some meetings are convened to arrive at definite conclusions. But there are those that follow a routine merely to carry forward a tradition. The latter seems to be quite true in the case of the Conference of Parties ( c o p ) to the Convention on Biological Diversity ( cbd ). The c o p convened its fifth meeting in Nairobi from May 15-26 and yet again failed to leave any significant impression on the participants.

The cbd , negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Programme ( unep ), entered into force on December 29, 1993 and has been ratified by 177 countries. The convention underlines three goals