Current developments at EU level indicate that water supply could soon no longer be subject to municipal self-administration, but instead to European competition rules and to a mandatory tendering procedure. In Germany, steps on reforming the water sector are currently considered in the framework of the national modernisation strategy. Against this background, the Green Party (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) in the German Parliament commissioned Ecologic to prepare an expert opinion on sustainable water management in Germany.

On the state of the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in the Danube River Basin, a Roof Report 2004 was developed by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube and delivered to the European Commission in addition to the national reports. Ecologic Institute developed the chapter on Heavily Modified and Artificial Water Bodies.

This policy report seeks to give an overview of the current state of biodiversity and relevant law, and policy in Central Asia and Mongolia. It elaborates the international and national legal basis for access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits derived from their utilization, as well as for the protection of traditional knowledge.

The issue of "Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns" has gained a new impetus in international debates as a result of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 2002. The States now face the challenge of fleshing out the "10-year-framework for programmes" by integrating programme content at their respective national levels. Germany currently faces a multitude of approaches and initiatives to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns,  and the challenge now lies in how to consolidate these methods. Ecologic supports the German Federal Environmental Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency in this project.

How can the rate of land consumed on greenfield sites for purposes of urban development and traffic be reduced? Which instruments are most appropriate to use in reaching this goal? How significant will fiscal, economic, regulatory and planning tools be in reducing and managing land development? Which tasks will have to be carried out at the national, regional and local level to support this aim? These and other vital questions were discussed at the Workshop Land Use Planning and Management at the Local Level.

This brochure introduces the Aarhus Convention and shows which rights to information, to participation and to file suit citizens are entitled to in the area of the environment, and how they can exercise these rights.

The study analyses and evaluates the enforcement of environmental Community law by German administrative law as well as the national law of the EU Member States. For these purposes, the efficiency of national administrative measures in guaranteeing the protection of the environment as requested by specific European Directives and Regulations is illustrated in theory and practice.

The German drinking water supply system is under pressure: European Commission plans indicate that the water supply should no longer be subject to municipal self-administration, but instead to European competition rules, and maybe even to a mandatory tendering procedure. Such a development would have far-reaching effects on the German drinking water supply. Against this background, Ecologic, in co-operation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, invited political actors from the European and national level, as well as representatives from the water industry, to an expert workshop that took place on 21 January 2004 in Berlin.

Commissioned by the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ecologic is preparing an official handbook on the UNFCCC.

As part of the Sustainable Development Strategy process, a conference entitled "Dialogue for the National Sustainable Development Strategy: How could its environmental profile be strengthened?" was held on 18-19 March 2004. Ecologic Institute conceptually prepared the conference and wrote the final report. Six topics of cross-sectional interest were chosen and guidelines for discussions developed.