<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.

On 17 August 2016, McKenna Davis, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on "Barriers and Success Factors for cooperation under Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA)" for the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Bonn. The results presented came from a study commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Both the presentation and original study are available for download.

On 5 July 2016, Dr. Stephan Sina, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, held a presentation on "The Energy Transition in Germany and the Renewable Energy Sources Act: Context, Legal and Procedural Aspects" for a delegation from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People's Republic of China. The presentation was part of a study tour on European and German Climate Change Legislation organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. The presentation slides are available for download.

On 19 April 2016, Stephan Sina and Christiane Gerstetter, Senior Fellows at Ecologic Institute, presented a study on wildlife crime to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament in Brussels. The study was compiled by a consortium lead by Ecologic Institute and published recently on the European Parliament's website. The presentation is available for download.

Dr. Grit Martinez, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, has been invited by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to give a presentation at the Side Event "From research to decision making", which will take place on 3 December 2015 in the German Pavilion.

The CleanSea Marine Litter Symposium &amp; Film Premiere was attended by well over 200 participants from science, policy, industry, civil society and the media. The interdisciplinary research carried out in the European FP7 CleanSea Project was presented by the work package leaders showing main results of the work of the teams. Susanne Altvater of the Ecologic Institute talked about what policy makers can do about marine litter. You can still catch the speeches and CleanSea film on YouTube. The CleanSea brochure is available for download.

On 2 December 2015, Dr. Josselin Rouillard, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, together with Dr. Alistair Hunt from the University of Bath, gave a presentation at the ECONADAPT side event at COP21/CMP11 in Paris. The presentation slides are available for download.

At the International Symposium on COP21, Susanne Langsdorf spoke about the role non-state actors can play in international climate negotiations, with a focus on cities. While by definition non-state actors cannot be subject of international law; the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, the "Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action" and activities such as the "non-state actor zone for climate action" provide new options for non-state actors to play a role in the climate negotiations. The presentation "Cities and Climate Change in the context of COP21" is available for download.

In two presentations Ina Krüger introduced the work of Ecologic Institute at the 13th International Conference "EUROPE-INBO 2015" for the implementation of the European Water Directives. On 21 October 2015, Ina Krüger presented at a workshop of the project EcoCuencas the work of Ecologic Institute on a guideline for the financing of river basin organisations (RBO) in Latin America, and provided an outlook for the planned work in scope of this project. The presentation slides are available for Download.

On 19 October 2015, local and regional coastal implementing agencies met in Bologna (Italy) on invitation of the FP-7 project RISC-KIT and the Geological Service of the Emilia-Romagna Region for the first Italian RISC-KIT Stakeholder's Day. Participants discussed the state of the art of coastal protection and the improvement of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness measures against coastal storms, erosion, and flash floods in the region. During the consultation Dr. Grit Martinez from Ecologic Institute presented the outcomes of a socio-political-cultural and ecological analysis. The analysis highlighted factors essential to the improvement and implementation of disaster risk reduction measures in the strategically important touristic region Emilia Romagna.

On 18 November 2015, McKenna Davis, Fellow at Ecologic Institute, gave a presentation at the European Conference on Biodiversity and Climate Change on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems. The biennial conference, organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the European Network of Heads of Nature Conservation Agencies (ENCA), focused on "Nature-based solutions to climate change in urban areas and their rural surroundings: Linkages between science, policy and practice." The presentation slides are available for download.

At the 10th German Climate Conference, Dr. Grit Martinez (Ecologic Institute) gave an overview of how the consequences of climate change have been addressed by human society during the past decades. Meanwhile, there is a prevailing consensus that both deep-rooted climate change mitigation efforts and adaptation measures are necessary to prevent a climatic change with unmanageable consequences. The presentation is available for download.