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Kurzstreckenflüge: Segen oder Fluch für Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen?

For the English version, please click here. Im Laufe der letzten Wochen sind Bündnis 90/Die Grünen deutschlandweit in die Schlagzeilen geraten, nachdem Annalena Baerbock — Parteivorsitzende und Kanzlerkandidatin — in einem Interview mit der Bild Am Sonntag erklärte, dass Kurzstreckenflüge massiv besteuert werden sollten, um Klimaneutralität zu erreichen. Der raison d’être dieses Vorstoßes zielte darauf …

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Short-distance flights: the German Green Party’s blessing or curse?

Zur deutschen Version, bitte hier klicken. Over the last week or so, the German Green Party made headlines when Annalena Baerbock - head of the Green Party - declared in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag, that short-distance flights should be taxed massively in order to reach climate neutrality. The raison d'être of this …

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Resumption of activities / Wiederaufnahme der Aktivitäten

Dear followers after a long break, which was due to outside forces, I will resume this blog and provide you with my view on current developments in international environmental law, the rights of indigenous peoples and local populations or on environmental politics. In addition to the international dimension, I will also include a German perspective …

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The Rural North – Opportunities and Challenges for Scottish and Arctic Communities

Image by Bill Kasman from Pixabay. Disclaimer: This post has originally been published for Polar Connection. Introduction The recently released Scottish Arctic Policy Framework provides significant insight into the parallel challenges and opportunities that both Scotland and the Arctic region face. In this post, I will focus on the role of local (rural) communities. In the …

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A new feature on a Finnish news website… and a satirical utilisation of that feature

On 22 March 2019, the local Finnish news outlet Yle Lahti published a little feature about me. (original here). A few days later, a second local Finnish newspaper, Uusi Lahti, used this feature in a satirical cartoon in its printed version. This is a translation of the feature and a translation as well as context …

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A new book!

Along with my wonderful co-editors Yulia Zaika and Ilan Kelman, our book Arctic Triumph: Northern Innovation and Persistence has finally seen the light of day. The book is a compilation of different 'stories' from the Arctic in which not the disaster narrative prevails, but which shows that also positive developments are taking place, despite the …

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11.9% of Finland’s wildlife is threatened. What can we do as private citizens?

A recent estimate of the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) places 11.9% of all species endemic to Finland in the category of 'threatened' (IUCN Red List categories VU, EN, CR), which marks an increase of 1.4% since the last assessment carried out in 2009. The report - which at the time of writing is not available …

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Death penalty for poachers in Kenya?

Recently, news broke (again) that Kenya was to introduce the death penalty for poachers (the same story ran already in May 2018). According to the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act (WCMA), poaching means the "illegal hunting, illegal capturing and illegal harvesting of any wildlife." Kenya lists the African elephant (Loxodonta africana), the White rhino (Ceratotherium simum) …

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Animal cultures and human cultures – tools for conservation

A study published yesterday in Science links animal learning patterns with conservation efforts. While knowledge on the cultural learning of whales, seals and other species is not new (see e.g. Whitehead & Rendell, 2014), a strategic link to conservation has not been established. The only exception here is the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), whose …

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Commercial Sealers under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants

On 17 December 2018 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNROP). The document, which encompasses 28 articles, is a far-reaching human rights instruments, which combines well-established human rights standards with labour rights, environmental rights and, more specifically, women's rights. Additionally, …

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