United Nations Earth Summit Five years on

Earth Summit Fact File

• In 1992 leaders signed the Biodiversity Treaty, which aimed to save thousands of endangered species including animals, insect and plants. A separate treaty on saving the world's threatened forests was also agreed.

• A Global Warming Treaty set a target of freezing carbon dioxide emissions, mainly from exhaust fumes and industry, at 1990 levels by the year 2000.

• Environmental groups say all the goals have failed, with only modest improvements being made in efforts to save wildlife. Forest destruction - particularly of rain forest - continues, and moves to curb greenhouse gases have been only partly successful.

  Carbon dioxide emissions have risen since the last Earth Summit at Rio

• Former Prime Minister John Major signed the Climate Change Convention for Britain and the UK is on course to meet the target, along with some European Union countries.

• Although the US government pledged to curb greenhouse gases, America's love affair with the car continues and the country has lagged woefully behind the rest of the world.

• Britain and other industrialised nations hope that higher taxes on petrol and diesel, coupled with better public transport and encouragement for people to cycle or walk to work will be key incentives to reduce carbon fuel emissions.

• Poor countries in the developing world say they will not commit themselves to slow down industrial emissions of carbon dioxide if rich countries such as America do not take action as well.

• Legally binding targets for a reduction of carbon dioxide are to be set at the forthcoming Kyoto conference in December; environmentalists hope for a 20 percent cut of 1990 levels by 2005.