The IPDEV research project partners met in London at the two-day workshop "Intellectual Property Rights and Sustainable Development". Together with a high level group of experts and stakeholders, the project results and policy recommendations were discussed. Stephanie Schlegel from Ecologic Institute presented the findings on "Geographical Indications and their contribution to environmental quality and linkages to social & cultural issues". Her presentation is available for download. Benjamin Görlach and Dora Schaffrin spoke about the international Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.

The Free University of Berlin organised a conference on behalf of The Permanent European conference for the study of the rural landscape (PECSRL) from 4 until 9 September 2006, focusing on the theme: European rural future: Landscape as an Interface. Rainer Müssner from Ecologic gave a presentation about the importance of landscape issues in public policies. This presentation focused on the following key questions: Is "landscape" a priority issue on the national / European policy agenda?, do we have a coherent "landscape policy"? and what can be done to increase the political "weight" of landscape issues?

There are obvious successes in Transboundary Water Management. How can the Landscape sector profit from these experiences, considering there exists an insufficient level of co-operation between states? Rainer Müssner in collaboration with Eduard Interwies gave a presentation focusing on these issues at the 22nd conference of The Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape.

The Università Luigi Bocconi organised a conference on behalf of the Milan municipality to analyse Milan's wastewater treatment system as regards sustainability issues, organisational models and future challenges. The conference took place on 4 May 2006. Researchers from around Europe presented five case studies on European experience with wastewater management in urban areas. Ecologic Fellow Nadine Herbke presented the results of the Berlin and Emscher case studies.

On behalf of the European Commission, DG Environment, Ecologic Fellow Thomas Dworak participated in a workshop on the WFD and Agriculture and gave a presentation on EU agricultural policies and water management. The workshop was held in Malinska, Croatia on 25 and 26 April 2006 and organised by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) together with the UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project.

On invitation of DG Economic and Financial Affairs and DG Environment, Ingo Bräuer, Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation on the use of Market Based Instruments in the field of nature conservation.

Based on an initiative of the Grüne Liga e.V. a seminar with the title: On the way towards the "Good status"- Critical aspects of the WFD was held on 24 March 2006. Rainer Müssner from Ecologic gave a presentation about the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU and the Water Framework Directive. The main focus of Müssner's presentation was the linkages between these policy areas and options to create synergies.

The RhineNet project, a multi-stakeholder initiative to foster sustainable water management through strengthening public participation in the Rhine basin, was featured as a local action at the World Water Forum held in Mexico City in March 2006. Nicole Kranz, Fellow with Ecologic, presented the key aspects and lessons learned of RhineNet on behalf of the entire project team in a session organized by the International Network of Basin Organization (INBO) on "Users' and public participation and common cause in basin management".

The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident was the occasion for the Böll Foundation to host an event on Ukrainian and European energy policy in the premises of the Deutsche Umwelthilfe in Berlin. The event offered an opportunity for energy experts to discuss recent and possible future developments in energy policy, especially nuclear energy. Dr. Camilla Bausch, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, gave a presentation on the European energy policy with special focus on the Energy Charter Treaty.

On occasion of the international workshop on "Current spatial planning and river basin management planning according to the EU Water Framework Directive" held in Stockholm on 13 and 14 February 2006, Nadine Herbke spoke to participants predominantly from Scandinavia and the Baltic area on "Collaboration between WFD implementation and spatial planning: Experiences from Schleswig-Holstein".

On the occasion of a conference on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in North-Rhine Westphalia, Nicole Kranz presented experiences and strategies for public participation in water management in the context of the RhineNet project. Water management experts from different authorities and academia met on 17 and 18 January 2006 in Gelsenkirchen to discuss their approach towards the further implementation process of the WFD and to thus continue the exchange of experience commenced at previous events. The conference thus provided an important contribution to more transparency and an active involvement of the informed public in implementing the WFD in North-Rhine Westphalia.

On 8 December 2005 the German Associaton for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) organised an expert meeting entitled "25 years of practical experience with Waste Water Charges". Presentations and discussions centered on whether to abolish, keep or modify the Waste Water Charge. Ecologic Policy Advisor Peter Kessler spoke on "Waste water charges and the Water Framework Directive – What does the Directive require?". He argued that an abolishment without substition of the Waste Water Charge would violate the principle of cost recovery (environmental costs) of Art. 9 of the Directive.

In her contribution at the international capacity-building workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management Nicole Kranz discussed the experiences with participative water management in the Rhine basin and outlined possible inspirations to be derived for water management in Northern Africa.

On occasion of the capacity-building workshop on Integrated Water Resources Management, R. Andreas Kraemer spoke to participants from several Maghreb countries about the management of flood and drought events. After contrasting the specific situations in Europe and Northern Africa and outlining the differences, but also common challenges, he went on to discuss structural and non-structural measures to prevent negative effects from floods and droughts in both regions.

Debates and discussions are still taking place on the aims of the European Commission as regards the strengthening of competition in the water sector. The question is: What would the consequences be for the German water and wastewater sector, if water provision was to be increasingly subjected to competition, public procurement and internal market rules?