In an era of a rapidly shrinking biological resources, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a historic landmark, being the first global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The CBD is one of the few international agreements in the area of natural resource conservation in which sustainability and equitable benefit-sharing are central concerns.

RESOURCES AND RIGHTS: Even as the debate over access and benefit sharing of genetic resources rages on in the world, plans for a legally binding protocol have begun to take shape in the Convention

US attempts to kill of global democracy are getting more commonplace than ever. In such a political climate, it is impossible to talk about global rights to common property resources, equity and social justice

Climate change negotiations get emotional because carbon dioxide emissions are closely related to individual lifestyles and to national economies. For instance, the per capita GHG emissions of one US citizen were equal to those of 19 Indians in 1996

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

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

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