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

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 should be done