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This policy document reflects on some of the EU policy barriers and opportunities in the areas of participatory democracy, the urban environment and knowledge in the digital environment.

Land use plays an important role in climate action and also serves multiple functions: providing food, livelihoods, habitats, water and much more. When climate action is discussed it must always consider human rights and food security. This briefing paper of the CLARA group calls on climate negotiators to tread carefully when considering climate action strategies.

This publication shows that the price of coal extraction in Donbas is not only its high production cost, but also a number of political and environmental consequences paid for by the people in Donbas and the entire population of Ukraine.

The former implementation of the reform agenda showed that the leading international actors in Bosnia-Herzegovina are able to push the country towards a sustainable reform course. The limited results of the EU-Initiative are grounded in the missing political volition to apply the conditionality consequently.

The massive use of plastics has created an enormous global problem with environmental, economic, social, and health repercussions. The only viable solution to the problem would therefore be to stop plastic waste from entering the oceans in the first place. The authors of this paper propose to launch negotiations on a plastics convention and begin to end this irresponsible disaster.

For transnational corporations and their national and international associations and lobby groups, the G20 process provides important opportunities to engage with the world’s most powerful governments on a regular basis, shape their discourse, and influence their decisions. Read more about the influence of the Business20 (B20) in the following study.

What is valuable in society and how shall we protect it? This report, written by David Bollier, draws upon three days of discussion by twenty thinkers and activists convened by the Commons Strategies Group.

Michel Bauwens and Vasilis Niaros of the P2P Foundation explore how new value regimes - such as for example open and contributory value accounting practices - can represent a shift towards post-capitalist practices.

Informed by the discussions at an international conference jointly organised by the German Development Institute, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Stanford University on “Emerging Power or Fading Star? South Africa’s Role on the Continent and Beyond”, held 12–14 July 2016 in Cape Town, the articles gathered in this edition of Perspectives shed light on some of the nuances and challenges that define South Africa’s place in the world today.