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Ecologic Institute's Events at COP24

The annual climate change summit in 2018 takes place in the Polish city of Katowice. The task for negotiators is clear: agree a stringent rulebook for the Paris Agreement to ensure the global climate change treaty can work effectively. The summit, formally the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP24), will also see high-level events and provide a forum to discuss relevant developments in climate change policy from around the world. Ecologic Institute will attend the talks with a delegation of 12 colleagues, assisting with legal expertise on actual negotiation matters, but also presenting relevant research results to add to the global dialogue

Presentation

Speech

Agriculture

Health

Urban Food Policy

TimeLoc

23 November 2018

Vienna

Austria

Stephanie Wunder

At the November 2018 food conference of the Austrian council presidency Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, discussed the role of urban food policies to support healthy lifestyles. She discussed the opportunities of local food initiatives with regard to health, food security and sustainability. Many local initiatives have in common that they try to tackle food production and consumption in a more integrated way by reconnecting people to their food production, stimulating healthy eating behaviours and supporting environmentally sound regional production. The session discussed how to overcome barriers and how to benefit from inter-sectorial collaboration throughout the process of planning and implementing coherent policies.Read more

Event

Workshop

Agriculture

Consumer Policy

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Sustainability

EU Policy Workshop to Reduce Consumer Food Waste

TimeLoc

19 November 2018

Berlin

Germany

Public campaigns and other policy instruments can significantly influence consumer behavior and contribute to a reduction of consumer food waste. The REFRESH Policy Workshop "Public campaigns and other policy options for behaviour change" discussed the findings of REFRESH work on consumer behaviour and policy recommendations with regard to reducing consumer food waste. Based on a detailed report and policy brief developed by the Ecologic Institute, the workshop provided ideas and inspirations for EU and national policy makers in designing appropriate interventions against consumer food waste. The workshop took place on 19 November 2018 in the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture in Berlin. The background report, policy brief, workshop minutes, agenda and presentation are available for download.Read more

Project

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Soil

Sustainable Subsoil Management as Part of the Bioeconomy (Soil³)

October 2015 to September 2018

October 2018 to September 2021

Fertile soils are an indispensable resource for agriculture and the Bioeconomy as a whole. Subsoils contain a major part of the nutrients essential for plants, a resource potential that has thus far not yet been fully understood nor used. In order to harness this untapped potential, the Soil³ project examines the subsoil processes and application of alternative subsoil management measures. The Ecologic Institute will conduct research on the costs, benefits and social acceptance of these measures.Read more

Event

Preventing and Remediating Degradation of Soils in Europe – RECARE Final Policy Conference

TimeLoc

27 September 2018

Brussels

Belgium

What is the best way forward for soil protection in the EU? How can we improve EU policies to secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services? These questions were the focus of the final policy conference of the RECARE project which took place on 27 September 2018 in Brussels. More than 100 participants from 21 countries participated in the conference.Read more

Publication

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

Umweltdelikte 2016: Auswertung von Statistiken

This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2004 and 2016, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik") and the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution statistics ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both, an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. In addition, the publication contains data on administrative offences relating to trafficking of protected species. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.Read more

Publication

RECARE Project – Finding and sharing solutions to protect our soils

This brochure describes the threats to soils in Europe, how the RECARE project has addressed these and provides clear examples of soil management options and policy solutions. Ecologic Institute's Ana Frelih-Larsen and Sandra Naumann contributed to the RECARE project brochure, which is available for download.Read more

Publication

Remediating Historical Soil Contamination

Effective Measures and Policy Solutions

The problem of historical contamination remains an important gap in European policymaking on soils. Political commitment is required to address the issue of historical contamination systematically by providing a common EU framework to guide and facilitate activities at the national level, where in turn establishing and implementing national strategies for managing soil contamination is important. Finally, improving knowledge, sharing, and availability of existing information, and engaging stakeholders in the process of remediating soil contamination is recommended by the authors, lead by Ana Frelih-Larsen and Sophie Ittner of Ecologic Institute. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.Read more

Publication

Subsoil Compaction – A threat to sustainable food production and soil ecosystem services

The persistent damaging impacts of subsoil compaction call for policy intervention in order to secure yields and adapt to climate change, as well as to sustain soil ecosystem services for future generations. The authors of this RECARE Policy Brief, including Ana Frelih-Larsen of Ecologic Institute, demand that policy responses need to address the underlying drivers of farmers' decision-making concerning field traffic through a systematic and coordinated approach for sustainable soil management in Europe. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.Read more

Publication

Soil Sealing and Land Take

Despite the extensive loss of productive soils and the valuable ecosystem services that soils provide, the awareness of the magnitude and negative implications of these processes remain relatively low. In this RECARE policy brief, Ecologic Institute's Sandra Naumann and Ana Frelih-Larsen together with Gundula Prokop from the Austrian Environment Agency illustrate the scale of the problem and identify ready-made solutions and steps policy makers and practitioners can take across different levels, from city planning to national and European level. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.Read more