Participants of the international Workshop "Circum Mare Balticum" hosted by the Swedish embassy
The Swedish embassy in Berlin hosted a Dinner on June 15, 2011 for the Participants of the international workshop "Regional availability of climate knowledge in the Baltic Sea" at the Nordic Embassies. In his opening address, the deputy head of the Swedish Embassy – Torbjörn Haak – confirmed the interest of his country in the topic and pointed out the work of the Baltic Sea Council, where Germany will succeed Norway in the presidency in July this year.
In this article, Kate Galbraith addresses the corrosive effect of partisan wrangling and budget cuts on policy effectiveness and the global standing of the United States, particularly with respect to environmental diplomacy to address climate change. R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute is quoted providing a European perspective.
Scientists and practitioners have rarely had the opportunity to exchange their ideas on climate adaptation in such an up-to-date and direct way as at the second RADOST annual conference on 18 and 19 May in Travemünde. What are the expected impacts of climate change at the regional and local level at the German Baltic Sea coast? How can local stakeholders adapt to these? What kind of scientific information do they need as a basis for implementing such measures? These questions were discussed by 75 scientists in the fields of climate and natural science research, political science and sociology, together with representatives from politics, administration, economy and civil society in several science-practice dialogues. This offered stakeholders willing to promote climate adaptation in their region another opportunity to get involved in the design of this development process.
How can the EU and the US work together to improve management of coastal and ocean affairs, not only within their own territories, but across the North Atlantic? What are the obstacles to establishing integrated and science-based frameworks formaritime governance in the EU and US, and how can they be overcome? How can management be improved through the involvement of key players from science, industry, civil society and government? These questions and more were debated at the Cooperation Across the Atlantic for Marine Governance Integration (CALAMAR) final conference that took place in Lisbon (Portugal). 
"Security" is a much wider concept today than it was just some decades ago. Today, the concept is applied not only to new and diffuse military threats such as global terrorism but has been broadened to include additional areas such as food, water, health and other issues, of which many are intimately related to the environment and to its protection. But is this shift helpful for the environment and/or for populations under duress? What are the implications for the world's most conflicted and environmentally fragile regions? These questions formed the basis of discussions during a recent meeting of the CLICO project hosted by Ecologic Institute from 16 to 18 February 2011 in Berlin.
What practical measures can already be taken and implemented now in order to adapt to climate change? The competition "forward-thinking change – act now: adaptation pioneers wanted!" is looking for answers to this question. It was launched by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and KomPass – the German Federal Environment Agency’s Competence Centre on Climate Impacts and Adaptation – in cooperation with Ecologic Institute.
A breakthrough in the UN climate negotiations was achieved in Cancun, Mexico, during the first two weeks of December 2010. After the collapse of negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, the Cancun conference revived the process by reaching a set of operational decisions that both formalise essential elements of last year’s “Copenhagen Accord” and keep the prospect of a binding agreement open. The decisions address key elements of the climate negotiations such as the aim of limiting the temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, a formal anchoring of mitigation pledges by developed countries as well as mitigation actions by developing countries, transparency of actions and a new Global Climate Fund. The decisions have given a new impulse to building the future climate regime, but details still need to be worked out in the run-up to the next summit in South Africa in November/December 2011. More and more civil society observers are attending the COPs every year, and many observers essentially treat the COP as a central, global meeting place for all discussions, academic work and outreach related to climate change. A delegation from Ecologic Institute also attended the climate summit.