Global warming ignites Assembly action; Brazil will host 1992 conference.

The 159 States Members of the UN have agreed to draft as soon as possible a convention to protect the Earth's climate and to convene a world conference in Brazil in 1992 on ways to encourage environmentally sound development, at which such a treaty could be adopted. They also agreed to consider ways to avert the potentially damaging impact of climate change and remove its causes while the convention is being negotiated. Resolutions on the conference and the climate convention were adopted by the Assembly on 22 December by consensus (44/228, 44/207).

A moratorium by 30 June 1992 on all large-scale pelagic driftnet fishing on the high seas was also called for by the Assembly. The use of large-scale driftnets in the open seas can be a "highly indiscriminate and wasteful fishing method", threatening the effective conservation of fish, birds and marine mammals, the Assembly said in a resolution also adopted by consensus on 22 December (44/225).

The Assembly designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. The first Wednesday of October will be International Day for Natural Disaster, Reduction (44/236).

The best way to protect the environment of Antarctica "for the benefit of all mankind" was to turn that continent into a nature reserve or a world park, the Assembly declared. All nations, it said, should participate in negotiations to create a regime to protect the Antarctic environment.

Efforts to ban prospecting and mining in Antarctica were to be supported and all activities there were to be for peaceful scientific investigation only. The vote on resolution 44/124B was 114 to none, with 8 abstentions.

High tide alert

Climate change may occur due to increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, methane and nitrous oxide.

Most of the current emission of pollutants "originates in developed countries", the Assembly contended, and therefore "those countries have the main responsibility for combating such pollution".

Thermal expansion of sea water caused by global warming could lead to intensified flooding, erosion of coastal areas and damage to islands and low-lying coastal areas, the Assembly warned, asking for continued discussion of this issue (44/206).

'An ecological catastrophe'

United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told the Assembly on 13 November that the 1992 environment and development conference would be among the most important the UN had ever held.

In calling for the conference, the Assembly lamented the "continuing deterioration of the state of the environment and the serious degradation of the global life-support systems".

It warned that if such trends continue, the global ecological balance could be disrupted, resulting in an ecological catastrophe". Poverty and environmental degradation are closely interrelated, the Assembly stated, necessitating environmental protection in developing countries as part of the development process.

The Assembly listed 23 objectives for the conference, including an assessment of the state of the environment, identification of regional and global strategies to deal with major environmental issues and examination of ways to transfer technology and resources needed to promote sustainable and environmentally sound development.

A daunting task

The Second World Climate Conference, set for Geneva, 12 to 21 November 1990, will discuss the first major assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report will cover the state of science and impact of global warming as well as policy options and strategies to limit and cope with climate change.

UNEP Executive Director Mostafa K. Tolba told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) that these options will have to address the major economic activities of the human race, including energy, industry, transportation, agriculture and forestry.

A special three-day session of the UNEP Governing Council will be held in 1990 to deal with priority environmental issues and ways to enhance the role of UNEP within the UN system. Nuclear and other dangers

The Assembly also:

* Declared that rules of international law on liability and compensation for damage resulting from the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous wastes must be developed (44/226);

* Asked the UN Sudano-Sahelian Office, a joint venture of UNEP and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), to mobilize more resources to cope with the "worsening" of desertification (44/172);

* Appealed for resources for early-warning systems against the threat of desert locusts (44/438);

* Asked that the potentially harmful effects of atomic radiation be examined and analysed in terms of its effects on people and their environment and called for the highest standards of safety in the design and operation of nuclear plants so as to minimize risks to life, health and the environment (44/13); and

* Expressed grave concern regarding any use of nuclear waste that would constitute radiological warfare and threaten the national security of all States and called for States to prevent dumping of nuclear wastes that would infringe upon the national sovereignty of other States (44/116R).