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The article presents a report from a December 2-3, 2016 conference in Berlin, Germany on the historical impact of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster on environmental policy hosted by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung endowment, the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society Munich, the HoNESt–History of Nuclear Energy and Society, the Center for Metropolitan Studies at Technische Universität Berlin university, and the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam historical society. Topics of presentations delivered include the Energiewende shift in German electricity generation, the reaction of the Danish anti-nuclear weapons movement to the Chernobyl disaster, and regional differences in perception of the disaster among nuclear power plant workers in Eastern and Western Europe.

The article discusses the Twenty-first United Nations Conference on Climate Change ('COP21') held in Paris, France between November 30, 2015 to December 11, 2016 which features greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global temperature.

Information about the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (OECPR) to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that was held in Nairobi, Kenya from February 15-19, 2016, is presented. Topics include environmental policy issues, sustainable development and the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. It cites the internal and external developments of the UNEP.

The article offers information on the 70th regular session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (UNGA-70) to be held in Geneva, Switzerland from May 4, 2016 to June 5, 2016 which features the international environmental law and policy to promote environmental protection.

The article reports that a new approach to negotiations in curbing emissions has raised hopes that the United Nations climate change conference in Paris, France in November 2015 will agree to meaningful climate steps. It says that negotiators hope that the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) approach will prevail where the Kyoto strategy failed. It mentions that with the INDC approach, nations pledged to limit their emissions.

The European Union (EU) is widely assumed to be a global environmental leader, especially in addressing climate change, though this reputation suffered greatly when European leaders were sidelined during the 2009 United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Subsequently, however, the EU has made significant progress in extending its Emission Trading System to the aviation sector, one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and did so not only regionally, but also managed to get it onto the global policy agenda. This contribution investigates the EU's role in shaping the 2013 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) resolution committing 191 government signatories to developing a global market-based measure to cap international aviation's carbon pollution. While not exactly setting new environmental standards or achieving definitive regulatory success, the case illustrates the agenda-setting capacity of the EU through leveraging its market power and adopting an explicitly extra-territorial rule to induce potential regulatory co-operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the May 2015 congress entitled "Humanistic Scholarship and the Anthropocene: Approaching China from a Sustainability Paradigm," held at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Topics included green activism in motion pictures, an analysis of public opinions related to Chinese President Xi Jinping's state campaign on the “China Dream," and urbanization and sustainable living. Presenters included scholars Mike Douglass, David Strand, and Kenneth Dean.

Information about the 11th United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-11) held at United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York from May 4â€15, 2015 on international arrangement on forests (IAF) is presented. Topics discussed include promotion of management, conservation and sustainable development of forests as the aim of UNFF; environmental policy and law which are required to be executed by the UNFF; and steps taken to improve countries' access to forest-related funds.

The article offers information on the conference "Nature Protection, Environmental Policy, and Social Movements in Communist and Capitalist Countries during the Cold War," organized by Volkswagen Stiftung, German Historical Institute Washington, and the Mortara Center for International Studies at Georgetown University, held from May 29-30, 2015. Topics discussed include the economic aspects of environmental politics, protest movements in Poland, and the global nature of environmental concerns.

The 2010 UN climate conference in Cancún emphasized that ‘Parties should, in all climate change related actions, fully respect human rights’. However, so far there is no further guidance. This article discusses the relevant legal human rights norms and two case studies from the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The first case (Bajo Aguán, Honduras) shows that the current absence of any international safeguards can lead to registration of highly problematic projects. The second case (Olkaria, Kenya) suggests that safeguards, introduced here as a side effect of World Bank involvement, can have a positive impact, but that it is necessary to have them based on human rights. It therefore seems recommendable that the UN climate regime develop mandatory human rights safeguards. In addition or alternatively, individual buyer countries or groups of countries, such as the European Union, could introduce their own additional requirements for CDM projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores labor relations and the environmental movement in New Brunswick. Emphasis is given to alliances and cooperation between entities such as the New Brunswick Federation of Labor, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, and the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees. The author offers information on conferences that detail the relations between labor leaders and environmentalists on topics such as the construction of nuclear power plants, forestry management, and climate change.

UNGA - 69 Preview of the Environmental Agenda 402OWG-SDG-10, 11, 12 and 13 - Brief Review of Work on the Sustainable Development Goals 406UNFCCC Climate Summit - A Glimmer of Hope "Annalisa Savaresi" 416ICJ - The Court's Environmental Agenda 417UNCLOS - The 24th Meeting of States Parties "Anastasia Galilaiou and Elsa Tsioumani" 419 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her second address as President of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Judith Rees identifies water security as one of the greatest contemporary policy challenges. Her comments are followed by a summary of the proceedings of the Society's 2014 Annual General Meeting, including reflections on 2013 activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) continues to promote marine protected areas (MPAs) as a preferred tool for marine biodiversity conservation, in spite of concerns over their effectiveness and equity. However, explanations for this consensus on the utility of MPAs focus primarily on their measurability and ignore the ways in which they are conceptualized through ongoing governance processes. Drawing on the results of collaborative event ethnography at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the CBD, this paper adopts the concepts of boundary objects and scalar narratives to analyze the ways in which consensus on MPAs is produced, in spite of conflicting understandings of MPA forms and functions. Both a local narrative of participatory MPAs and a global narrative of science driven high seas conservation articulate a regional scale as ideal for MPA governance, although with different priorities. Ultimately, consensus at the CBD is enabled only by accommodating competing visions of MPAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UNECE/Water Convention - MoP-6 "Achievements, New Tools and Future Challenges" (Francesca Romanin Jacur) 42 UNECE: Aarhus Convention - Compliance Committee "Deliberations" (Elsa Tsioumani) 46 Mauritius/UK - The Chagos Archipelago "Latest Developments" 50 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of the last four years, finance ministries have increasingly become involved in the international climate change negotiations. Their involvement has to a large degree been an outcome of the framing of climate change as a market failure. This framing calls for an active climate change policy and is at odds with the framing of climate change policy that was previously predominant in finance ministries: that it constitutes expenditure to be avoided. The persistence of both framings has led to clashes within and between finance ministries with respect to climate change. The article calls for further research focusing on the role of the two frames and of finance ministries as actors in climate change politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SPREP / AGM-23 - Pacific Environment Moving Forward (David Sheppard) 351 Pacific Islands Forum - Taking an Oceanscape Approach 353 Pacific Islands Forum - Leaders Collaborate to Address Key Concerns 355 Earth Observation from Satellites: Supporting the Outcomes of UNCSD (Rio+20) - (Stephen A. Briggs and Stephen Ward) 357 EU - Developments in Environmental Law (Annalisa Savaresi) 365 EU - Legally Binding Agreement on Forests in Europe - The Process 370 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. This short piece introduces papers in a special issue arising from the second Freshwater Biological Association Summit held in Windermere, U.K., in April 2010 on the topic 'Achieving Ecological Outcomes: aquatic ecological responses to catchment management'. 2. The papers in this special issue highlight a number of uncertainties, knowledge gaps and research needs when translating ecological research into management practice and achieving the desired outcomes. 3. The papers in this special issue span the spectrum from fundamental and theoretical science to community engagement and improved tools for more effective policy development. 4. At present, there is a gap between policy aspirations and realisable outcomes, but these papers identify some general issues and suggest possible new approaches. 5. Some more critical analysis of both scientific shortcomings and policy goals (particularly in densely populated landscapes) is in order. At the very least, we require a more transparent dialogue between science and the broader community about what is possible in desirable time frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A report is presented from a May 17, 2012 conference for doctoral candidates in Munich, Germany on the history of technology. Topics of discussion included the use of the Arctic regions and Antarctica by the U.S. and the Soviet Union as technological testing grounds during the Cold War, the history of East German environmental policies, and cultural transmission of technology in 19th-century Württemberg, Germany.

The paper reviews the problems impeding adaptation to the effects of climate change, but discerns hopeful trends. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The objective of the present paper is to investigate the robustness of the well-known result that pre-set default options determine people''s choices. We do so by conducting a field experiment among environmental economists attending a large international conference on environmental economics. The participants were, at the time of registration, randomly allocated to different treatments related to carbon offsetting. What differs from earlier default studies is that our subjects have good knowledge about the good at hand. We investigate whether the choices of these experienced individuals are affected by a pre-set default option, and we also study the effect of a treatment with no pre-set default option. Our results, together with previous findings, indicate that the effect of a default option attenuates with experience. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Climate engineering - understood as the deliberate, large-scale and technology-based manipulation of the environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change - is currently under discussion as a promising option for policy makers to combat climate change. Most climate engineering techniques are in a status nascendi, i.e., their effectiveness has yet to be proven. Ocean fertilization, however, constitutes a special case of a climate engineering technology because its effects have been relatively well researched. Additionally, ocean fertilization has become subject to regulation under public international law under the London Convention and London Protocol. This article will assess to what extent legal concepts discussed, developed and adopted in the regulatory process under the London Convention and Protocol can provide useful ideas and concepts - and possibly even offer models - for the future regulation of other climate engineering technologies. After an introduction (I.), existing and emerging rules under the international law of the sea that govern ocean fertilization will be outlined (II.). Subsequently, to justify our paradigmatic considerations, similarities between ocean fertilization and other proposed climate engineering technologies will be identified. Based on this, paradigmatic aspects of the legal concepts and principles developed in the course of the regulation of ocean fertilization under the London Convention and Protocol will be discussed (III.). A summary and outlook complete this article (IV.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Protocol to the Espoo Convention is introduced and analyzed. As an outcome of international processes aimed at the institutional adoption of sustainable development policy, the need for strategic environmental assessment has become obvious given the experiences with environmental impact assessment as an effective environmental policy tool for projects. The introduction of SEA and the adoption of a specific international legal instrument are also situated within ongoing international good governance and (new) public management developments which aim at improving decision making. In this context, the application of SEA and the SEA Protocol is analyzed focusing on its features, approaches and opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the State of the Arctic (SoA) Conference held in spring of 2010 is presented. Topics include the invasions by non-indigenous species introduced, importance of identifying important ecological areas, and rapid declines in arctic sea ice cover. Moreover, the conference explored the role of anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing and natural variability in driving changes that affect Arctic marine and terrestrial environments.

UN / GA 66th Session - Agenda Commences 174 Basel Convention - Turning Wastes into Valuable Resources "Promoting Compliance with Obligations?" (Katharina Kummer Peiry) 177 UN / GA / Marine WG-4 - Toward Coordination at Global Level (Ann Powers) 180 UNEP / Rio+20 Consultation - Major Group Input Takes Shape 182 UNFCCC - Climate Change Roadshow Moves to Bonn (Ian Fry) 185 CBD / ICNP-1 - All about Compliance (Elisa Morgera) 189 CITES / AC-25 - Animals Committee: Increasing Cooperation (Elisa Morgera) 191 Aarhus Convention / MOP-4 - Ensuring Global Relevance? (Elisa Morgera) 194 The Compliance Mechanism - Outcomes and Stocktaking - Veit Koester 196 UNECE / Water Convention - Progress on Aspects of Implementation (Laura Covino-Kerpelman) 205 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2010 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of L.T.C. 'Tom' Rolt, pioneer of industrial archaeology and transport conservation during the mid-20th century, and a co-founder of the Association for Industrial Archaeology. This seemed a fitting point at which to pause in the Association's Rolt Memorial Lecture series, established in his honour in 1975, in order to spend some time looking back on the infl uence and personal legacy of Tom Rolt. This paper combines six personal reminiscences of some of his surviving contemporaries, placing Rolt's pioneering work in industrial and transport conservation in a more human context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Green Climate Fund that was created between November 29 and December 10, 2010 at a meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico. Topics include environmental policy, climate change mitigation initiative financing, and the establishment of a Transitional Committee to develop the operational procedures of the Fund.

The article discusses environmental policies pertaining to climatic changes in Africa, focusing on the implications of the seventh meeting of the African Development Forum in 2010. Topics include a Common Statement developed at the congress, economic development, leadership, the financing of climate change initiatives, and global trends in the implementation of environmental policies.

Information on the workshop entitled "The Worlds of Ecology and Environmental Policy: Never the Two Shall Meet?" of the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on December 4, 2009 is presented. It states that the workshop explores how the society, scientists, and policy-makers can fully incorporate science and policy. It says that the event attracted around 70 participants from government agencies, non-government societies, and academic institutions.

"As If Equity Mattered" was the theme of the 2009 Berkeley symposium that resulted in the articles collected in this issue of the Natural Resources Journal. In this article we argue that for some aspects of natural resource policy, equity already matters a great deal. The challenge is understanding how policymakers and citizens deal with conflicting ideas about equity in a given policy context. This article considers the role of conflicting equity norms in public policy, with special attention to the protection of endangered species on private lands. After a brief review of the limited attention to norms and normative conflict in dominant understandings of the policy process, we review the role of two important normative ideas in endangered species conservation: an intrinsic norm of ownership as an individual right subject only to limited government interference, and an intrinsic normative duty to prevent extinction, regardless of a species' utility or practical value. Tracing the prominence of these norms in endangered species policy back to the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, we document in more detail the broad support for both ideas of "equity" among current private landowners affected by endangered species regulations in several locations across the United States. Our conclusion is that both norms remain highly salient, if in some tension, leaving many landowners with strong views about property rights receptive to the idea of cooperative efforts to protect species on private land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UN / GA 64th Session - Environmental Policy and Legal Developments (Elisa Morgera) 2 UNFCCC / CP.15 - The Outcome from Copenhagen: 1. A Building Block or a Faltering Step? (George de Berdt Romilly and Lorne S. Clark) 11 UNFCCC / CP.15 - The Outcome from Copenhagen: 2. At the Limits of Global Diplomacy? (Joanna Depledge) 17 UNFCCC / CP.15 - The Outcome from Copenhagen: 3. Success or Failure? (Richard L. Ottinger) 22 UNFCCC / CP.15 - The Outcome from Copenhagen: 4. The Birth of a New Era? (Jim MacNeill) 24 CBD / ABS-8 - Moving Towards a Protocol? (Elsa Tsioumani) 26 FAO / 36th Conference - Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing -- A New Treaty 30 UNEP - First Work on Mercury Instrument 31 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the Baltic Defence College Workshop on the New North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Strategic Concept held in Estonia on February 18, 2010. The workshop was attended by faculty, representatives from the Baltic states and foreign guests. The participants discussed strategic concepts adopted by NATO to adapt to the changing environment as well as responses to security threats that include terrorism, cyber attacks and climate change. The different challenges faced by NATO were also mentioned.

Information about the Paris Climate Change Conference that was held in Ottawa, Ontario on January 23, 2016, is presented. Topics include the development of international environmental policy and law, the implementation of the sustainable development goals for environmental development and the transparency in organisation. It featured several attendees of the symposium including Jean Lebel, Deirdre Kent and David Runnalls.

The article discusses the panel discussion "New Zealand at Paris Climate Talks: Leader, Follower or... Laggard?" at the 2015 Paris climate change conference held on December 4 at the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) in New Zealand. Topics discussed include the development of the independent scientific analysis global Climate Action Tracker (CAT), global climate change mitigation, and New Zealand's administration of emissions trading scheme.

The article discusses the international climate change agreement reached at the Conference of the Parties (COP21) on December 12, 2015 in Paris, France and the contributions of New Zealand to the agreement.

This symposium's issue on 'Climate Justice and International Environmental Law: Rethinking the North-South Divide' asks contributors 'to explore the intersection between law and emerging ideas of climate justice, and how international environmental law is shaped by and in turn reshapes (or fixates, or interrogates) our understandings of the North-South divide'. In relation to the former, I posit that there appears to be a profound disconnect between the law and the politics of climate change, one that reflects a broader disconnect between those who view the challenge posed by climate change through an ethical lens, and those who see it in pragmatic terms. In relation to the latter, I consider the various arguments as to why we need to rethink North-South relations, and explain why many of those arguments need to be critically evaluated in terms of their embedded assumptions. I conclude by arguing that climate change requires us to move beyond a 'politics of the possible' to a 'politics of the improbable'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the adaptation issue discussed during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It mentions the impact of the abrupt climatic change to the human beings as well as the general biodiversity and cites that climate change has been considered as one of the major problems faced by most of the countries across the planet. Meanwhile, it aims to investigate on the efforts of the European Union for the creation of the climate change policy. Furthermore, the significance of biodiversity conservation and preservation are also highlighted.

Most economists examining the question of 'pollution havens' have concluded that the level of environmental regulation and activism in different states is not generally a significant determinant of international patterns of trade and foreign direct investment. This paper argues on the basis of extensive primary research that with respect to Japan's foreign direct investment during the 1970s, at any rate, this conclusion needs to be rethought. In the early 1970s, Japanese actors were remarkably forthright in ascribing their investment decisions to a desire to move polluting industry overseas. These statements allow us to examine 'pollution export' as a state strategy, a project advocated by industry organizations, and a response of individual firms to high levels of protest and regulation. The paper also traces the development of the Japanese debate over pollution export through the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In William Scott's plenary address at the World Environmental Education Conference, he expressed concerns about the relevance of environmental education research in a world facing global environmental and demographic change. In responding to Scott's concerns, I argue that addressing challenges related to development and the environment requires examining EE goals at multiple levels as well as bridging diverse disciplines. I further suggest that integrating social-ecological systems and other approaches in environmental education research may provide a means for consilience among potentially divisive environmental education practice and research traditions. In so doing, I hope to spark debate about possibilities for an environmental education research agenda and learning organisation that spurs action relevant to concerns about the environment, individuals, and their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The breadth and depth of the environmental crisis and the consequently wide and inclusive interpretations of 'sustainable development' has promoted a disparate range of academic responses encouraging a loose interpretation of environmental education and Education for Sustainable Development. This in turn reduces the capacity for the development of a clearly defined discourse and for a sufficiently robust debate conducive of effective change. This paper attempts to assess the current situation within environmental education in this respect, by means of an analysis of papers presented at the recent World Environmental Education Congress in Durban, South Africa (July 2007). By quantifying the use of specific terms and words used in presentations, the authors reveal evidence to suggest that there is not the degree of self critical analysis and academic rigour that the urgency of the environmental crisis might reasonably demand. On this basis a recommendation is made which should lead to greater precision in the identification of relevant themes and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]