L/T/4370
9 September 2002

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TREATY-SIGNING EVENT
CONCLUDES AT UN HEADQUARTERS

Representatives of 48 States Affirm Support for Sustainable
Development-Related and Other Multilateral Legal Instruments

NEW YORK, 6 September (Office of Legal Affairs) -- Forty-eight States and one international organization participated in the Treaty Event "Focus 2002: Sustainable Development" held at United Nations Headquarters in conjunction with the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg from 26 August to 4 September.

A total of 83 treaty actions relating to 39 treaties (5 signatures and 78 ratifications, approvals, acceptances, accessions and other treaty actions) were undertaken.

During the treaty event, the following treaties attracted the most number of actions:

-- Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (11 ratifications/accessions).

The Protocol currently has 84 signatories and 93 parties (of which those included in Annex I to the Convention at present currently account for 37.1 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990). It will enter into force 90 days after the date on which not less than 55 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -- incorporating Parties included in Annex I which accounted for at least 55 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 of the parties included in Annex I -- have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

-- Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (11 ratifications/accessions).

The Protocol currently has 103 signatories and 34 parties. It will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

-- Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedures for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (8 ratifications/accessions)

The Convention currently has 73 signatories and 32 parties. It will enter into force 90 days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

-- Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (5 ratifications/accessions).

The Convention currently has 151 signatories and 21 parties. It will enter into force 90 days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

-- Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer adopted by the Ninth Meeting of the Parties, Montreal, 17 September 1997 (3 ratifications/accessions).

The Amendment, which entered into force on 10 November 1999, currently has 84 parties.

-- Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Beijing, 3 December 1999 (4 ratifications/accessions).

The Amendment, which entered into force on 25 February 2002, currently has 38 parties.

Treaty actions were also received with regard to the following key environmental treaties: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification (3 accessions); Convention on Biological Diversity (1 accession); Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1 accession); Amendment to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1 ratification); and Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2 ratifications/acceptances).

Action was undertaken with regard to treaties covering several other issues -- from human rights to terrorism to the law of the sea. The Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime received 4 signatures, bringing the total to 41 signatories and 3 parties.

Information on United Nations Conventions is available at http://untreaty.un.org.

For further information, please contact Palitha Kohona, Chief, Treaty Section, Office of Legal Affairs, Tel. 963-5048.

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