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At present, Afghanistan has turned into a focal point of agreements between Western and Eastern countries. These Strategic Partnership Agreements (SPAs) that Afghanistan has signed with many countries of the world, including Germany are deemed as vital achievement for the country.

6th June 2012, youth policy in the biggest province of Pakistan is launched officially-- Thanks to Bargad Organization for the youth development, a long time of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

This month, two events occur back-to-back: the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio +20”) in Brazil and the Group of 20 (G20) Summit, in Mexico.  This paper asks how the powerful G20 might influence outcomes of Rio+20. 

The National Consultation aimed not only at reviewing the global discourse on green economy and ongoing negotiations on the outcome of the Rio+20 Summit but also examining the relevance of this concept to Pakistan. Moreover, the objective of the National Consultation was to review the potential roles and contributions of key stakeholders to promote Green economy in Pakistan.

“Sometimes it seems as if it was all part of a big plan”, says Sulayman Qardesh. He smiles at his band colleague Siddique Ahmad. Number three, drummer Mujtaba Habibi, couldn’t come for our interview. It was a perfect match when these three boys of different origin happened to meet and found Afghanistan’s first indie rock band, the “Kabul Dreams”.

Art and cultural projects are named more and more as one of the key platforms having immanent relevance for the public sphere, for processes of democratisation, for the discourse surrounding growth and sustainability and for the development of civil society. Currently the latter is being put under threat worldwide, not only in specific area of crisis.

The definitions of what public art is, and the terms we use for describing it, were often unclear, blurred and arbitrary. The speakers were rather critic about the current state of public space and public art. During the conference, various participators used terms like public space, public realm, or public sphere synonymic.

Onur Suzan Kömürcü Nobrega, observer of the thematic window "Cultural Policy Strategies and Funding Structures", critically reflects on the conference in the context of a globalizing art world. She also suggests a more general discussion about the effects of public and private funding.

Patricia Kistenmacher was invited to the conference as an observer for the Latin American Net on Art for Social Transformation and attended the thematic window "Art for Social Transformation". In her report she reflects on the event and her role in it.

Jordy Pacaul is the coordinator of the process “Agenda21 for Culture” at the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and teaches urban cultural policy and management at the Open University of Catalonia. In his speech he explains why culture should be included as the fourth dimension of sustainability. 

Ecological artist David Haley argues that complexity and transdisciplinarity are essential for the survival of mankind. Sustainability can not only be driven by economical values.

The definition of "good life" depends mostly on political, economical and cultural circumstances, but due to the effects of climate change and global warming, it also depends on issues of nature and environment. Georg Koessler investigates the relationship between climate change and living conditions.

We should be bold and say that the current paradigm of sustainability is obsolete. The paradigm needs an additional pillar: culture.

We need to understand that alongside the social, economic and ecological pillars, culture is the fourth dimension related to the emergence of cultures of sustainability. We need policies in support of - and in full recognition of-  the cultural potential of art, in particular in social transformation processes.

The Israeli organization "NGO Monitor" criticizes, as reported by the daily newspaper "Jerusalem Post" from January 26, 2012, the Heinrich Böll Foundation's grant to the Israeli website 972mag.com. Ralf Fücks, Co-President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, responds.

What price our future energy?This short briefing gives an overview of three investments in unconventional oil in Africa currently in prospect in the context of debates about the need to mitigate global environmental threats and ensure sustainable development.

For the SurVivArt project the Heinrich Böll Foundation has invited artists from around the world to reflect by means of works of art and related communications on what the “good life“ means to them and those around them. In February 2012, the works will be presented at an exhibition in Berlin.

Last December the second Japanese-German Dialogue on security affairs took place in Berlin. The expert round table talked about the perspectives on security related issues in East Asia. The topics included the role of China, the situation on the Korean Peninsular and the question, how to deal with the Russian nuclear potentials.

Do the institutions of our democracy reflect the increasing diversity of our society? For the first time, a study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity has investigated this question concerning the councils of major German cities. The summary presents the main results of the study.

Renowned academics, researchers and experts from South Asia, Central Asia, Europe and the United States provided valuable insights on the key challenges facing Pakistan.

German involvement in Afghanistan did not begin with the attacks of September 11. In the 60s and 70s, Afghanistan was a key aspect of West German development aid. Aid efforts are still fondly remembered today, as is evident from the technical centres (Technikum) in Paktia and Kandahar.

Have you ever thought about whether environment is an economic or a social problem? Or about how much a clean or contaminated environment does affect our economy? Perhaps, the widely held opinion is that environment is somewhat related to our culture and society, and there is no relation between environment and economy.