Article | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

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Article

Climate

Policy Assessment

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Contemporary Resource Policy and Decoupling Trends

Lessons Learnt from Integrated Model-Based Assessments

Addressing climate change and natural resource depletion has been key to the international and national sustainability agenda for almost 30 years. Despite existing efforts, global CO2 emissions and raw material use levels continue to grow. This seems to suggest the need for more systemic approaches in environmental policy. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers, call upon policy makers to integrate rebound mitigation strategies and move beyond exclusively improving efficiency to tackling structural and behavioural changes. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

Opportunities and Barriers for Water Co-Governance

A Critical Analysis of Seven Cases of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in Europe, Australia and North America

Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture (DWPA) and its governance has received increased attention as a policy concern across the globe. Mitigation of DWPA is a complex problem that requires a mix of policy instruments and a multi-agency, broad societal response. In this article - to which Dr. Grit Martinez and Dr. Nico Stelljes of Ecologic Institute contributed as co-authors - opportunities and barriers for developing co-governance, defined as collaborative societal involvement in the functions of government, and its suitability for mitigation of DWPA, are reviewed using seven case studies in Europe, Australia and North America. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Cultural Ecology

Water

Experiences and Results from Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Utilizing Qualitative Information to Formulate Disaster Risk Reduction Measures for Coastal Regions

The article illustrates both the potential and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration amongst researchers from the social sciences/humanities and the natural sciences/engineering in formulating disaster risk reduction measures for coastal regions. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Grit Martinez, share their experiences of working across different scientific and engineering disciplines in the EU project RISC-KIT to co-produce disaster risk reduction measures suitable for specific regional and local contexts, in this case two coastal study areas in Europe (Porto Garibaldi, Italy and Rio Formosa, Portugal). The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Individual Local Farmers' Perceptions of Environmental Change in Tanzania

Communications – Water

Röschel, Lina, et. al. 2018: Individual Local Farmers' Perceptions of Environmental Change in Tanzania. Water 10(4), 525.Read more

Publication

Article

Cities

Water

Getting into the Water with the Ecosystem Services Approach

The DESSIN ESS evaluation framework

Ecologic Institute contributed to a practical guide for local-level evaluations of changes in ecosystem services. The approach helps to associate such changes to specific water management measures and enables both monetization and qualitative appraisal of impacts. Possible links between WFD State parameters and specific ESS classes are proposed. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Biodiversity

Water

Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity Across the Freshwater, Coastal and Marine Realms

Is the existing EU policy framework fit for purpose?

This paper presents an integrated assessment of how EU policies influence aquatic biodiversity in order to determine how EU policies and laws contribute to achieving and/or hindering EU and international biodiversity targets. The authors from Ecologic Institute, IUCN, and ACTeon also discuss whether European policy has a synergistic or conflicting mix of instruments to address the main problems facing aquatic biodiversity, and whether there are any gaps in the existing policy framework. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Climate

Environmental Law

Negotiating Climate Change in the UN

Same Procedure as Every Year? Not Quite!

In their 2007 publication for the first issue of CCLR, Dr. Camilla Bausch, Director of Ecologic Institute, and Michael Mehling, Partner and Board Member of the Institute, took stock of progress with climate negotiations under the United Nations. Now, a decade later, they have revisited their assessment, tracing the tumultuous path of negotiations since 2007, and pointing to milestones in the journey, major achievements, as well as challenges that lie ahead.Read more

Publication

The Adaptive Marine Policy (AMP) Toolbox

Supporting Policy-Makers Developing Adaptive Policies in the Mediterranean and Black Sea

This article describes the functionality of the Adaptive Marine Policy (AMP) toolbox, which was developed in order to operationalize the design and implementation of adaptive policies on the basis of the Ecosystem-Based Approach (EBA). It aims at providing policy makers with a practical framework to design and implement adaptive policies. The authors, among them Ecologic Institute's Benjamin Boteler and Ina Krüger, summarize the results of the application of the toolbox to the marine litter issue in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The article is available for download. Read more

Publication

The Role of Historical Storm Events in Risk Analysis

A study of the coastal flood events in 1872 and 1904 along the South and East Coast of Scania, Sweden, Vatten.

This study presents information about the storms in 1872 and 1904 that occurred along the coast of Scania that is analysed with respect to the evolution of risk awareness, vulnerability, and societies' resilience over time. The article, to which Dr. Grit Martinez from Ecologic Institute contributed, is available for download.Read more

Publication

Article

Biodiversity

Coastal + Marine

Protecting Aquatic Biodiversity in Europe

How much do EU environmental policies support ecosystem-based management?

As part of the Horizon 2020 project AQUACROSS, Ecologic Institute and consortium members have published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Ambio examining the potential of Ecosystem-Based Management as an integrative policy concept for improving the integration of freshwater, coastal and marine policies. The article further examines synergies, barriers and opportunities between key European environmental policies to protect aquatic biodiversity across the three water realms. The article is available for download.