Since the 1992 Dublin and Rio de Janeiro conferences, the river basin approach to the management of water resources has become more and more established. This trend reached its preliminary apex in Europe with the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which binds all Member States to this approach in order to achieve its ambitious goals. In the issue 7/2008 of the journal "KW Korrespondenz Wasserwirtschaft", Stefan von Keitz (biologist) and Peter Kessler (lawyer), Senior Policy Advisor with Ecologic, put this approach to test and deliver a series of arguments for a restricted use of the river basin management approach. In the journal’s following issue (8/2008), Prof. Uwe Grünewald (hydrologist) disagrees with this position and argues for a consistent application of an integrated water management approach with the river basin as its basic unit.

Raggamby, Anneke von and Olympia Papadopoulou 2008: "A Review of Dissemination Activities in the Duration of the Project", in: GEM-CON-BIO. Governance and Ecosystems Management for the Conservation of Biodiversity. Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 253-255.

Naumann, Sandra and Anneke von Raggamby 2008: "Biosphere Reserve Schorfheide-Chorin", in: GEM-CON-BIO. Governance and Ecosystems Management for the Conservation of Biodiversity. Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 114-116.

More and more instruments require the internalisation of greenhouse gas emissions costs. Yet, it is very unlikely that a single global price for carbon will prevail. A frequently voiced concern is that states with stringent climate policies will place domestic industries at a disadvantage relative to competitors in states with less ambitious climate efforts. In this chapter, published in the briefing paper "Competitive distortions and leakage in a world of different carbon prices" for the European Parliament, the Ecologic authors Michael Mehling, Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf und Ralph Czarnecki analyse restrictive trade measures to offset the regulatory burden of climate policies, particularly border adjustments, from a legal point of view.

This issue of the Carbon & Climate Law Review (CCLR) provides an up-to-date analysis of recent developments in greenhouse gas regulation and climate policies in Canada and the United States, identifying new opportunities for transatlantic cooperation. Michael Mehling, president of the Ecologic Institute in Washington, D.C., edited this issue of the CCLR.

Past energy policies are largely to blame for climate change, and now, more than ever, the security implications demand a transformation of energy systems and infrastructure. In this commentary, R. Andreas Kraemer, Director of Ecologic, argues that such a transformation would be possible both technically and economically, but that it requires political will and coordinated action and would need to be accompanied by reform of international institutions.

Corruption in the development sector had been a ‘no issue’ until the beginning 1990s. It was assumed that safeguards and controls were put in place somehow and that corruption could cause nothing worse than costs on top of development aid projects. Evidence has since been gathered that shows the lack of access to clean water supply, sanitation and sustainable ecological development is not due to a lack of natural resources nor of technical solutions: It is a crisis of governance. Grit Martinez, Fellow at Ecologic, and Kathleen Shordt elaborate the role and responsibilities of donors in the fight against corruption in the water sector.

Germany's population is shrinking. While a growing population has long been understood as a threat to the environment, a shrinking population does not automatically improve the environmental situation. But what are the environmental sustainability implications of demographic trends in Germany? In their publication "Demographic Change and Sustainability: A Generational Balance", R. Andreas Kraemer, Daniel Blobel, Anneke von Raggamby and Doris Knoblauch develop approaches for a generational balance in selected areas, namely natural resource use (energy supply, settlement and transport) and nature conservation.

The participation requirements (§14) of the EC Water Framework Directive (WFD) launched, for the first time, a broader discussion about participatory approaches in water management. Still, the demand for policies, which are oriented toward the public and public participation, is nothing new. Many forms of participation have been known and tested since the 70s and 80s. Most of them emerged from city and regional planning projects and discussions. In this book, the INTERREG III B project "RhineNet" presents its experiences based on its own as well as external case studies regarding the participation requirements of the WFD in the Rhine basin area.

<p>&#13; The meeting, which took place at COPA-COGECA in Brussels, was attended by representatives from different agricultural unions of the EU. Thomas Dworak focused his lecture on the main links between the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Common Agricultural Policy.</p>&#13;

Ecologic, together with IÖW – Institute for Ecological Economy Research, will host a summer school on Methods and Tools for Impact Assessment&nbsp;from 16&nbsp;- 20&nbsp;June this year in Berlin. The summer school addresses young scientists and consultants from European institutes who are involved in sustainable development and environmental research and want to improve their knowledge and skills in impact assessment. The programme combines input lectures with practical training sessions on relevant methods, such as stakeholder participation, scenario building, multi-criteria analysis, and cost-benefit analysis.