Much has happened since the ECC-Platform was launched in 2005: environmental aspects are increasingly recognized as important elements of sustainable peace; the UN and EU have initiated processes on the potential impacts of climate change on the security and stability of states; and environmental security has also become a central issue in foreign and security strategy planning.



We have thus moved a great step forward in achieving our objective: to increase information exchange by creating networks among stakeholder from the development, economic, environment, foreign, and security communities worldwide. In January, we organized the first ECC annual conference on climate and energy security issues in collaboration with Germanwatch and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) (see conference reports). In addition, the ECC website appears in a new guise: a "Quick Access Button" leads you directly towards information on current developments, such as on climate change and international security. We established a new section dealing with environment and migration and another one listing publications with regional case studies. The next step includes the development of country profiles on environment and security policies and the introduction of a German-speaking blog. We thereby want to further promote a vivid discussion on issues of environment and natural resources.



The website is a living and dynamic platform, thus never fully complete. The editorial team welcomes your opinion, comments and news on political initiatives, documents, or institutions relevant to this topic as it would help us to further improve the newsletter and the website.



The Editorial Team

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, February 2010