Acute or latent conflicts jeopardise the political stability of numerous Asian countries. Even in countries that have so far been considered stable, violent conflict could flare up at any given moment.

Mainly in the 1990s, Southeast Asian countries have seen a wave of democratisation. At present this process of stabilisation and the further development of the democracies in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, is on the verge of subsiding.

Through their social and political empowerment women in Asia have actively determined their own lives – notwithstanding traditionally inclined societies that define the general living conditions of women, often at the cost of equal and self-determined opportunities.

The ecosystems in far reaching regions of Asia are severely endangered. The heedless exploitation of natural resources and the incessant destruction of nature threaten the basic living standards of vast numbers of people.

A contribution of the Heinrich Böll Foundation on "avoided deforestation" for the UN climate summit in Bali 2007.

We firmly believe that nuclear energy is no answer to climate change. We therefore present this 6th Nuclear Issues Paper as a contribution to the public debate on adequate responses to climate change and on the future of nuclear energy.

The severe challenge posed by the need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases has led to renewed interest in the construction of new nuclear power plants. The objective of this paper is to identify the key economic parameters commenting on their determining factors and to review the assumptions of main forecasts from the past five years to identify how and why these forecasts differ.

 Any civilian nuclear fuel cycle and especially some of the elements thereof confront the world with certain security-related risks. Nuclear materials, nuclear know-how, and technology can be proliferated.

The use of nuclear energy involves the work of several very different industrial plants. Each of these plant types has a specific hazardous potential.