The Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) has introduced a legal framework for sustainable management of water resources across Europe. According to this directive, Member States (MS) had to prepare drafts of the river basin management plans (RBMPs) and respective programmes of measures (PoMs) by the end of 2009. Successful implementation of the WFD strongly depends on agricultural land use; therefore, this report summarised the results of an in-depth assessment of how the draft plans and programmes address agricultural pressures on EU water resources.

Christiane Gerstetter, Fellow Ecologic Legal, spoke on the legal feasibility of adopting a climate change act in Germany, modeled on the UK Climate Change Act. The presentation was a contribution to a seminar entitled "How legally-binding targets can promote more effective national climate change policy" held in the British Embassy. The presentation was based on an earlier legal expertise by Ecologic Legal on the topic, which the WWF had sponsored. It is available for download.

<p>&#13; Christiane Gerstetter, Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, contributed a paper to and gave a presentation at the Amsterdam Conference on the Human Dimensions on Global Environmental Change. She discussed how the Dispute Settlement Bodies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) deal with international environmental law, thus contributing to the conference’s section on actors in international environmental governance. The paper and the presentation are available for download.</p>&#13;

Winkel, Georg; Timo Kaphengst; Sophie Herbert et al. 2009: EU policy options for the protection of European forests against harmful impacts. Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Institute of Forest and Environmental Policy/Ecologic Institute, Berlin.

Görlach, Benjamin; Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf; Michael Kohlhaas 2009: Nachhaltig aus der Krise. Analyse möglicher Beiträge einer ökologischen Finanzreform.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can be an important source of income for rural inhabitants of Laos. One such NTFP, which has been promoted by the government of Laos, is the paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera (L) Vent). This study was performed to understand the factors influencing the commercialisation of paper mulberry bark in Oudomxay province (Northern Laos) and to investigate the potential of the paper mulberry tree as a source of steady income.

<p>&#13; On 5 November 2009, the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) in Frankfurt/Main hosted a workshop focusing on “Opportunities and limits of the ecosystem services concept.” Holger Gerdes, Fellow at the Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation on the application of the ecosystem services concept in policy consultancy.</p>&#13;

In a seminal online article in Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor of Ecologic Institute, and Martin Kremer address the newly appointed German Minister of Foreign Affairs with six recommendations for the development of an active climate foreign policy (in German).

<p>The overall purpose of this study is to clarify which models and scenarios are being used and can be used to explore the developments of biodiversity and ecosystems in light of different assumptions of drivers and policies. The results feed into the second phase of the wider Review on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).</p>&#13;

The role of agriculture in future climate policies and different bioenergy applications were discussed at an Ecologic Transatlantic Riverside Chat that took place on the Potomac River in Washington DC on 10 July 2009. The event was part of the second transatlantic farmer-to-farmer exchange that brought together farmers from Germany and the US, as well as scientists and journalists with an agricultural background.