How can societies adapt to increasing flood risk in river basins and coastal areas? While a large range of potential adaptation options exists, in the more severe cases it will be necessary to consider retreating from flood-prone areas and relocating settlements and critical infrastructure.The Hertie School of Governance and Ecologic have recently completed a study project, the outcome of which is a report on policy options to achieve and encourage resettlement in flood-prone areas. The report is now available for download.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) play a substantial role in the financing of infrastructure in developing countries. As the activities of ECAs are backed-up by public resources, national governments have the power to set guidelines for ECA lending policies. Most governments include social and environmental aspects in their ECA guidelines. This book section has a closer look at the role of transparency, information disclosure and participation in the cover decisions of ECAs.

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive entered into force in 1985. Over its more than 20 year long existence, numerous projects in the EU Member States have been subject to the EIA procedure. To what extent the benefits of the EIA Directive outweigh its costs is largely unknown. Up to now, there has been no systematic evaluation of the costs and benefits of the EU’s EIA legislation and its implementation in the Member States. The projects aims therefore at calculating and systematically evaluating  the costs and benefits of the EIA Directive.

While trade sustainability impact assessments (trade SIAs) have generated much useful information about the potential impacts of trade liberalisation, they have made very limited impact on trade negotiations, which generate unresolved controversy, if not deadlock. This paper contends that one reason for this is that trade SIAs do not explicitly recognise the motives for countries to resist free trade.

The Washington Post called Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as "the guru of the environmental movement." While visiting Germany in order to launch the German edition of his book "Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble", he gave a talk in Berlin on 22 January 2007.

International airspace and the high seas are global environmental goods with traditionally unrestricted access. The ensuing environmental impact can be addressed through user charges for air- and sea-traffic. This book assessed the legal conditions for the application of such charges in international, European Community and domestic law.

In order to implement its obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as required under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Community created a Directive establishing a community-wide greenhouse gas trading system. Initial experiences with this new marketbased mechanism have been gathered since the beginning of the first trading period (2005-2007). Ecologic has been commissioned to support the drafting of the respective legal framework for the second trading period (2008-2012) and for future trading periods in Germany. The goal of the project is to optimise the legal and economic aspects of emissions trading.

In order to implement the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in due time, the aim of this project is to develop an efficient monitoring programme which will both be adapted to the special natural conditions of Cyprus and meet the requirements of the WFD. Amongst other things, Ecologic will be involved in sketching and comparing different scenarios for an efficient monitoring programme. Ecologic supports to a great extent the cost estimation of different options for implementing a water monitoring programme in Cyprus.

In order to meet the goals of the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, soil protection will need to be further integrated in other policy areas. For this reason, an analysis of the measures adopted by the Member States in plans and programs pursuant to certain pieces of Community and international legislation is required. The EUSOIL project aided to this task and identified, described and evaluated the measures taken under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Cross Compliance Instrument (CC) and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) concerning their contribution to soil conservation.

In response to new scientific results on global climate change and its impacts for human societies (Stern Review 2006, Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC), and as a contribution to the debate on international climate protection efforts after 2012, Switzerland has published a new strategy on its future climate policy in August 2007. Ecologic contributed to one of several studies that formed the basis for the development of this strategy. The study as well as related material is available for download.

Many bird species depend on agricultural areas and forests. Specific cultivation practices are often a cause of their endangerment. A focus of this study is to analyse which bird species are significantly affected by agriculture and forestry in Germany. Cultivation rules for the protection of selected bird species will be developed. Methodological and technical aspects as well as legal implications will be addressed.

The book "Water and Liberalisation. European water scenarios" presents the results of the EUROMARKET project that analysed the organisation of the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector in Europe. At the heart of the project was the development of possible scenarios for the future of the European WSS sector. Ecologic contributed one chapter to the book and analysed the environmental implications of the different scenarios.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the most exhaustive agreement for maintaining the world’s ecological underpinnings. In 2006, the Parties to the CBD agreed to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss. As host of the next Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2008, Germany has a special role to play. As part of this project Ecologic supports and advises the German government in setting the agenda. Key points that need to be tackled in order to reach this goal were discussed at an Expert Workshop from 13-15 December 2006 in Potsdam and summarised in the so called Potsdam recommendations.