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Groundwater and Agriculture: A Comparison of Managing Scarcity and Droughts in France and California

As part of the EU H2020 RURECO project, Associate fellow Dr. Josselin Rouillard carried out a one-month research exchange with the University of Davis, California focusing on sustainable groundwater management in Europe, France and California. Seminars with academic staff at UC Davis and Stanford University were organised comparing European and Californian strategies for sustainable groundwater management. Workshops and meetings were organised with the State Water Resource Control Board and nine groundwater sustainable agencies across the state of California. The blogpost is linked in the article.Read more

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Article

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Inklusiv oder exklusiv? Die Postwachstumsbewegung zwischen Elite und Ideal

The ideal of economic growth goes back to the period of industrialisation, when development and growth meant almost the same thing: Progress. But what happens in a society where it is clear that resources are limited? Marius Hasenheit of Ecologic Institute and Viola Nordsieck discuss these questions in the discussion paper "Aspects of Group-Related Misanthropy in Nature and Environmental Protection". The discussion paper is available for download.Read more

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Article

Adaptation

Cultural Ecology

Using Historical Storms for Flood Risk Management

The 1872 Storm in South Sweden

The volume "Sites of Remembering: Landscapes, Lessons, Policies" of the Rachel Carson Centres' journal called "Perspectives" bridges the gap between humanities research and public policy. It uses a diverse selection of examples from worldwide memory studies to illuminate how society can employ lessons from the past in building resilience to ecological and humanitarian disasters. Dr. Grit Martinez of Ecologic Institute is a co-author. The volume is available for download.Read more

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Article

Climate

Policy Assessment

Dieser Begriff ist ein Sieg für alle, die nichts verändern wollen

Framing-Check: "Klimawandel"

The widespread use of the term "climate change" is an important framing victory for those who are not interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as required by the Paris Agreement. With this framing, it is no wonder that neither citizens nor policy reduce emissions sufficiently. that neither is what Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf, Head of International and European Governance at Ecologic Institute, writes in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. His article is available online.Read more

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Le projet FIThydro: Une initiative européenne pour une hydroélectricité durable et respectueuse des poissons

Hydropower now accounts for 18% of electricity generated across Europe and 70% of renewable energy. Most of Europe's hydropower plants have been in operation for several decades. They are therefore about to be renovated, modernized and expanded. Only recently has the emphasis been placed on the protection of fish. European countries must adhere to the Water Framework Directive, which calls for environmentally friendly, socially acceptable and economically viable hydropower. The FIThydro project deals with this topic and wrote an article. Eleftheria Kampa from Ecologic Institute contributed to this article. It is available for download.Read more

Publication

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Sustainability

Water

Dem Plastik auf der Spur

Plastic in the environment is a global problem that is particularly visible in a growing volume of plastic waste in the sea. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has set up a major research focus to investigate the extent of the problem in more detail and to develop approaches to reducing it. Until 2021, a total of 18 joint projects with more than 100 institutions from science, industry, and practice will be funded with 35 million euros in one of the world's largest research programmes on plastics to date. In addition to the main areas of work, the authors of the Ecologic Institute examines the research projects in more detail.Read more

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Article

Biodiversity

Cost-effective Restoration and Conservation Planning in Green and Blue Infrastructure Designs

A case study on the Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean: Andalusia (Spain) – Morocco

Green and Blue Infrastructure (GBI) is a network designed and planned to deliver awide range of ecosystem services and to protect biodiversity. Existing GBI designs lacked a systematic method to allocate restoration zones. This study proposes a novel approach for systematically selecting cost-effective areas for restoration on the basis of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and ecosystem condition to give an optimal spatial design of GBI. Ecologic Institute's Hugh McDonald contributed to this article.Read more

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Transformative Capacity and Local Action for Urban Sustainability

There is a consensus about the strategic importance of cities and urban areas for achieving a global transformation towards sustainability. While there is mounting interest in the types of qualities that increase the capacity of urban systems to attain deep transformations, empirical evidence about the extent to which existing institutional and material systems exhibit transformative capacity is lacking. This paper thereby seeks to determine the extent to which sustainability initiatives led by local governments and their partners reflect the various components that the literature claims can influence the emergence of transformative capacity as a systemic property of urban settings. The article is available for download.Read more

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Article

Agriculture

Bioeconomy

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Soil

Sustainability

The "Invisible" Subsoil

An Exploratory View of Societal Acceptance of Subsoil Management in Germany

Hidden beneath the humus-rich topsoil, the subsoil usually receives little attention in agricultural practice. Yet, plants cover between 10 and 80% of their nutrient and water needs from subsoils. Measures to improve the subsoil could help in bridging droughts and stabilising yields. But how do farmers and other societal actors perceive different methods for subsoil management? Ecologic Institutes's Ana Frelih-Larsen, Mandy Hinzmann and Sophie Ittner published the first exploratory research results on the societal acceptance of subsoil management in the open access journal Sustainability. Read more

Publication

Article

Global Environment

Governance

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Sustainability

Developing Countries in the Lead – What Drives the Diffusion of Plastic Bag Policies?

While diffusion patterns are quite well understood in the context of the Global North, diffusion research has only been applied to a limited extent to investigate how policies spread across developing countries. Ecologic Institute's Doris Knoblauch, Linda Mederake and Ulf Stein therefore analyze the diffusion patterns of plastic bag bans and taxes in the Global South and Global North to contribute to the further refinement of diffusion theory by specifically addressing the under-researched Global South. The article is available for download.Read more