Environmental Policy

Amidst allegations of rampant human rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields and reports of diamond smuggling the KPCS has failed to take decisive action. Claude Kabemba sheds light on the reasons for the KPCS’ inability to act and concludes that a failure in Zimbabwe will send a negative signal about the relevance of the KPCS and capacity for self-regulation of the diamond industry as a whole.

In a globalised world, energy independence can not be achieved. Successful energy policies require inter-sectoral co-operation, supervision, and long-term public policies concerning employment, the environment, and investment.

For a generation to come, relations between the EU and Russia will be shaped by the question of gas, as this is highly important for the EU’s energy security, climate changes policies, and commerce.

When the dust settled after the near failure of the UNFCCC climate talks in Copenhagen, the issue of climate finance seemed strangely to have been one of the few areas, where despite all procedural and political misgivings, real progress was made. 

The destruction of tropical forests contributes between percent of the greenhouse gases generated by human activity. Donor governments consider Congo Basin countries to be prime candidates for REDD (UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries), and national governments in the region are eager to seize the opportunity.

Eni's plannned exploitation of tar sands and palm oil in the Republic of Congo poses huge risks for one of world’s poorest countries and will worsen runaway climate change. G8 Civil society groups and their African partners are critizising, that the project contradicts G8 climate Policy under Italian Presidency.

Africa speaks up on Climate Change is an appeal about the threat climate change poses to Africa. Immediate political action is needed. The film Hotspot Africa shows how severe the problems really are.

South Africa’s National Credit Act has attracted the attention of policymakers worldwide who are keen to prevent reckless lending practices. The NCR is already assisting neighbouring Namibia to develop similar legislation.

The future of U.S. renewable energy policy depends on the next president. What are the policy scenarios for 2009 and beyond?

A report on a conference in Beirut with the goal to highlight regional environmental problems and search for and discuss sustainable solutions.

Traditional emphases of the Heinrich Böll Foundation include support for environmental activists and grassroots groups in the areas of mining, biodiversity and water. Both currently and in the future, the topic of "Energy" will come to the forefront as well.

The Foundation’s environmental program targets civil-society and state-sponsored actors, whose environmental consciousness is strengthened and promoted. The Foundation also supports specific partner organisations in their project activities in the areas of resource protection, environmental education, and environmental lobbying, thus striving for enhanced consciousness on environmental problems among the population in the region.

Gradually, environmental movements are forming in some African countries. The Heinrich Böll Foundation helps network groups that are advocating sustainable development and effective environmental protection.

The global energy system is undergoing a structural crisis. At its heart lies the need to restrain climatic change while at the same time dealing with energy security in an era of rapidly growing demand.

The paper summarizes the main challenges facing strategic and coordinated action towards the UN concept of water as a human right, identifies what types of processes and institutions needs to be developed to meet the challenges of the concept and provides best practise examples from countries that have shown innovation.

At the UN Climate Change Conference that took place in December 2007 in Bali a new phase of international climate negotiations began. The result: African countries will remain exempt from  emission reductions. Instead they were offered financial help to adapt to the impacts of climate change which pose an especially serious challenge to the countries of the South.

Leonie Joubert, a renowned journalist and photographer, reports on the impact of climate change in South Africa. Her essay is accompanied by striking photographs of  South Africa’s vulnerable landscapes and of the people depending on them for their livelihoods.