Media images of desperate African refugees fleeing to Europe dominate the European news. This edition will help to shed new light on aspects of the movement of African migrants that have remained on the margins of discussion, and to place the pressures experienced in Europe within a broader perspective.

This report is being issued as  an alert to governments, civil society organisations and grassroots movements. It points to how gene drives, while promoted as a tool for medicine and conservation, will find their real use in food and farming by agribusiness.

The instruments of bi- and multilateral nuclear disarmament and arms control are in a state of despair. Under the label of N.EX.T. (Nuclear Expert Talks), fifteen scholars from Europe, Russia, and the United States gathered in Berlin in November 2016 to discuss the current state of disarmament and arms control.

Climate change mitigation scenarios are important instruments for developing pathways towards a climate-friendly world. This short study shows that neither the use of CDR technologies is as indispensable as shown in the scenarios, nor is an overshoot unavoidable.

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial is feasible. This publication is a civil society response to the challenge of limiting global warming to 1.5°C while also paving the way for climate justice.

The conflicts, social and political turmoils we have witnessed in the western Balkans in the last three decades were, in the minds of many leaders and participants, centred around collective identities whose differences allegedly could not be settled in a nonviolent way. And still, more then 20 years after the wars, patriarchal, homophobic and exclusive tendencies are dominating in the region, shaping a climate of intolerance, of exclusion, of the radical negation of all things humane and rational.

The Alliance 90/The Greens Party has succeeded in taking over governmental responsibility in the majority of the 16 federal states. In this study the political scientist, Arne Jungjohann, has analysed Green government participation of previous years.

This discussion paper assesses the socio-economic and environmental hazards that may occur due to the proposed diversion of Shatung river, situated at Deosai plains of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. A plan to divert Shatung river into Satpara Dam already exists; the plan is to increase the latter’s power generation capacity and to satisfy the increasing domestic, industrial and public water needs of Skardu Town and the adjacent villages during the low flow/winter season. However, no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been conducted so far. Only the locally-active environmental protection bodies have put up some resistance against this plan arguing that the diversion would primarily violate the Gilgit-Baltistan Wildlife Protection, Preservation and Management Act, 1975. During the investigation for this discussion paper, it was learnt that the diversion may result in serious damages to the ecology of the Deosai National Park (DNP) and its existing flora and fauna fed by Shatung river. Moreover, the requirements of Satpara Dam and expected outcomes of the diversion might not be achieved when the river water level decreases in winter season. If the diversion takes place, it would have serious implications for the fragile alpine ecosystem of Deosai plateau, and its biodiversity.  

Briefing on the details and possible impacts of the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment - a planned experiment in a form of geoengineering known as Solar Radiation Management (SRM). SRM aims to block or reflect sunlight before it reaches the earth’s atmosphere.

A briefing explaining why Solar Radiation Management (SRM) experiments are a bad idea. SRM describes a set of geoengineering techniques that aim to counter human-made climate change by artificially increasing the reflection of heat from sunlight (solar radiation) back into space.