Moving climate policy forward

AXEL MICHAELOWA

India all for CDM

even as preparations were underway to host the eighth conference of parties (cop-8) on climate change, India sprang a surprise by endorsing six renewable energy projects under the clean development mechanism (cdm) of the Kyoto Protocol.

The World After

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (wssd) is over. The best thing about it is that it could have been much worse. As I write this with regret and bitterness about the idealism of times gone by, I begin to feel my age.

B: High drama

WITH no clear resolution on the contentious issue of forest convention in the final meeting of intergovernmental panel of forests (IPF) which met in February 1997, it was clear that the Rio + 5 summit of the world leaders would have to confront this proposal, pushed by a large section of the Northern nations. Negotiations on the issue dominated most of the sessions on forests.

C: Green planet

That the delegates could not agree on the vital portions of the political statement during the fortnight of informal and formal negotiations spoke volumes on the summit’s failures. And being unable to reach an agreement on a political statement which contained 26 paragraphs outlining the programme for further implementation of Agenda 21, the world leaders finally settled for a statement of commitment containing six paragraphs. The statement of commitment reaffirmed the Agenda 21 as a fundamental programme of action for achieving sustainable development.

Breaking the ice

WHEN vegetation sprouts in a desert, it is a good sign; but when the ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic begins to turn green, there is something terribly wrong. There have been a spate of reports in recent weeks pointing towards a possible change in the shape of the Antarctic peninsula due to the breaking away of chunks of ice from the mainland.

Dying repositories of the world's biodiversity

THE SPLENDOUS of a tropical rain forest invariably make a profound impression at first sight. "Here I first saw a tropical forest in its sublime grandeur- nothing but the reality can give any idea how wonderful magnificent the scene is..." exulted Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution significantly shaped modern thinking. Before understanding why we need to save the rain forests, we must know what they are.