By asserting the sovereignty of the right to control their tropical forests, more than 40 developing countries are gearing up to counter the North's attempts to regulate deforestation

The Delhi Declaration on forest management, conservation and sustainable development, adopted at the first ministerial conference of the forestry forum of developing countries, calls upon the international community to:

Various international fora and mechanisms have been formed to check deforestation, but tropical forest countries have always been wary of them, fearing interference by the North

The World's richest nations reiterate environment is high on their policy agenda

Small island countries will test, at a 1994 world conference, the sincerity of Western nations' promise about aiding development, which they made at Rio.

Even as the South continues to insist on Western nations fulfilling their Rio promise to increase aid, fund flows are decreasing.

A special committee is being set up to solve clashes between the industrialised and developing countries over national and international gains in environmental projects.

The reluctance of financial institutions to be made answerable will stymie progress on implementing the Earth Summit agreentents.