In the wake of the German elections in 2017, the lead candidate of the Green Party, Cem Özdemir, presented his foreign policy concept. Dr. Camilla Bausch of Ecologic Institute and Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German Marshall Fund were invited to comment on his approach, which he framed as "value-based realism".

<p>Ever tried bycatch curry, or discussed ocean sustainability while sipping seaweed cocktails? The fourth Science Sips event took place on 19 July 2017 at the Berlin Museum for Natural History and featured talks that explore fisheries policy.</p>&#13;

<p>The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the upcoming climate negotiations and global trends in the energy sector – these topics were discussed during a panel discussion on "Current Challenges in Climate and Energy Policy" at the Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

<p>Is the existing EU policy framework fit to protect and restore marine biodiversity? Could an upstream approach such as the utilization of ecosystem-based management be the key to coordinating environmental policies? At the Future Oceans conference titled "Advances in Integrated Ocean Research towards Sustainable Development" held at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Kiel from 2 until 7 July 2017, Ecologic Institute's Katrina Abhold and Lina Röschel gave short, energetic talks that addressed exactly these pressing issues in the fields of marine science and policy. In the Science Session on Ocean Resilience on Tuesday 4 July 2017, Katrina Abhold, a Researcher at Ecologic Institute, presented ecosystem-based management (EBM) as an opportunity to strengthen EU environmental policy coordination to better protect aquatic biodiversity.</p>&#13;

<p>Is the existing EU policy framework fit to protect and restore marine biodiversity? Could an upstream approach such as ecosystem-based management be the key to coordinating environmental policies? At the Future Oceans conference titled "Advances in Integrated Ocean Research towards Sustainable Development" held in Kiel (Germany) from 2 until 7 July 2017, Ecologic Institute's Katrina Abhold and Lina Röschel gave short, energetic talks that addressed exactly these pressing issues in the fields of marine science and policy. On Monday 3 July 2017, Junior Researcher Lina Röschel kicked off the Science Session on Ocean Pressures by elaborating on the complexity of the EU's existing policy framework in relation to halting biodiversity loss.</p>&#13;

<p>On 30 June 2017, the Federal Environment Minister Dr. Barbara Hendricks kicked off the Dialogue Forum "Wirtschaft macht Klimaschutz" ("Business Mitigates Climate Protection"). More than 130 participants from companies from all economic sectors met to discuss the development of joint strategies and practical implementation measures for enabling climate protection. The Federal Environment Minister's speech, as well as presentations and photos from the conference are available online.</p>&#13;&#13;

<p>More than 450 decision-makers discussed the urgent matters of our time during the "World Food Convention 2017", where the Ecologic Institute was a partner. Stephanie Wunder, Ecologic Institute's Senior Fellow joined the World Food Convention's panel on "Human Eating Behaviour" in June 2017. In her statement she pointed out that eating behavior can be changed and diets can be healthier and more environmentally friendly at the same time. However, as she underlined, we should not trust that the informed consumer will simply change the system, and that we need to make it easier for people to live healthier: provide access to good foods, get the prices right and reconnect people to the food system.</p>&#13;

In 2050 nine billion people will live on Earth. Already now with only seven billion people to feed, the distribution of resources is unequal and the global food system is not sustainable. With the World Food Convention, the German newspaper Tagesspiegel organized an international high level event on 22 June 2017 in Berlin. 500 participants from policy, industry, diplomacy, NGOs as well as science and academia discussed the most pressing issues of global food production and distribution. The Ecologic Institute was a partner of the World Food Convention. Ecologic Institute's Senior Fellow Stephanie Wunder spoke in the panel "Human Eating Behaviour".

The third Science Sips event event once again offered the opportunity to discuss mare topics together with by-catch curry or seaweed cocktails. At the event on 21 June 2017, three short presentations on the subject of biodiversity of the oceans were presented. Additionally, the winners of the recipe contest "Klug gefischt/Smart fishing" were honored during this event.

<p>Reconciling economic priorities with biodiversity conservation remains a key challenge for EU Member States in their efforts to pursue sustainable growth. A workshop on "Linking Biodiversity to National Economic and Social Priorities in EU Member States" was held by Ecologic Institute and IEEP in Berlin (Germany) on 19 July 2017 to explore this challenge in more detail and identify opportunities for unlocking nature's potential to contribute to socio-economic objectives. The presentations are available for download.</p>

<p>From 18 to 24 June 2017, Ecologic Institute implemented a visitors program on the German Energy Transition for 17 international experts and journalists. Participants were able to speak with representatives from ministries, parliament, think tanks and NGOs in Hamburg, Kiel and Berlin. Both national policies and examples of local and regional implementation of German energy policy were highlighted during the tour.</p>&#13;

<p>How can culture contribute to change? How can and should it contribute to achieving environmental sustainability? Dr. Camilla Bausch was invited to reflect on such questions in the context of the 8th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.</p>&#13;

<p>What is the importance of the Baltic Sea marine environment to society? How do human activities contribute to national and regional economies? How does the state of the marine environment contribute to the well-being of current and future generations? The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) brought together around 800 players active in the Baltic Sea region to reflect on common challenges, the EU Strategy and its objectives. Ecologic Institute's Benjamin Boteler was invited to participate as a panelist at the HELCOM session "Latest status of the sea revealed" held on 13 June 2017.</p>&#13;

<p>On 1 June 2017, Ecologic Institute hosted a Dinner Dialogue on the EU Climate and Energy Policy 2030 featuring guest speakers Artur Runge-Metzger (European Commission, DG CLIMA), Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf (Ecologic Institut) und Franziska Erdle (WV Metalle). Franzjosef Schafhausen moderated the discussion. The 22 participants discussed how the EU crisis and concerns around a loss of democracy impact the future of EU climate and energy policy.</p>

<p>In the FP-7 project RISC-KIT, completed in April 2017, Ecologic Institute and partners added historical and socio-cultural contextuality into political processes of risk management decisions in coastal regions. Lead by Ecologic Institute more than 150 face-to-face interviews were conducted by RISC-KIT partners. The results of the investigation have been processed within the RISC-KIT toolkit, inter alias the web-based management guide as well as contributed to the RISC-KIT policy brief. The results are available online.</p>