The AquaCross research community, funded by the European Commission, was represented on stage at the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia by two members of the AquaCross Think Tank, Francisco Nunes Correia and R. Andreas Kraemer. R. Andreas Kraemer, founder of Ecologic Institute, gave two presentations at this annual global gathering.

The BONARES conference "Soil as a Sustainable Resource" took place in Berlin from 26 to 28 February 2018. Ecologic Institute staff attended the conference and presented the interim results of the Soil³ project – Sustainable Subsoil Management. Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation on "Social acceptance of measures to improve the subsoil in German agriculture".

On 22 January 2018, Ecologic Institute's Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf and Philipp Voß presented the the report "The EU Emission Budget and its Implications for EU Climate Action" in Brussels. Beside the discussion of what a "fair" EU contribution according to the Paris Agreement is, they outlined different EU's greenhouse gas emission budgets scenarios. The presentations, agenda and list of participants are available for download.

On 8 December 2017, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, presented a comparative overview of climate change laws at state level in Germany at a workshop on the further development of the Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg. He focused on common features and differences in the existing climate change acts, and highlighted elements of interest for the amendment of the Climate Change Act for Baden-Württemberg.

On 4 December 2017, Matthias Duwe presented insights on national climate laws to inform Spanish debate gained from a joint research effort on long-term climate frameworks at a roundtable discussion organized by the renowned thing tank Elcano Royal Institute. He joined Valvanera Ulargui, head of the Spanish Climate Change Office at the national Environment Ministry and Jesús Fidel González Rouco from the Geosciences Institute (IGEO) of the Complutense University of Madrid and a contributor to the IPCC.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to contribute to a range of urban challenges and policy objectives. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation? At the international conference on "Nature-based solutions: From Innovation to Common-Use", Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis addressed this question in a session on 'Blue-green infrasturcture in smart cities'. Held in Tallinn (Estonia) from the 24 to 26 October 2017, the flagship conference was part of the Presidency of the Estonian Republic of the Council of the European Union.

The World Resources Forum 2017 entitled "Accelerating the Resource Revolution" was held in Geneva from 24 to 25 October 2017. Ecologic Institute's Mandy Hinzmann presented the TRAFIS project with a lecture on "Transforming infrastructures towards sustainability - lessons learnt from ICT-based peer-to-peer carsharing service Drivy in Germany". The presentation slides are available for download.

The World Resources Forum 2017 entitled "Accelerating the Resource Revolution" was held in Geneva from 24 to 25 October 2017. Ecologic Institute's Dr. Martin Hirschnitz-Garbers reflected on the conception and evaluation of policy mixes for resource conservation based on the experiences of the SimRess project. The presentation slides are available for download.

Looking back with a view to the future: Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Environmental Ministry in Baden-Wurttemberg, Minister President Kretschmann and Minister for Environment Untersteller together with keynote speakers Prof. Schneidewind (Wuppertal Institute) and Dr. Bausch (Ecologic Institute) highlighted achievements of the past as well as challenges for the future. While past efforts delivered some important results, current and future trends show the need for far-reaching changes in the way we live and do business.

On 5 September 2017, Stephanie Wunder, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a short presentation at the Federal Environment Agency's "Forum 2017 - Effectively reducing food waste - achieving more together". She reported on interim results from the European project REFRESH, which deals with the prevention of food waste and the recycling of surplus food.

Addressing anthropogenic climate change requires a reassessment of all the choices we make in life, no matter if they are made individually or from within collective institutions. During the workshop "Communicating the Climate in a Controversial Time", Dr. Grit Martinez of Ecologic Institute spoke on the topics of climate change acceptance and governance under different socio-cultural regimes. The event was hosted by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the environmental humanities supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

<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;

Ecologic Institute's Brendan O'Donnell was invited to deliver a keynote address on the topic of community participation in large-scale urban transformation projects in Marseille (France), as part of the EUCANET project.

From 31 August to 3 September 2016, Ecologic Institute's Rodrigo Vidaurre participated in a series of events on water management in the Chira-Catamayo basin, a transboundary river basin straddling the border between Peru and Ecuador. The presentation slides (in Spanish) are available for download below.