The aim of this project is to support the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube (ICPDR) and its member countries in conducting in the Danube River Basin the economic analysis according to the Water Framework Directive. A synthesis report of national scoping studies provides an assessment of the current capacities within the Danube River Basin to carry out the economic analysis and identifies preliminary measures for closing priority gaps.

The rapid changes in economic, social and security policy as well as the upcoming enlargement pose a challenge to the European Union and its institutions. Incisive reforms are necessary. This is the background for assigning the task to the Convention of preparing a draft for a forthcoming European constitution. With the Project "Europe's democratic challenge: Actively shaping European environmental policy" Ecologic follows this process from an environmental point of view.

Ecologic Institute acts as a consultant to the German Federal Ministry of the Environment concerning the negotiations on the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers under the Aarhus Convention, the preparation of the first Meeting of the Parties, and the legal and administrative implementation of the Protocol in the EU and Germany. The Protocol requires Parties to establish pollutant release and transfer registers. The registers contain information on facility-specific emissions and waste transports. The information will be available to the public on the internet.

As part of the EU Water Framework Directive Common Implementation Strategy (EU WFD CIS), a working group was established to develop European guidance on the process of identification and designation of Heavily Modified & Artificial Water Bodies (HMWB & AWB). Ecologic has provided scientific, technical and conceptual support to the CIS Working Group on HMWB (WG 2.2).

The workshop focussed on the aspects that are to be covered in the report 2005 to the European Commission. Approximately 150 German actors of water resource management discussed results, problems and new approaches and the actual state of affairs with regards to the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive.

Ecologic published a study on the incorporation of environmental and social standards into export credit agencies' lending practices. The study, which was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), surveys the environmental guidelines of eight OECD member states' export credit agencies. Special emphasis was given to the support of large dams; in this context, the study evaluates to what extent the recommendations made by the World Commission on Dams are reflected in the environmental and social guidelines.

The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) requests the contracting parties to promote environmental education and environmental awareness among the public, especially on how to obtain access to information, to participate in decision-making and to obtain access to justice in environmental matters. The new European Directive on Public Access to Environmental Information implementing the Convention on a European level contains a similar provision. The objective of the project is to inform the German citizens about their rights under the Convention by means of a brochure in order to enable them to perform these rights.

The EC increasingly participates in international conferences and mixed international agreements alongside its Member States. The appearance of both EC and Member States raises questions of competences for the negotiation, conclusion and implementation of such international instruments. In particular in the field of marine environment, substantial progress is hindered by an opaque division of competences between the EC and its Member States and lack of coordination. Accordingly, the German Federal Environmental Agency commissioned Ecologic with the task of analysing the division of external competences between the EC and its Member States taking into account the OSPAR-Convention.

The workshop aims at continuing and intensifying the process of an international exchange of experiences with the on-going activities which was started by a workshop in September 2001 in Bruges. It will focus on the exchange of information regarding experiences in the field of air pollution abatement measures - both their planning (drawing up action plans according to art. 7 (3) and preparation of plans or programmes according to art. 8 (3) of the Framework Directive) and their implementation. The workshop will serve as a forum for exchanging experiences on the national implementation of the EU air quality directives with emphasis on air pollution abatement measures.

In order to implement its obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as required under the Kyoto Protocol, the European Community elaborated a directive establishing a community-wide greenhouse gas trading system. Ecologic has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment to analyse the legal framework for implementing the directive in Germany and also to draft the implementing legislation.

The Working Group on "Emissions Trading as a Means to Combat the Impacts of Greenhouse Gases" has been created according to the German Federal Government's Climate Protection Programme of 18 October 2000. Its aim is to evaluate the possibilities of establishing a national emissions trading system, which takes into account existing national instruments, the European concept of emission trading as well as the Climate Framework Convention and the Kyoto-Protocol.

Ecologic experts on private sector participation and regulatory oversight in the water sector contribute to the OECD publications "Social Issues in the Provision and Pricing of Water Services" and "Improving Water Management: Recent OECD Experience". The final report and an excerpt of the publication are available for download.

The project discusses methods and estimates of the costs and benefits of groundwater protection. Ecologic contributed an extensive survey of the existing literature in the field, as well as EU Member States' experience with the use of economical methods and instruments in groundwater protection. The project supported the drafting process for the EC groundwater daughter directive.