disintegration in the 21st century;
Whereas the role of the United States should be one of leadership and positive
action in the implementation process of Agenda 21 and all other
decisions of UNCED;
Whereas Agenda 21 urges all governments to adopt national strategies for
sustainable development;
Whereas Agenda 21 urges all countries to ``make significant progress'' in
incorporating environmental costs into economic decisions, to undertake
research on sustainable production methods and consumption patterns, and
to undertake other actions to make their economies more environmentally
sustainable;
Whereas Agenda 21 calls for a ``supportive international climate for achieving
environment and development goals'' by ``providing adequate financial
resources to developing countries and dealing with international debt''
and calls for ``the reallocation of resources presently committed to
military purposes'' to support United States policies and the efforts of
developing countries to implement Agenda 21;
Whereas UNCED recommended that a high-level United Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development (hereinafter in this resolution referred to as
the ``Commission'') be established by the 47th United Nations General
Assembly to provide a vital forum to review progress made by considering
reports from national governments, international organizations, and
nongovernmental organizations;
Whereas many opportunities for agreements concerning more extensive actions on
critical sustainable development issues remained unresolved at UNCED and
will require further attention by the nations of the world; and
Whereas the ultimate success of achieving sustainable development and a healthy
environment at the national and international levels depends upon
actions taken at the State and local community levels, and on actions by
schools, public offices, businesses, citizens, and citizen
organizations: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That effective follow-up to
achieve the many goals of the agreements reached at UNCED will depend
on the overall direction and action by the President and the Congress
on the following:
(1) The President and the Congress should adopt a national
strategy for environmentally sustainable development, based on
an extensive process of nationwide consultations with all
interested organizations and individuals, including State and
local governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses,
and labor groups.
(2) The President and the Congress should encourage and
facilitate, at all levels of community and sectors of society,
appropriate means for adopting individual Agenda 21 plans of
action, including the establishment of local, county, State,
business, and other boards and commissions for achieving
sustainable development. Each member of the Congress should
help initiate this process within their States or districts.
(3) The President, Secretary of State, and the Congress
should formulate initiatives and policies to help developing
countries develop the capacity to implement Agenda 21. The
Congress should restructure United States foreign assistance to
provide a fundamental mandate for sustainable development.
(4) The President should establish an effective mechanism
to plan, initiate, and coordinate United States policy for
implementing Agenda 21. Responsibility should be vested in a
duly constituted office, headed by an appropriate high level
official, and the necessary staff support structure should be
provided.
(5) In order to contribute to a transition to an
environmentally sustainable United States economy, the research
and policy initiatives urged in Agenda 21 should be pursued,
including research on environmentally sustainable consumption
patterns, identification of a strategy to eliminate or reduce
subsidies for unsustainable natural resource exploitation, and
move toward pricing policies that more truly reflect
environmental costs.
(6) The Congress should adopt a system to reallocate an
appropriate amount of savings from reduced defense spending in
order to achieve the goals of Agenda 21 for global
environmental protection and sustainable development over the
next decade.
(7) The President should promote and actively participate
in new and existing multilateral efforts aimed at creating a
more favorable international economic climate for developing
countries to practice sustainable development. Such efforts
should include--
(A) reduction in developing country debt, linked
with environmental policy reforms;
(B) focusing the work of multilateral donor
consultative groups which now exist for each of some 80
developing countries on evaluation of, and support for,
their national sustainable development strategies; and
(C) increasing loans and concessional assistance to
developing countries where implementation of national
sustainable development strategies are underway.
(8) The United States should actively support the
Commission authorized by the 47th United Nations General
Assembly. The United States should seek a strong role for the
Commission in the United Nations system to monitor and evaluate
progress in meeting the goals identified in Agenda 21 and other
decisions at UNCED. The United States should pursue a strong
sustainable development mandate for all relevant activities of
the United Nations and a catalytic role for the Commission in
coordinating and facilitating the implementation of that
mandate.
(9) The President should affirm strong United States
commitment to the Commission by--
(A) appointing a high-level representative or
delegation from the United States to the Commission,
including, as appropriate, representation at the
ministerial level and Congressional and non-government
observers, and
(B) supporting the Under Secretary General for
Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development in
coordinating the implementation of Agenda 21 in the
United Nations system and heading the secretariat
support structure for the Commission.
(10) The President should submit a national report to the
Commission on--
(A) activities the United States has undertaken to
implement Agenda 21, both domestically and
internationally, on progress made toward fulfilling
other commitments undertaken at UNCED; and
(B) other environmental and developmental
activities the United States has undertaken to
strengthen agreements reached at UNCED.
The President should strongly encourage all United Nations
members to submit such national reports.
(11) The United States should support rules of procedure
for the Commission which ensure the active participation of
nongovernmental organizations, based on the procedures used in
UNCED as agreed in paragraphs 38.11 and 38.44 of Agenda 21, and
should also encourage the active participation in the
Commission of representatives of the international financial
institutions, GATT, regional and subregional development banks
and financial institutions, and regional economic integration
organizations.
(12) The President should submit an annual report to the
Congress on the steps taken by the United States to implement
Agenda 21 and the recommendations made by this resolution, and
should make information regarding such steps available to
members of the Congress upon their request.
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