Biodiversity meet begins; India takes over presidency of CBD

CoP 11 will decide future course of action plans to meet Aichi Targets

Civil society groups appeal against sacrificing biosafety for biotech companies

 Urge governments to implement biosafety protocols and adopting cautious approach towards risky technologies like genetic engineering 

How companies got their way on biodiversity

Amendments to the Biodiversity Act let companies off the hook on having to share the benefits of using biological resources

Nagoya Protocol comes into force

The biodiversity protection pact will ensure that benefits of natural resources and their commercial derivatives are shared with local communities

Busy preludes to biodiversity meet

Crucial issues such as protection of traditional knowledge, and creation of an international regime on access to genetic resources and benefit …

Green politics

Is your government signing away your future rights to the world's natural resources?

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 …

Signatory to biosafety

Protecting 30% of Earth’s surface for nature means thinking about connections near and far

Protecting forests and grasslands can help slow climate change by promoting carbon storage in soil and plants

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 …

Coming out of coma

A decline in its funds and erosion in its mandate have made the United Nations Environment Programme virtually ineffective. Bharat H Desai looks …

Traditional knowledge of fisher people may be included in the process of identifying marine biodiversity hot spots

Some countries noncommittal about identifying ecologically and biologically sensitive marine areas in high seas and territorial waters

MoEF failed to protect environment: Public Accounts Committee

Forest cover of India is just 21 per cent against the target of 33 per cent set by Planning Commission for 2012

US $50 million to protect biodiversity in India

Manmohan Singh says the challenge is to develop new models of inclusive conservation

The pig-headed species

Overzealous conservationists block progress at CITES meet (Read full article)

Why the US is such a bully

US attempts to kill of global democracy are getting more commonplace than ever. In such a political climate, it is impossible to talk about …

Fruitful deliberations

Two global meetings chart a course for weeding out biopiracy