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The Environment Is a Feminist Issue
Truly Indispensable!
The Geneva Refugee Convention at 70
Inside the Green Economy
Promises and Pitfalls
Climate change is arguably the biggest challenge we are facing this century. In our region alone, climate-related issues that have emerged over the past decades include water scarcity, land degradation, weather extremes, food insecurity, and conflict. Climate change and its ensuing effects are felt differently by various people based on gender, class, race, and national origin. Similarly, coping strategies towards the climate crisis vary according to the same factors.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Refugee Convention (GRC) it seems more important than ever, to bring the Convention’s indispensable importance for refugee protection back to the attention of policy makers and a broader public.
With changing global migration patterns and increasing numbers of refugees, the relevance of the Convention is often questioned. At the external borders of Europe, United States, and Australia, the Refugee Convention is being blatantly violated due to pushbacks.
In 11 short statements persons of diverse backgrounds artists, academics, refugees, activists express their support for the basic principles of the Convention. We hope their voices will reach a large audience and hence make a difference.
Green Economy is a source of both hope and controversy. For some, it points the way out of permanent environmental and economic crises and promises to reconcile – a long cherished Utopia – ecology and economics. It fosters the hope that we can hang on to our current high standard of material prosperity.
For the many who have so far been excluded from prosperity, inclusion is supposed to become possible thanks to the Green Economy paradigm. And both goals are to be accomplished while keeping within the biophysical boundaries of our planet. For others, Green Economy is “business as usual” dressed up in green, which does not stop the overexploitation of the planet and even exacerbates social disparities.
Open Calls
Under the heading “promoting talent”, every year The foundation support around 1,200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students –from all subjects and types of higher educational institutions in Germany and abroad – who affirm the goals of the Green project. Each year, up to 250 new scholarship recipients join the programme.
The objective of the scholarships is to promote future leaders and experts who are prepared to take on social responsibility, are interested in politics, and work to pass on the basic political values of the Heinrich Böll Foundation: ecology and sustainability, democracy and human rights, self-determination and justice.
Recent Videos
The Lebanese nightmare: Total economic collapse - Heinrich Böll Foundation Beirut - Middle East
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There is a nightmare unfolding in Lebanon. The currency losing value at a staggering speed while thousands of people are emigrating. While this is happening, there are no solutions in sight. The people living through this crisis in Lebanon deserve justice and there should be accountability for those in charge of creating this economic collapse.