Officially labelled the Conference on Human Settlements, or Habitat II (Habitat I was held in Vancouver two decades ago), it is being referred to as the City Summit. And like most UN meets, this too is plagued by controversies. The Earth Summit saw a North-South polarisation. The former claimed that environmental destruction, such as the cutting down of the rain-forests, was largely being done by the South. The South countered that 'over-consumption' by the North was responsible for the depletion of the earth's natural resources. At the Cairo population meet, the Vatican, opposed to all forms of artificial birth control, tried to derail proceedings by imposing its agenda on the final platform of action. At Beijing, the Chinese authorities' attempt to stifle all dissent got the meeting off to a shaky start.