Readings in English

Green hydrogen - Sustainable investment and fair trade

Introduction
Within the energy transition, international trade in green hydrogen and its derivatives will play an important role. But what opportunities and risks does this entail for exporting countries in the global South? What framework is needed to ensure that investments and trade develop from the start with sustainability in mind? The Heinrich Böll Foundation and Bread for the World are exploring these questions in a joint project.
Publications in English

Feminist perspectives on gender-just and sustainable urban development

Factsheet
Urbanisation is a defining characteristic of life across the globe in the 21st century. Cities offer many opportunities for different types of people to forge a livelihood and lead a fulfilling social life. The diverse options are taken up in particular by women and people who renounce traditional, binary gender roles and norms and are thus often subject to various kinds of discrimination.
Perspectives_AfricanFeminismsAcrossGenerations_June2021_WEB_0.jpg

Perspectives #01/2021: African Feminisms Across Generations

Perspectives
Throughout the history of social and politicalmovements in African societies, generationsof women have, in one way or another,worked to oppose patriarchal domination,laws and practices in the pursuit of genderequality; advocating for their equal participationin all aspects of social, economic andpolitical life. Despite this tradition of women-centred and anti-patriarchal organising,it is only in the last few decades, partly dueto efforts to entrench women’s emancipationand gender equality in developmentgoals, that feminism in Africa has evolved asan explicit ideological and political concept.

Debt-For-Adaptation Swap – Investment in Adaptation and Resilience

Low-income countries (LICs) are suffering from triple distresses: the mortal impact of Covid-19, increasing debt burdens, and climate change impacts. This paper brings the debt-for-adaptation swap into play as an alternative source to restore countries' ability to act and be resilient to climate change.
A societal transformation scenario for staying below 1.5°C

A Societal Transformation Scenario for Staying Below 1.5°C

Etude
Pour arrêter le changement climatique, nous devons limiter le réchauffement de la planète à 1,5°C. Mais pouvons-nous encore atteindre cet objectif?
Closed ports, dubious partners

Closed Ports, Dubious Partners

E-Paper
This study shows that port closures are governed not only by the law of the sea and human rights law, but also by WHO law and that non-refoulement obligations continue to apply even in emergency situations while a derogation is not permissible under international law.

„Reach Everyone on the Planet…“: Kimberlé Crenshaw and Intersectionality

With the publication, "Reach Everyone on the Planet ...," the Gunda Werner Institute wants to honor Kimberlé Crenshaw and to illustrate the importance of the intersectional approach through a variety of contributions.

Plastic & health: The hidden costs of a plastic planet

In a joint effort, a group of authors from civil society and academia point out that the impacts that plastic and the chemicals in it have on our bodies need to be assessed in the full lifecylce of this enduring an ubiquitous material. You can read the executive summary of their study here.

The Sahara – EUrope’s new deadly external border

The Mediterranean no longer marks the southern border of the European Union. With the help of surveillance technology, border fences and military checkpoints, the border was "externalised" to North Africa. This new EU external border is located in Libya, Niger, Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia and is intended to stop migration and block refugee routes already in the Sahara.

Perspectives #03/2018: Through the Looking Glass: Images of African Futures

Against a background of political and cultural disruption, Perspectives approached writers to inquire, speculatively or not so speculatively, into an African future. The result is an eclectic mix of contributions and conversations across the arts, culture, philosophy and politics. They offer glimpses of African futures – fantastic, idealistic, or sober, but always self-confident – that place the continent at the centre of a world to come.

Climate Finance Fundamentals 10: Gender and Climate Finance

Women are often disproportionally affected by climate change impacts which aggravate existing gender inequalities and as a result of persisting gender norms and discriminations. Women and men also contribute to climate change responses in different ways.

Perspectives #02/2018: Not Always on a Boat to Europe: Movements of Africans within and beyond the continent

The current public debate on African migration to Europe is largely fuelled by visions of boats crossing the Mediterranean Sea, filled with desperate people in search of a better life. The narrative positions Africa as a “continent on the move” whose people are surging into Europe on a seemingly endless tide. Although media images of desperate African refugees fleeing to Europe do portray the daily reality and the often-tragic consequences of the treacherous crossing, the framing conceals more than it reveals. 

Perspectives #03/2018: Through the Looking Glass: Images of African Futures

Against a background of political and cultural disruption, Perspectives approached writers to inquire, speculatively or not so speculatively, into an African future. The result is an eclectic mix of contributions and conversations across the arts, culture, philosophy and politics. They offer glimpses of African futures – fantastic, idealistic, or sober, but always self-confident – that place the continent at the centre of a world to come.

Urban Planning Processes In Lagos

The revised, second edition (2018) of “Urban Planning Processes in Lagos” is the result of a yearlong research process that examines the relation between urban policies, urban interventions, the role of governance, and the different actors in Lagos. The publication shows that Lagos urban policies do not often benefit those at the centre of economic development: the Lagosians – of which a significant number lives below the poverty line.

Annual Report 2017

Great events - formative events - successful partners: An interesting review of a special year. 

Perspectives #01/2018: The Quest for Political Accountability: Change Agents, Openings and Dead Ends

Since the third wave of democratisation swept through the continent in the 1990s, the majority of African states have replaced military dictatorships and one-party-dominant systems with more democratic forms of governance. Today, 61 percent of sub-Saharan countries are “free” or “partly free” according to Freedom House’s 2018 survey – although this is down from a high of 71 percent in 2008.

Perspectives #01/2018: The Quest for Political Accountability: Change Agents, Openings and Dead Ends

This edition of Perspectives seeks to explore how actors in the state, political parties, and civil society have been able to make those in government less certain about the future balance of power through and outside of the ballot box. 

Perspectives 03/2017: The (Un-) Making of Icons in Africa

Which African leaders qualify as an icon? Perhaps this is always a controversial question, but it was much easier to answer, say, 25 years ago, when the public memories of Pan-Africanist champions such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere were still fresh, Nelson Mandela had just walked out of prison, and Robert Mugabe was a widely respected leader.

The Big Bad Fix: The case against geoengineering

Report
The “Big Bad Fix” provides a comprehensive overview of the key actors, technologies and fora relevant in the geoengineering discourse. It opposes geoengineering as a technofix for climate change and as a threat to world peace, democracy and human rights.

Perspectives #02/2017: Putting People Back Into Infrastructure

This edition of Perspectives contributes to the ongoing debate on infrastructure development in Africa by sharing snapshots of experience from around the continent, exploring questions about democratic participation, the role of human and environmental rights, and economic transformation.

Policy Paper: Litigation (im)possible? Holding companies accountable for sexual and gender-based violence in the context of extractive industries

Sexual and gender-based violence seems to be inherent in the surroundings of extractive projects. More than often, it is on the instruction of the mother companies in the global North that security forces commit atrocities and severe human rights violations in communities affected by extractive projects and very often sexual and gender-based violence are among them. How is it possible to hold the mother companies accountable? How can the intentionality and foreseeability of those crimes be proved? How do you find and secure evidence? What do non-judicial company grievance mechanisms do for the victims?

© Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V.
Schumannstraße 8
10117 Berlin
T +49 (30) 285 34-0
F +49 (30) 285 34-109
www.boell.de
info@boell.de