"The Impact of Environmental Degradation on Migration Flows across Countries" - Working Paper No. 5/2008 by Tamer Afifi and Koko Warner out now

In the latest working paper the authors try to answer the question whether environmental degradation may contribute to forced migration. A gravity regression model is used to detect the impact of global environmental factors on the migration flows across countries of the world. To the knowledge of the authors, this working paper is the first to include environmental variables in a gravity model, and it is shown that environment has a positive significant impact on migration, which until now has been considered unrelated.

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Professor Úrsula Oswald Spring, the first chairholder of the MRF-Chair on Social Vulnerability at UNU-EHS, provides here thoughts about gender and security issues and shows challenges and opportunities of disaster risk management. Gender is considered as an aspect of social vulnerability, as women all over the world are the centre of not only the family unit, but of the whole society.

Oswald Spring calls therefore for renewed efforts to reduce social vulnerability by critically examining gender specific beliefs that lead to violence and victimization. The publication is a great contribution to understand more about the gender aspects of risk and vulnerability.

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“Groundwater and Human Security Case Studies (GWAHS-CS)”

The new working paper by Fabrice Renaud, Jose Luis Martin-Bodes and Brigitte Schuster contains the results from the Kick-Off Workshop in January 2008 in Bonn. GWAHS-CS is the first practical activity under the “Quo Vadis Aquifers?” umbrella programme and is a collaboration between, among others, UNESCO-IHP, UNU-EHS and UNU-INWEH. Working Paper No. 4 includes the results of three brainstorming sessions which took place after the presentation of four case studies.

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Working Paper No. 3/2008 out now!

UNU-EHS is happy to present the outcomes of the First PhD Scientific Seminar of the WISDOM project. The paper contains summaries of all presentations given by the invited experts as well as by the PhD scholars. In addition the main objectives and results of the seminar are presented. A comprehensive list of all the participants is provided in the appendix.

In March 2008 UNU-EHS organized and hosted a three-day seminar for PhD candidates within the GITEWS project. The overall goal of the PhD seminar was to provide a forum for research exchange.

BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion) and UNU-EHS invite the interested public to attend the launch of the ‘Resource Conflict Monitor’ (RCM). The event takes place on 12 March at noon (12:00). The RCM is a unique tool for research and information on the nexus between natural resources and violent conflict. It will be presented and discussed by Peter J. Croll, Director BICC, Prof. Janos Bogardi, Vice-Rector in Europe a.i. United Nations University (UNU-ViE) and Director UNU - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Jolien Schure, researcher at BICC.

BMBF and MIWFT Grant Financial Support

On January 30, 2008 the funding agreement for UNU-EHS has been renewed at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The BMBF grants annually the sum of 500,000 €.

19 mid and high-ranking municipal officers from seven capital cities such as La Paz; Quito; Bogota, Tegucigalpa; San Salvador, Managua, and San José came to San Jose, Costa Rica, from 3 – 12 of December 2007 to attend the Urban Training Programme organised by UNU-EHS with the support of the Federation of Municipalities of the Central American Isthmus, FEMICA, and UNDP-BCPR.

“Rapid Vulnerability Assessment in Sri Lanka” by Jörn Birkmann, Nishara Fernando, Siri Hettige et.al. is the result of a study conducted shortly after the devastating tsunami of December 2004. Not only does it provide new insights into the vulnerability of coastal communities and cities in Sri Lanka, it also gives an overview of different methodologies.

Download SOURCE No. 7/2007

The new issue of InterSecTions Series entitled “Living with Vulnerability” is a title that challenges the reader to look at vulnerable groups in a new lens—a lens that requires a pragmatic approach to vulnerability which is dynamic and may resist technological change. The title chosen by the author Prof. Bohle also invites the reader to view the vulnerable as agents reacting to and shaping their own resilience.

From 19-21 November 25 international experts have taken part in the Fourth Meeting of the Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability at the UN Campus in Bonn. Unlike the last meeting with many participants the session in Bonn was conceived as a focused meeting with only a few participants. The EWG hopes to provide a platform for brainstorming and in-depth discussion, rather than formal presentations. The meeting focused mainly on vulnerability to climate change, the integration of gender aspects in measuring vulnerability and different measurements of vulnerability before, during and after a disaster of natural origin.

The workshop, which took place from 29-30 October 2007 in Bonn, gathered experts together to convey a new impetus to the role of remote sensing in disaster management and seek the involvement of the widest possible range of relevant players. At the same time, during the first day of the workshop, the new office of United Nations Space-based Information and Solutions for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) was celebrated.

On 21 September 2007 the Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the UN Campus in Bonn . The visit included a guided tour through the UN Campus situated at the Langer Eugen and a meeting with the Heads and Representatives of UN agencies in Bonn and Germany. On his way through the building Minister Steinmeier has been introduced by the Chairman of the UN Bonn Head of Agencies Prof. Dr. Janos J. Bogardi to the PhD scholars of the UNU-EHS Institute.

EACH-FOR project publishes twice a year a newsletter with reports of the project's activities. The issues of the EACH-FOR update can be downloaded by clicking on read more. If you are interested in subscribing to the newsletter, please write an email with the subject "EACH-FOR UPDATE" to newsletter@each-for.eu

31 August 2007 - Book presentation: Can good will contribute to achieve peace in that part of the world by trying to resolve its raging water conflicts? A book entitled ‘WATER RESOURCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST – Israeli-Palestinian Water Issues – From Conflict to Cooperation’, which have been presented to the press on the 31 August 2007 by Dr. Hans Guenter Brauch, a renowned Political Scientist associated to UNU-EHS, is an attempt to cast some light on such a difficult issue. Its editors, Professors Hillel Shuval from Israel and Hassan Dweik from Palestine, have compiled the studies of a host of Palestinian, Israel and international experts offering new perspectives on how to defuse the region’s conflicting interests by considering various geopolitical, environmental, legal, economic, and water resource management approaches.