Shawls, an antelope and the law
The question is not just of farming chiru. It is about the policy that a country should have towards wildlife conservation, forest dwelling …
MAIght of OECD
A no-holds-barred treaty on investments would hand over the world on a platter to MNCs
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 …
In favour of wetlands
Benefits from upstream irrigation projects cannot replace those derived from natural floodplains
Housing plan, at sea
An artificial reef could be the ideal habitat for threatened sea creatures
New fishing technique improves health safety of African fish processors
Improved design took five years and has been a hit with female workers, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire
For common sense
Down To Earth articles on shahtoosh and Veerappan provoke comment. We decided to excerpt them. But first, the editor's rejoinder
How did it go wrong?
The corrupt and inefficient among pollution control authorities have surrendered India's groundwater to unscrupulous industrial units
Disasters in the making?
Groundwater contamination in India is verging on disastrous proportions, especially with regard to mercury
Trail of a $500 m gene
How a rare African algae collected by a French academic turns into a commercial bonanza for an equity firm in Hong Kong. Are there any benefits …