In March 2015, a new international blueprint for disaster risk reduction (DRR) has been adopted in Sendai, Japan, at the end of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR, March 14 - 18, 2015). We review and discuss the agreed commitments and targets, as well as the...

This paper designs and tests a model for count outcomes to analyse the effective demand for organic vegetables in the city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. From a 'short value chain' perspective, we show that the distance travelled by consumers to organic vegetable production sites primarily...

In this paper we study the effect of international technology spillovers on carbon leakage. We first develop and analyse two simple competing models for carbon leakage. The first model represents the pollution haven hypothesis. It focuses on the international competition between firms that...

The approach of using existing data on economic values of local ecosystem services for an assessment of these values at a larger geographical scale can be called 'scaling up'. In a scaling-up exercise, economic values from a particular study site are transferred to another geographical setting,...

A consistent mapping of all complex ramifications (including direct and indirect effects) of variousgreenhouse policies in an open institutional economy requires the use of a general equilibriumframework. From the existing set of available equilibrium models we have selected the...

In this paper we carry out a meta-analysis of recent studies into the costs of greenhouse gas mitigation policies that aim at the long-term stabilization of these gases in the atmosphere. We find the cost estimates of the studies to be sensitive to the level of the stabilization target, the...

This paper addresses German energy policy instruments and their compatibility with WTO rules. Germany and the EU are forerunners in international climate change policy and driving forces behind the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. German energy policy includes approaches to foster electricity generation...

„... an den Küsten – liest man – steigt die Flut / Der Sturm ist da, die wilden Meere hupfen / An Land, um dicke Dämme zu zerdrücken“ – dieses „Weltende“, das Jakob von Hoddis 1911, in der Endzeitstimmung vor Beginn des ersten Weltkrieges, erfühlte, findet knapp neunzig Jahre...

Auf dem Erdgipfel 1992 in Rio de Janeiro bekannten sich Vertreter fast aller Industrie- und Entwicklungsländer zu dem Ziel, »eine neue und gerechte globale Partnerschaft aufzubauen«. Dieses Leitmotiv findet sich in vielen Umweltabkommen der jüngsten Zeit, in der Klimarahmenkonvention ebenso...

With the onset of the new millennium, the longstanding need for reform of the United Nations system has gained new momentum. Efficiency gains and better coordination are desirable, though not sufficient to bring about improvement in international relations. It could therefore make sense to look...