Dr. Ulf Stein

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Dr. Ulf Stein

Diplom-Ingenieur (Landscape Planning)

Coordinator Water Studies
Senior Fellow

Team
Topics

Dr. Ulf Stein is a Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute in Berlin, where he coordinates the institute's water activities. He joined Ecologic Institute in 2011 and has more than 10 years of professional experience in academic research and consulting services. His work focuses on the evaluation and enhancement of the European Union's (EU) and German water policies and the sustainable management of water resources, particularly with respect to plastics in the environment, climate change adaptation, aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services, and environmental governance. Ulf Stein is a native German speaker, is fluent in English and has knowledge of Spanish, Danish, and Russian.

Ulf Stein has managed and participated in more than 20 projects including large-scale research projects for various European and national institutions. In addition, he is a member of the European Topic Centre on Inland Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) and European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC-BD). Ulf Stein is an experienced and passionate GIS analyst. Within the last ten years, he has conducted various geospatial analyses and supported the implementation of the INSPIRE directive.

His current activities include the following projects:

Plastics in the Environment – scientific coordination & transdisciplinary knowledge network (PlastikNet): This four-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims at supporting the political and societal impact of the funded research projects, most of which focus on microplastics in the hydrologic cycle. Ulf Stein is deputy coordinator of PlastikNet.

Increasing Good Governance to Achieve Integrated Water Management (STEER): This three-year BMBF funded transdisciplinary project aims to identify approaches to increase good governance in relation to complex water resource. Ulf Stein leads a work package on the development of a diagnostic governance toolbox.

German Participatory Forum on Fish Protection and Downstream Migration, Ulf Stein co-ordinates this three-year Umweltbundesamt (UBA) project that is aimed at triggering a wide-ranging discussion and developing a common understanding on the latest scientific information and technology on different themes of fish protection and downstream migration.

Supporting The Delivery Of The Nature Action Plan: Within this 18-month contract for the Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission under the coordination of the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), Ulf Stein is working on improving synergies between the Nature Directives, the Water Framework Directive, the Nitrates Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and the Floods Directive.

Monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Europe 2020 Strategy: Ulf Stein is providing support on SDG 6 on water for a Eurostat project coordinated by the Institute for Managing Sustainability, Vienna.
Since 2016 Ulf Stein is teaching courses on "Policy consultancy in intermediate organizations" at Hochschule Bremen.

Before joining Ecologic Institute, Dr. Ulf Stein worked as a junior researcher at the University of Kassel (Germany) for four years. He conducted research on several projects for the German Federal Environment Agency and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) on practical questions regarding river restoration and flood protection. During this period, Dr. Ulf Stein also lectured at the University of Kassel in freshwater ecology, water resource management and geographic information systems (GIS) and mentored students.

Prior to that, from 2002 to 2006, he worked as a landscape planner within the field of impact assessment, site investigation and nature management at the landscape architecture firm Faktorgruen.

Alongside his work for Ecologic Institute, Dr. Ulf Stein completed his doctorate at the University of Kassel on reference conditions of small siliceous mountain streams. His dissertation research was carried out at the Kellerwald-Edersee national park.

Dr. Ulf Stein studied landscape planning and nature conservation at Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), the University of Guelph (Canada) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) with a focus on nature conservation, planning, and environmental management.

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Recent content by Dr. Ulf Stein

Project:Horizon Europe
 
Govaqua Logo
The overall goal of GOVAQUA is to identify, assess, develop and validate innovative water governance instruments and approaches to support and accelerate a transition towards sustainable and equitable water use in Europe. Such a transition is urgently required to reconcile water uses and environmental needs and to reach the aims of the EU WFD, the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. GOVAQUA is a 4-year Research and Innovation Action (funded by the EU) that brings together 12 partners from across Europe.

Governance Innovations for a Transition to Sustainable and Equitable Water Use in Europe (GOVAQUA)

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Publication:Article
 
1st page of the article "Making Urban Water Management Tangible for the Public by Means of Digital Solutions"
This article written by Dr. Ulf Stein and Benedict Bueb from Ecologic Institute together with researchers of the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAE) presents insights of two case studies, in Paris and Berlin, which investigated the potential of two mobile applications to make urban water management visible to the public and thus increase awareness about certain water management aspects.

Making Urban Water Management Tangible for the Public by Means of Digital Solutions

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Publication:Article
 
first page of the article "The diagnostic water governance tool "
This article written by several researchers from Ecologic Institute provides a review of different digital tools and resources available to support related decision-making processes in the search for solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Furthermore, it introduces the Diagnostic Water Governance Tool (DWGT) that builds on a clear diagnosis-therapy-logic.

The Diagnostic Water Governance Tool

Supporting cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination in water resources management

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Project
 
In addition to the protection of still intact peatlands, the restoration and sustainable management of previously drained peatland soils are important contributions for protecting biodiversity and the mitigation of climate change. In order to address these needs in a more targeted manner, the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) published the first National Peatland Protection Strategy in September 2021. Together with DUENE e.V., Ecologic Institute supports the implementation of the National Peatland Protection Strategy.

Implementation of the National Peatland Protection Strategy

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Publication:Policy Brief
 
Cover of the policy brief "Digitalisation in the water sector recommendations for policy developments at EU Level"
This policy brief prepared by Dr. Ulf Stein and Benedict Bueb from Ecologic Institute together with other European experts was published by the European Commission. It provides an overview of current gaps in the EU legislative framework that hinder the realization of the benefits of digitalisation in the water sector and offers concrete recommendations on how to overcome them.

Digitalisation in the Water Sector

Recommendations for Policy Developments at EU Level

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Publication:Article
 
Cover of the journal
Germany must reduce input of pollutants into water bodies, enable the development of near-natural water bodies, and restore and improve the continuity of water bodies to achieve the objectives of the Water Framework Directive in the future. The article highlights individual legal levers, especially in legal areas beyond water law, to tackle these tasks and to bring surface waters and groundwater to a good status, as required by the Directive, in the medium and long term.

Rechtliche Hebel zum Erreichen der Ziele der Wasserrahmenrichtlinie

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Presentation:Chairing
 
The World Water Day, was introduced by the United Nations in 1992 to remind people of water as an essential resource for life. For this year's theme "Groundwater – making the invisible visible", Ecologic Institute co-organized a webinar to present an augmented reality app that was developed as part of the project Digital Water City (DWC). The webinar was moderated by Alexander Sperlich (BWB) and Dr. Ulf Stein (Ecologic Institute).

Making Groundwater Visible


Dr. Ulf Stein

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Publication:Report
 
Cover of the Report "Guidance note on site selection. Support to Member States regarding the monitoring of effects of air pollution on ecosystems according to Article 9(1) of the NEC Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2284)"
To support Member States meet their reporting requirements and improve their monitoring, Ecologic Institute developed a site selection guidance. The use of this guidance will help Member States develop a representative network of ecosystem monitoring sites across the EU, covering freshwater ecosystems, natural and semi-natural habitats as well as forests. The guidance on how sites are selected is voluntary for the Member States to apply in accordance with their own circumstances. It can be used for setting up a new monitoring network or expanding/improving an existing network to identify the most appropriate locations to monitor.

Guidance Note on Site Selection

Support to Member States regarding the monitoring of effects of air pollution on ecosystems according to Article 9(1) of the NEC Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2284)

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Project
 
In KliMaWerk, integrated measures and strategies are developed to increase hydrological and ecological resilience for watercourses affected by climate change. Special consideration is given to low-flow and drying situations, alternating with heavy rainfall events. The ecological functions of the water bodies as well as competing water body uses are taken into account through the integrated consideration of an entire water body catchment area. What is new here is the holistic view of the landscape water balance, instead of a narrow focus on individual spatial elements or individual user groups.

Sustainable Management of the Landscape Water Balance to Increase Climate Resilience (KliMaWerk)

Management and tools

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