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?

U.S. and European views on a number of environmental issues, such as climate change or genetically modified organisms, are frequently viewed as irreconcilable. Interestingly, there seems to be more mutual understanding and agreement on the sub-national level. In recent years, a number of transatlantic partnerships between regional and local institutions have evolved in order to exchange information and best practices in the environmental policy area. Senior Fellow Markus Knigge presented his research on the role, functioning and the effectiveness of transatlantic environmental partnerships at an AICGS workshop on 19 October 2005 in Washington, D.C.

On 12 October 2005, the Climate Policy Center and the German Marshall Fund of the United States conducted an international workshop designed to clarify and improve R&D strategy for climate change solutions. The one-day meeting helped experts in the United States and Europe focus on key strategic questions about relevant R&D priorities and policies. Senior Fellow Markus Knigge gave a presentation on the impacts of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act and the Eco-taxes on innovation and commercialization of clean technologies.

The G8 climate change outcomes, recent action in the U.S. Senate and developments on the subnational levels within the U.S. constitute a potential crossroad for transatlantic climate change policy. In light of these developments, Senior Fellow Markus Knigge participated in an expert policy maker seminar on subnational strategies for clean energy investment, technology deployment and innovation.

During an international capacity-building workshop for participants from Central and Eastern Europe which was convened from 29 September to 1 October 2005, Nicole Kranz discussed the application of a valuation of ecosystem services for the implementation of the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).

"A Bridge to the Future: the High-Level Trans-Atlantic Dialogue on Climate Change" is a series of meetings bringing together a selected group of distinguished policy players from diverse backgrounds to explore possibilities for finding common ground on energy and climate policy across the Atlantic. Markus Knigge, Senior Fellow at Ecologic, participated in the second session of this dialogue, which was held in Washington, DC on 20 and 21 September 2005.

Recent reports on Europe's biological resources prove that the loss of biodiversity has not yet been halted despite efforts in this field. One reason for this is that the instruments used to address conservation issues do not always serve their purpose. The presentation given by Rainer Müssner at the International Association of Landscape Ecologists meeting in Northampton (IALE-UK) therefore dealt with procedural aspects of how to improve landscape planning (LP) and the codes of good farming practice (GFP).

After the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast of the United States and the City of New Orleans, a number of questions should be asked. Some of them have an important environmental policy dimension that might well reach beyond the immediate impact of the actual natural catastrophe and should cause a rethinking of established policies. Sascha Müller-Kraenner discusses the link between climate change and extreme weather events, rising oil prices, the role of government and whether New Orleans should be rebuilt.