•A review of the five years since Rio, Earth Summit II showed collective irresponsibility by nation states for the earth's future •The special session of the UN General Assembly was

Statements of the world leaders at the Summit

The Denver meet set the tenor of non cooperation among the countries meeting at UNGASS

Indian attempts at lobbying in UNGASS

The Indian negotiators spoke up in time to oppose the convention on forests

Some of the points agreed to at Earth Summit II

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES has failed to curb illegal trade in Indian wildlife and wildlife products. But India s stand at CITES, at variance with its position in other environmental fora, was repugnant and hollow

Neither CITES nor the retrogressive Indian approach to conservation has been able to protect key Indian species from poaching

India's stand on the elephant showed how insensitive it is to the problems humans face in countries with a high population of the species. India voted for each proposal to ban trade and against

When persistence, not homework, paid off