Water | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

How does plastic litter end up in the sea? How much microplastic does our shower scrub contain? Where exactly is the plastic waste in the ocean? What do our rivers have to do with it? And how can I, as an individual living far away from the coast, participate in real research on seas and oceans? These and other questions will be answered in a webinar for teachers and youth group leaders under the title ‘Sustainable environmental education in schools: Plastic waste in German rivers – the "Plastic Pirates" campaign’ on 13 September 2018 at 5 pm. Registrations are welcome.Read more

Project

Governance

Environmental Law

Coastal + Marine

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

"No more Plastics in the Oceans": Designing a legally binding global plastic convention

September 2018 to December 2018

Plastic pollution of the world's oceans is a quickly growing environmental problem. A number of international instruments and treaties are trying to address the problem, but the growing amount of plastic waste that is polluting our seas shows these are insufficient. On behalf of WWF, the project team from adelphi and Ecologic Institute thus compiled a report on gaps in global plastic governance and developed options for the design of a legally binding agreement to eliminate further marine plastic pollution.Read more

Publication

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Sustainability

Water

Plastics in the Environment - Sources • Sinks • Solutions

Overview of the Joint Research Projects

With its comprehensive research programme, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding 18 research projects which have the overall aim to noticeably decrease the amount of plastics in the environment. This conference reader, published by Ecologic Institute, presents the aims of the overall research programme as well as the 18 research projects spanning a wide range of research areas such as Green Economy, Consumption, Recycling, Freshwater Systems as well as Seas and Oceans, and the accompanying research of PlastikNet. The PlastikNet conference reader is available for download.Read more

Publication

Report

Water

Nabotjek af EU-landes Fremgangsmåder ved Planlægning for Henhold til Vandrammedirektivet

Komparativ Rapport

This report analyses how the need for measures to reduce the nutrient load is assessed in the river basin management planning to meet the environmental objectives of the Water Framework Directive for coastal waters in the EU Member States or river basin districts that share coastal waters with Denmark. Thus, the analysis covers Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland.Read more

Publication

Report

Biodiversity

Coastal + Marine

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

European Waters – Assessment of Status and Pressures 2018

EEA Report No 7/2018

In 2018, the European Commission will publish its report on the assessment of the second RBMPs and will start the process of evaluating the WFD (EC, 2017a). To accompany and inform this process, the EEA has produced this report on the state of Europe's water. In addition, the Water Information System for Europe (WISE) Freshwater visualisation tool presents more, and more detailed, results.Read more

Publication

Marine Strategy Framework Directive

AQUACROSS Policy Review

Krüger, Ina et al., (2016): Marine Strategy Framework Directive, AQUACROSS Policy Review, European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation grant agreement No. 642317.Read more

Publication

Article

Water

Empfehlungen des Forums Fischschutz und Fischabstieg

In April 2018, the second cycle of the Forum "Fish Protection and Downstream Migration" ended, which was devoted, among other things, to improving the implementation of measures. In this article, the authors, among them Dr. Ulf Stein of Ecologic Institute, summarize the intensive discourse between all stakeholders over the past six years and present the resulting twelve recommendations. The recommendations describe how to proceed with this topic in the future and how to avoid potential conflicts in practice. The article is published in WasserWirtschaft, Issue 06/2018, Springer Vieweg.Read more

Presentation

European Youth Event 2018 (EYE)

TimeLoc

1 June 2018

Straßbourg

France

Philipp Voß

Hugh McDonald

Lina Röschel

On 1 and 2 June 2018, Ecologic Institute's Lina Röschel, Hugh McDonald, and Philipp Voß participated in the European Parliament's European Youth Event as invited expert panelists. The event was attended by more than 8000 Europeans aged between 16 and 30, who gathered to learn, discuss, and generate ideas for change in Europe. Philipp Voß, Hugh McDonald and Lina Roeschel drew on their research at Ecologic Institute and spoke on three different panels under the topic of "Protecting our Planet", discussing oceans, fresh water, and climate change.Read more

Publication

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

Opportunities and Barriers for Water Co-Governance

A Critical Analysis of Seven Cases of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in Europe, Australia and North America

Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture (DWPA) and its governance has received increased attention as a policy concern across the globe. Mitigation of DWPA is a complex problem that requires a mix of policy instruments and a multi-agency, broad societal response. In this article - to which Dr. Grit Martinez and Dr. Nico Stelljes of Ecologic Institute contributed as co-authors - opportunities and barriers for developing co-governance, defined as collaborative societal involvement in the functions of government, and its suitability for mitigation of DWPA, are reviewed using seven case studies in Europe, Australia and North America. The article is available for download.Read more

Publication

Nature-based Solutions in European and National Policy Frameworks

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being adopted as an effective tool to address urban challenges. But, to what extent do current policy frameworks support or hinder their implementation? This report examines if and how the concept of NBS is addressed in select EU and Member State policies and funding instruments. The report was published within the Horizon 2020 project NATURVATION and is available for download.Read more