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

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Project

Global Land Use and Sustainability (GLOBALANDS)

September 2011 to June 2014

August 2012 to June 2015

The pressure on land and natural resources is increasing worldwide. While there are many sectoral policies tackling different environmental problems, land use is not regulated in an integrated and overarching way. The discussion on sustainable biofuels and biomass highlights the continued lack of an effective and innovative framework to deal with complex land-use issues. The aim of the GLOBALANDS project is to identify existing land use policies and develop possible governance tools towards a more resource efficient and sustainable global land use.Read more

Project

International Development

Water

Water, Food and Energy Security in a Green Economy

October 2010 to December 2010

The water supply, energy and agricultural sectors have a common interest in the protection and sustainable use of water resources: the development goals water, food and energy security are critically dependent upon the availability of water in sufficient quality and quantity. Mutually beneficial solutions for the three sectors have the potential to assist the transformation towards a green economy, with the following fields of action: i) resource efficiency, ii) green investment and iii) ecosystem services. This study analyzes the main relationships between sustainable water use and the green economy.Read more

Project

Real World Consumer Behaviour

December 2008 to November 2009

How does real-world consumer behaviour deviate from that predicted by rational choice theory? This project compiled insights emerging from the parallel disciplines of behavioural economics as well as commercial and social marketing with respect to sustainable consumption in Europe. The project analysed the applicability of these disciplines to European environmental consumer policy. As a result, the project formulated real-world recommendations for environmental consumer policy in five specific areas: food and drink, consumer electronics, vehicles, white goods and energy.

Publication

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture within the Current Legal Regime Complex on Plant Genetic Resources

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is the most recent piece in the current regime complex on plant genetic resources. In their article for the Journal of World Intellectual Property, Christiane Gerstetter, Benjamin Görlach, Kirsten Neumann and Dora Schaffrin investigate the legal relationship between the ITPGRFA, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the TRIPS Agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Acts of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).Read more

Project

Rural Areas - People - Innovative Development (RAPIDO)

March 2007 to February 2009

Despite three generations of rural development policies and with the 4th starting in 2007, rural areas still face considerable problems. Many problems of European societies such as an ageing population, high unemployment rates, social disparities and the lack of adaptive potential to the global market are more pronounced in rural areas than elsewhere. To overcome these problems, it is essential to link public, private and inter-sectoral initiatives to foster innovation. RAPIDO has been established to analyse current best practices concerning the development of innovation in agriculture,Read more

Project

FP 6

Agriculture

Food

Cross Compliance: Costs, Benefits and Competition Effects

May 2005 to October 2007

One of the key elements of the latest 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is compulsory compliance with environmental, food safety, animal welfare, and animal and plant health standards. Additionally it is required that farmers maintain their farmland in good agricultural and environmental condition as a condition for receiving direct payments. The project will focus on the investigation of the value-added resulting from introducing cross-compliance as a tool to improve compliance with existing standards; and the investigation of the cost implications and competitionRead more

Project

Food

Health

Ecologic Legal

The Precautionary Principle in the European Environmental, Health and Food Safety Policy

November 2002 to March 2004

The precautionary principle is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union governing policies related to the environment, health and food safety. To achieve a better understanding of the application of the precautionary principle in European policy Ecologic advised the Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI) in the framework of the project "European Precautionary practice". Read more