Battle for turf

If the South wants to protect its interests against the power of the Bretton Woods institutions and WTO, it will need its own, equally powerful forum

Polluter says' principle

GEF should have been a liability fund, rather than a 'guilt fund' set up by the North to make up for the global damage it had caused

Free, not fair

Does a country have the right to demand that its domestic standards on environmental protection be applicable to all countries?

Wood-headed proposal

After almost 10 years of fighting for or against a forest convention, there is not even a common view on why forests are under threat and what …

Toxic travellers

Developing countries are wary of the proposed treaty as chemicals like DDT are still used in many malaria-prone regions for vector control

Rio's stepchild

Northern countries still see desertification as a local problem caused by population pressures rather than international trade patterns and …

Biodiversity

To energise the biodiversity convention, the world will have to first deal with difficult countries like the US

Boiling point

Climate change negotiations get emotional because carbon dioxide emissions are closely related to individual lifestyles - and to national …

Negotiating the future

The upcoming climate negotiations at The Hague may turn out to be the most crucial till now

Dinosaur age ministers

System error

The death of India's cancer control programme and the rise of cancers

Classified ?

The data is rudimentary. The analysis is poor. And is kept secret

Coming out of coma

A decline in its funds and erosion in its mandate have made the United Nations Environment Programme virtually ineffective. Bharat H Desai looks …

Environment Minister Anil Dave passes away at 60

He was known for his work towards conservation of the Narmada river

Another crawl for humankind

The Kyoto agenda shuffled along at the recent climate change meeting in Bonn, but climate change mitigation was still not in sight

No Go

The South managed to make its presence felt, but this was due to the US-Europe rift

For common sense

Down To Earth articles on shahtoosh and Veerappan provoke comment. We decided to excerpt them. But first, the editor's rejoinder

Ireland is past its ‘Celtic Tiger’ days; economic growth is good and we want it to be sustainable: Roderic O’Gorman

Down To Earth talks to Irish Green Party politician and Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’ …

'Green Party’s rise is a response to the rise of nasty populist movements'

Newly-elected Member of European Parliament from the British Green Party, Catherine Rowett speaks to Down To Earth about the significance of the …

Muted presence

India's participation at the recently concluded 22nd Conference of Parties was passive and lacked vision

The new rise of Nauru: can the island bounce back from its mining boom and bust?

As the island aims to develop sustainably, there are signs of the green shoots of recovery

Law of no returns

Kings of forests

The control of Naxalites over forests is total and overwhelming

Everybody's a Loser

The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a …

The sinking debate

The climate change negotiations have come to a halt over the issue of sinks. Neelam Singh discusses the associated complications