What's new

News
 
What did the ecosystems of the North Sea and Baltic Sea look like over 100 years ago? To get to the bottom of this question, the Ecologic Institute project team visited the Museum of Natural History in Berlin in February 2026 as part of the project “The German North Sea and Baltic Sea over 100 Years Ago,” funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Among historical specimens, handwritten inventory books, and scientific collections, new perspectives on the marine past opened up – and surprising insights for today's marine conservation.
 

Historical Treasures for Tomorrow's Marine Conservation

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Presentation:Panel discussion
 
Doris Knoblauch from Ecologic Institute presented recent work from the Plastic Pirates – German Coast citizen science project at the 2026 conference of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) in Oulu (Finland). The conference brought together around 650 participants from across Europe and beyond to discuss the latest developments in citizen science research and practice.

Plastic Pirates at ECSA 2026

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Doris Knoblauch

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Publication:Report
 
Restoring Europe’s freshwater ecosystems at the scale required by EU policy will require a broader mix of funding sources. The MERLIN Deliverable “Diversifying Funding for Freshwater Restoration using Nature-Based Solutions” examines how restoration teams across Europe are exploring new funding models and partnerships.

Diversifying Funding for Freshwater Restoration Using Nature-Based Solutions

Lessons from the MERLIN project

Year

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Presentation:Interview
 
In the science section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Arne Riedel, a lawyer at Ecologic Institute and expert on Arctic governance, commented on current debates about the protection of Arctic sea ice. The article explores new legal ideas for protecting the Arctic – including the discussion of whether nature, such as Arctic sea ice, could be granted its own rights.

Legal Personhood for Sea Ice


Arne Riedel, LLM

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Event:Digital Event
 
On 24 March 2026, the European Climate Neutrality Observatory (ECNO) will present its new Clean Industrial Transition Monitor and discuss whether current EU policy creates the enabling conditions needed for a successful industrial transformation.

Reality Checking the Clean Industrial Deal

Launch of the Clean Industrial Transition Monitor


online

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Publication:Policy Brief
 
This policy brief offers recommendations for EU and national policymakers to enable diversified funding for nature restoration. It draws on lessons from four Horizon 2020 projects – MERLIN, REST‑COAST, SUPERB, and WaterLANDS – that together worked across Europe to test how restoration projects can attract broader support and financing.

Mobilising Diverse Funding for Nature Restoration in Europe

Year

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Publication:Report
 
This report presents a strategic, evidence-based approach to support the upscaling of freshwater restoration and implementation of Nature-based Solutions across Europe. Central to the approach is the MERLIN Upscaling Workflow, a flexible decision-support tool that uses Europe-wide datasets to identify high-impact restoration areas.

Scaling up Freshwater Restoration and Nature-based Solutions in Europe

An evidence-informed workflow

Year

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Project
 
The central question of the FairNature project is how nature-based solutions can be delivered at wide geographical scales in a just manner. The project aims to co-develop a framework that supports NbS practitioners at multiple governance levels in achieving just scaling that fosters transformative change, biodiversity protection, and societal well-being.

Developing NbS Scaling Approaches to Achieve Just Transformative Change (Fair Nature)

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Event:Workshop
 
On 5 and 6 May 2026, the European Networking Workshop, organised by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, with the support of the Ecologic Institute, will take place in Bonn, Germany.

Urban Nature

European Networking Workshop

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Bonn, Germany

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News
 
In the new Horizon Europe project SEA4FUTURE Ecologic Institute leads the social science and humanities research on integrating fishers’ knowledge and expertise into new monitoring processes of gears and defining new marine protected areas in the Mediterranean Sea. Officially launched on 1 January 2026, SEA4FUTURE has the ambition to catalyse a blue transformation of the Mediterranean seafood sector.
 

Blue Transformation of Mediterranean Fisheries

Between dock and data: Local knowledge strengthens the blue transition

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Publication:Report
 
This publication provides a quantitative overview of the development and status of environmental crime in Germany between 2013 and 2024, based on data from the police crime statistics ("Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik") and the Federal Statistical Office's criminal prosecution statistics ("Strafverfolgungsstatistik"). The report provides both an overview of general trends and an in-depth account of individual environmental offences. The report was prepared by a team from Ecologic Institute on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency.

Umweltdelikte 2024

Auswertung von Statistiken

Year

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Publication:Website
 
Website View "Toolkit for Nature-Based Climate Adaptation"
The toolkit brings together tried-and-tested instruments and organises them along a typical municipal workflow: from initial orientation and planning through to implementation, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation. Local authority departments, planners and other stakeholders will find concise fact sheets outlining each tool, advice on how to apply it at different project stages, as well as links to further resources and practical examples.

Toolkit for Nature-Based Climate Adaptation

Year

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Publication:Policy Brief
 
This policy brief examines how current climate-action rewarding mechanisms address – or fail to address – organic farming as a systemic and climate-resilient approach. It analyses existing monetary, regulatory and supportive instruments at EU level, with a particular focus on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation.

Incentivising Systemic and Climate-resilient Farming Approaches through Rewarding Mechanisms

Barriers, challenges and recommendations

Year

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