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Government Documents
UPDATED: August 24, 2012 NO.35 AUGUST 30, 2012
The Future We Want (II)
Outcome of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development
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168. We commit to intensify our efforts to meet the 2015 target as agreed to in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to maintain or restore stocks to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield on an urgent basis. In this regard we further commit to urgently take the measures necessary to maintain or restore all stocks at least to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield, with the aim of achieving these goals in the shortest time feasible, as determined by their biological characteristics. To achieve this we commit to urgently develop and implement science-based management plans, including by reducing or suspending fishing catch and effort commensurate with the status of the stock. We further commit to enhance action to manage bycatch, discards and other adverse ecosystem impacts from fisheries, including by eliminating destructive fishing practices. We also commit to enhance actions to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from significant adverse impacts, including through the effective use of impact assessments. Such actions, including those through competent organizations, should be undertaken consistent with international law, the applicable international instruments and relevant General Assembly resolutions and FAO guidelines.

169. We urge state parties to the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks to fully implement that agreement and to give, in accordance with part VII of the agreement, full recognition to the special requirements of developing states. Furthermore, we call upon all states to implement the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO international plans of action and technical guidelines.

170. We acknowledge that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing deprive many countries of a crucial natural resource and remain a persistent threat to their sustainable development. We recommit to eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as advanced in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and to prevent and combat these practices, including through the following: developing and implementing national and regional action plans in accordance with the FAO International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing; implementing, in accordance with international law, effective and coordinated measures by coastal states, flag states, port states, chartering nations and the states of nationality of the beneficial owners and others who support or engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by identifying vessels engaged in such fishing and by depriving offenders of the benefits accruing from it; as well as cooperating with developing countries to systematically identify needs and build capacity, including support for monitoring, control, surveillance, compliance and enforcement systems.

171. We call upon states that have signed the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing to expedite procedures for its ratification with a view to its early entry into force.

172. We recognize the need for transparency and accountability in fisheries management by regional fisheries management organizations. We recognize the efforts already made by those regional fisheries management organizations that have undertaken independent performance reviews, and call on all regional fisheries management organizations to regularly undertake such reviews and make the results publicly available. We encourage implementation of the recommendations of such reviews and recommend that the comprehensiveness of those reviews be strengthened over time, as necessary.

173. We reaffirm our commitment in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overcapacity, taking into account the importance of this sector to developing countries, and we reiterate our commitment to conclude multilateral disciplines on fisheries subsidies that will give effect to the WTO Doha Development Agenda and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration mandates to strengthen disciplines on subsidies in the fisheries sector, including through the prohibition of certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, recognizing that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation, taking into account the importance of the sector to development priorities, poverty reduction and livelihood and food-security concerns. We encourage states to further improve the transparency and reporting of existing fisheries subsidies programs through WTO. Given the state of fisheries resources, and without prejudicing the WTO Doha and Hong Kong ministerial mandates on fisheries subsidies or the need to conclude these negotiations, we encourage states to eliminate subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and to refrain from introducing new such subsidies or from extending or enhancing existing ones.

174. We urge the identification and mainstreaming of strategies by 2014 that further assist developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and small island developing states, in developing their national capacity to conserve, sustainably manage and realize the benefits of sustainable fisheries, including through improved market access for fish products from developing countries.

175. We commit to observe the need to ensure access to fisheries and the importance of access to markets, by subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fisher folk and women fish workers, as well as indigenous peoples and their communities, particularly in developing countries, especially small island developing states.

176. We also recognize the significant economic, social and environmental contributions of coral reefs, in particular to islands and other coastal states, as well as the significant vulnerability of coral reefs and mangroves to impacts, including from climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing, destructive fishing practices and pollution. We support international cooperation with a view to conserving coral reef and mangrove ecosystems and realizing their social, economic and environmental benefits as well as facilitating technical collaboration and voluntary information-sharing.

177. We reaffirm the importance of area-based conservation measures, including marine protected areas, consistent with international law and based on best available scientific information, as a tool for conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of its components. We note decision X/2 of the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, that by 2020 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are to be conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.

Small island developing states

178. We reaffirm that small island developing states remain a special case for sustainable development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities, including their small size, remoteness, narrow resource and export base, and exposure to global environmental challenges and external economic shocks, including to a large range of impacts from climate change and potentially more frequent and intense natural disasters. We note with concern that the outcome of the five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy concluded that small island developing states have made less progress than most other groupings, or even regressed, in economic terms, especially in terms of poverty reduction and debt sustainability. Sea-level rise and other adverse impacts of climate change continue to pose a significant risk to small island developing states and their efforts to achieve sustainable development, and for many represent the gravest of threats to their survival and viability, including for some through the loss of territory. We also remain concerned that, while small island developing states have progressed in the areas of gender, health, education and the environment, their overall progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals has been uneven.

179. We call for continued and enhanced efforts to assist small island developing states in implementing the Barbados Program of Action and the Mauritius Strategy. We also call for a strengthening of UN System support to small island developing states in keeping with the multiple ongoing and emerging challenges faced by these states in achieving sustainable development.

180. Building on the Barbados Program of Action and the Mauritius Strategy, we call for the convening in 2014 of a third international conference on small island developing states, recognizing the importance of coordinated, balanced and integrated actions to address the sustainable development challenges facing small island developing states, and we invite the General Assembly at its 67th session to determine the modalities of the conference.

Least developed countries

181. We agree to effectively implement the Istanbul Program of Action and to fully integrate its priority areas into the present framework for action, the broader implementation of which will contribute to the overarching goal of the Istanbul Program of Action of enabling half of the least developed countries to meet the criteria of graduation by 2020.

Landlocked least developed countries

182. We invite Member States, including development partners, organizations of the UN system and other relevant international, regional and subregional organizations, to speed up further the implementation of the specific actions in the five priorities agreed upon in the Almaty Program of Action and those contained in the declaration on the midterm review of the Almaty Program of Action, in a better coordinated manner, in particular for the construction, maintenance and improvement of their transport, storage and other transit-related facilities, including alternative routes, completion of missing links and improved communications and energy infrastructure, so as to support the sustainable development of landlocked least developed countries.

Africa

183. While we acknowledge that some progress has been made toward the fulfillment of international commitments related to Africa's development needs, we emphasize that significant challenges remain in achieving sustainable development on the continent.

184. We call on the international community to enhance support and fulfill commitments to advance action in areas critical to Africa's sustainable development and welcome the efforts by development partners to strengthen cooperation with the New Partnership for Africa's Development. We also welcome the progress made by African countries in deepening democracy, human rights, good governance and sound economic management, and encourage African countries to continue their efforts in this regard. We invite all Africa's development partners, in particular developed countries, to support African countries in strengthening human capacities and democratic institutions, consistent with their priorities and objectives, with a view to furthering Africa's development at all levels, including through facilitating the transfer of technology needed by African countries as mutually agreed. We recognize the continued efforts by African countries to create enabling environments for inclusive growth in support of sustainable development and for the international community to make continued efforts to increase the flow of new and additional resources for financing for development from all sources, public and private, domestic and foreign, to support these development efforts by African countries, and welcome the various important initiatives established between African countries and their development partners in this regard.

Regional efforts

185. We encourage coordinated regional actions to promote sustainable development. We recognize, in this regard, that important steps have been taken to promote sustainable development, in particular in the Arab region, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asia-Pacific region, through relevant forums, including within the UN regional commissions. While noting that challenges remain in several areas, the international community welcomes these efforts, and the results already achieved, and calls for actions at all levels for their further development and implementation.

Disaster risk reduction

186. We reaffirm our commitment to the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-15: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters and call for states, the UN system, the international financial institutions, subregional, regional and international organizations and civil society to accelerate implementation of the framework and the achievement of its goals. We call for disaster risk reduction and the building of resilience to disasters to be addressed with a renewed sense of urgency in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and, as appropriate, to be integrated into policies, plans, programs and budgets at all levels and considered within relevant future frameworks. We invite governments at all levels as well as relevant subregional, regional and international organizations to commit to adequate, timely and predictable resources for disaster risk reduction in order to enhance the resilience of cities and communities to disasters, according to their own circumstances and capacities.

187. We recognize the importance of early warning systems as part of effective disaster risk reduction at all levels in order to reduce economic and social damages, including the loss of human life, and in this regard encourage states to integrate such systems into their national disaster risk reduction strategies and plans. We encourage donors and the international community to enhance international cooperation in support of disaster risk reduction in developing countries, as appropriate, through technical assistance, technology transfer as mutually agreed, capacity-building and training programs. We further recognize the importance of comprehensive hazard and risk assessments, and knowledge- and information-sharing, including reliable geospatial information. We commit to undertake and strengthen in a timely manner risk assessment and disaster risk reduction instruments.

188. We stress the importance of stronger interlinkages among disaster risk reduction, recovery and long-term development planning, and call for more coordinated and comprehensive strategies that integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation considerations into public and private investment, decision-making and the planning of humanitarian and development actions, in order to reduce risk, increase resilience and provide a smoother transition between relief, recovery and development. In this regard, we recognize the need to integrate a gender perspective into the design and implementation of all phases of disaster risk management.

(To be continued)

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