Call for Applications: The Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange The Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange is a unique opportunity for leaders in Germany and the U.S. to share promising approaches to welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into their communities. By Hannah Winnick
Limited Freedom of Speech, Monitored NGOs: India's Civil Society Under Pressure India likes to consider itself the “world’s largest democracy”. In practice, however, there are many restrictions on the freedom of expression. The space available to civil society organizations for action is increasingly restricted. By Axel Harneit-Sievers
Introduction: The 1956 Hungarian uprising In October 1956, Hungarian citizens staged a popular uprising to protest against the repressive policies of the Communist Party and against the country’s occupation by the Soviet Army. On 11 November 1956, Soviet forces quashed the last pockets of armed resistance in the capital city. By Eva van de Rakt, Silja Schultheis and Kristóf Szombati
The makers and profiteers of the new economy of nature The call for an economic valuation of nature, and in particular for limits on pollution and the destruction of nature, is linked to the demand for a more flexible implementation of environmental laws and regulations. The idea of “compensation instead of reduction” is intended to guarantee this flexibility.
New units of measure of market-compliant nature within the Green Economy Trade with compensation credits is a prime example of how abstractions influence environmental policy. The astonishing reduction of unique habitats to a few measurable indicators is a prerequisite for trading biodiversity offsets.
A new nature in the wake of the Green Economy An ecological crisis that is becoming increasingly hard to ignore is confronting policymakers with a dilemma: they are being called upon to protect the conditions for life on Earth without overly hampering industrial production and economic growth. By Jutta Kill
What are compensation credits and why are they so controversial? Corporations whose business models require the exploitation and destruction of nature are increasingly marketing products as carbon-neutral and deforestation-free. This is made possible by the concept of “compensation instead of reduction”. How does it work?
Old and new markets for compensation credits Trading in compensation credits is used to legalize emissions that exceed binding regulatory limits. It also occurs in areas without legal limits.
“Boko Haram is not yet in the past, but still in the present” The German politics on Africa was busy on migration and refugee issues in West Africa, especially Nigeria. But the crisis of internally displaced people within Nigeria is far greater. Mausi Segun, Head of Human Rights Watch in Nigeria, warns that the conflict continues to smolder despite. By Christine K
Time for a Plan B in European Refugee Crisis The number of refugees fled to Europe in 2015 revealed the EU's deficient common asylum policy, which disproportionately affected the southern member states. To overcome the EU crisis, there is more needed than an EU-Turkey deal. By Bodo Weber