***Apologies for cross-posting***

Dear Colleagues,

please allow us to remind you that the deadline for submissions for this 
year’s “Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global 
Environmental Change” is approaching.
The 2006 Berlin Conference will address the theme “Resource Policies: 
Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity”. Paper proposals are expected by 
June 15.
Further information about the conference and the call for papers can 
also be found at the conference website: 
web.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2006

Best regards,

Klaus Jacob
(Conference Chair)

Henrik Vagt
(Conference Manager)

Call for Papers
'Resource Policies: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity'
2006 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental 
Change
Berlin, 17-18 November 2006

The Berlin Conference Steering Committee and the Environmental Policy 
and Global Change section of the German Political Science Association 
and its partners invite papers for the 2006 Berlin Conference on the 
Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, to be held in Berlin on 
17-18 November 2006. This conference will be the sixth event in the 
series of annual Berlin Conferences. This year’s discussions will 
address the theme ‘Resource Policies: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and 
Equity’.

Plenary speakers will include Professor Paul Ekins, Policy Studies 
Institute London, UK, Prof. Marina Fischer-Kowalski, IFF Vienna – 
Department of Social Ecology, Austria, Prof. Daniel Bromley, University 
of Wisconsin, USA, and Prof. Martin Jänicke, Freie Universitaet Berlin – 
Environmental Policy Research Centre, Germany.

Resource Policies: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Equity

The sustainable use of natural resources has been a challenge for 
environmental policies from their very beginning. Without an appropriate 
institutional setting, scarce resources such as water, materials, energy 
sources, land, etc. are overused, following the infamous logic of the 
tragedy of the commons. Related to this are issues of effective resource 
policies, efficient resource consumption, and equity on a global scale.
Effective resource policies have to cope with a high degree of 
complexity: Policies that effectively limit the use of natural resources 
are often perceived as jeopardizing the economic basis of industrial 
sectors. They are not only opposed by the affected sector, but cause 
fierce debates within governments and at different levels of 
policy-making. Economic imperatives are likely to be a particular 
challenge for traditional and indigenous institutions to protect access 
to and safeguard sustainable use of local resources. It is subject to 
investigation whether specific institutions are more robust to these 
challenges than others and whether these institutions are actually 
diffusing and replacing more vulnerable approaches. Safeguarding the 
access to natural resources such as oil or water has been and still is a 
matter of security in a large number of countries.

An increase in the productivity of resource use – efficiency – is a 
declared objective in many strategies for sustainable development 
throughout the world. A shift from material-intensive production to a 
stronger knowledge and service-based economy is not only seen as an 
ecological must, but also promises positive effects on employment. 
Recently, efforts have been made in Europe and Japan to adopt specific 
strategies and to achieve these objectives. A number of these 
initiatives deals with minimising and cleaning waste streams, other 
strategies and instruments focus on products. Furthermore, the exploding 
demand for steel, coal, oil etc. in the rapidly growing East and South 
Asian economies has an impact on the prices of raw materials. This 
demand may question the efforts for the cleaning or even reduction of 
resource flows. However, rising prices may also open up new 
opportunities for innovations that are less material- or 
energy-intensive, thereby contributing to ecological modernisation.

Economic growth and globalisation are contributing to the 
overexploitation of resources in developing countries, raising questions 
of equity. Such issues can be based on undefined property rights, 
political upheaval, conflicts or simply poverty. When a country’s high 
export share of resources comes along with declining world market 
prices, economic problems of resource exports can lead to immiserising 
growth. Improvements in efficiency and the reduction of resource use in 
industrialised countries may lead to an outsourcing of material flows 
and the related environmental burden.

*The Berlin Conference addresses the following topics:*
How and how effectively are governments, public and private actors 
around the world addressing these problems? Given the rising demand for 
industrial goods, what are the potentials and limitations of strategies 
to increase resource productivity and the cleaning of waste streams? 
What are the most promising entry points for governmental interventions? 
Are regulatory policies, such as take-back obligations for waste, a 
viable instrument towards cleaner production chains? To what extent are 
recent efforts to develop product policies likely to be effective and 
efficient? To what extent are institutions by private actors such as the 
Stewardship Councils to protect the Marine and the Forests a promising 
approach? What strategies are adopted in developing countries to 
safeguard access to and sustainable use of natural resources and how do 
they work?

The conference will be organised in several parallel streams. Papers are 
invited to contribute to the following topics:
(1) New resource policy trends in industrialised countries: What policy 
innovations have been developed? To what extent are these policies 
effectively influencing the consumption of resources within these 
countries and on an international scale and what are the main obstacles 
for their success? To what extent are resource-saving strategies 
improving employment, economic efficiency, innovation and 
competitiveness? Is there evidence for outsourcing the environmental burden?
(2) Resource Policies in emerging and transition economies: Is the 
rising demand for industrial goods overcompensating improvements in 
resource efficiency? Or do rising prices for scarce resources open up 
new opportunities for transitions towards sustainability? To what extent 
is scarcity of resources a driver for environmental innovation? How are 
transition economies coping with the double challenge of achieving an 
economic-ecologic transition? What is the impact of EU enlargement on 
resource policies in accession countries?
(3) Institutional design: What kinds of arrangements facilitate 
sustainable resource use and environmental cooperation? How can 
institutions be designed which integrate external effects and account 
for the complex interdependencies between human and ecological systems? 
What can be learned from existing institutions to safeguard access to 
and sustainable use of resources? Are there opportunities for new 
coalitions for NGOs, industry and government?
(4) Monitoring and assessment of trends in resource use. Many efforts 
have been undertaken to monitor and to assess patterns in resource 
consumption on a regional and a global scale. The Global Environmental 
Outlook by UNEP, the Millennium Assessment, the Environmental Outlook of 
the OECD, or the State of Environment Report by EEA are prominent 
examples of such efforts. To what extent do these efforts provide a 
basis for policy making? To what extent are patterns of resource use 
predictable, what lessons can be drawn from previous studies such as 
Meadows et al.? To what extent are concepts, such as the ecological 
footprint, material flow analysis, industrial metabolism, a useful guide 
for policy making?
(5) Resources and security: What institutions have been established in 
order to prevent conflicts of access to natural resources? What concepts 
exist to ensure a fair allocation of resources? Do these institutions 
help to avoid resource overuse and pollution in a fair and 
non-discrimative way?
As in previous conferences, we especially encourage paper submissions 
about teaching on global environmental change in higher education 
programs. This year we invite papers dealing with governance for 
ecological sustainable development and especially resource policies in 
PhD and master programmes. Papers and posters shall contribute to the 
following issues:
(6) Academic training has to adapt new forms of systematic 
interdisciplinary cooperation: How are insights from a variety of social 
as well as natural sciences disciplines combined into problem analysis 
and the development of problem solutions?
(7) How do teaching programmes address the specifics of resource 
problems and policies in industrialised countries, emerging economies 
and developing countries?

The 2006 Berlin Conference has been endorsed by the core projects 
‘Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change’ and 
‘Industrial Transformation’ of the International Human Dimensions 
Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).
The 2006 Berlin Conference is organised by the Freie Universität Berlin 
(Environmental Policy Research Centre), the Humboldt-Universitaet zu 
Berlin (Department of Resource Economics), the German Institute for 
Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the Institute for Ecological Economic 
Research (IÖW).
How to participate
The conference will be held in English. Proposals for papers or for side 
events should be sent by e-mail to [log in to unmask] The body 
of the e-mail (no attachments please) should contain
(1) the title of the proposed paper,
(2) an abstract of less than 300 words (longer abstracts will be 
rejected. No graphs, references, tables etc. in the abstract, please),
(3) the complete address and professional affiliation of all (co)-author(s).

Deadline
The deadline for paper proposals is 15 June 2006. All paper submissions 
will be reviewed by an international review panel. Notification of the 
decision will be sent by e-mail no later than 15 July 2006. Full papers 
are expected by 1 November 2006. We are making all efforts to ensure 
funding to reimburse the travel costs of some conference participants, 
with a preference for junior colleagues and colleagues from developing 
countries. Paper presenters and other participants are asked to 
contribute a registration fee of 120 Euros (50 Euros for students with 
valid student ID) upon registration.

Further information
Further information about the 2006 Berlin Conference will be available at
http://web.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2006
Conference Chair: Dr. Klaus Jacob, Freie Universitaet Berlin, 
Environmental Policy Research Centre
Conference Manager: Henrik Vagt, Freie Universitaet Berlin, 
Environmental Policy Research Centre [[log in to unmask]]

-- 
Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
Conference Chair: Dr. Klaus Jacob
Conference Manager: Henrik Vagt
Freie Universitaet Berlin
Environmental Policy Research Centre
Ihnestr. 22
14195 Berlin
Germany
Web: www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2006