2018

February: German National Forum on IPBES
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in the 6th German National Forum on IPBES, organized by the Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit und Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
October: Meeting with Client Earth
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in a dinner meeting with James Thornton, Founder and CEO of Client Earth, an international lawyers office that initiates court cases on behalf of Nature and the Environment www.clientearth.org. Fellow Ecoropa member Prof, Hermann Ott became head of the German office of Client Earth in 2019.
February: NGO Forum Environment and Development
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in a meeting of WG Biodiversity of German NGO Forum Environment and Development (AG Biodiversität des Forums Umwelt und Entwicklung) in Berlin.
March: International Workshop on Gene Drives
Christine von Weizsäcker, Ricarda Steinbrecher, Elisabeth Bücking and Ernst von Weizsäcker organised and participated in the International Workshop on Gene Drives in Emmendingen, in preparation for the publication of the Gene Drive Publication https://genedrives.ch/report. The workshop was co-organized by EMstitut, ENSSER, CSS and Ecoropa.
March: Interview "Insect Loss"
Interview by Christine von Weizsäcker for Zeitschrift natur on the issue of insect loss.
April: Neckargemünd Talks on „Women and Ecology“
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in the Neckargemünder Gesprächskreis „Frauen und Ökologie“ organized by Prof. Angelika Zahrnt and the Neckargemünder Gesprächskreis.
May: German Society for Human Ecology
Christine von Weizsäcker presented on “Diversity of Knowledge on Agriculture. Whose Knowledge Counts?” during the Annual Meeting German Society for Human Ecology (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanökologie) in Sommerhausen.
May: NABU Advisory Committe
Christine von Weizsäcker participated int the Meeting of the Advisory Committee of BirdLife Germany (Naturschutzbund Deutschland, NABU) in Fulda.
June: European Expert Meeting in Preparation of SBSTTA 22
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in European Expert Meeting in Preparation of the Twenty-second Meeting of SBSTTA in Vilm, organized by the Bundesamt für Naturschutz
June: Conference call with GYBN
Christine von Weizsäcker co-organized a conference call with members of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) in preparation for SBSTTA 22.
July: SBSTTA 22 and SBI 2
Christine von Weizsäcker and other Ecoropa members participated in the 22nd meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technological and Technical Advice (SBSTTA 22) followed by the 2nd meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI 2) in Montreal from 29 June till 13 July. Topic included Conflict of Interest.
October: Fostering Community Conservation
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in the Fostering Community Conservation Conference II, held in Montreal between the SBSTTA and SBI meetings, organized by Community Conservation Resilience Initiative and Global Forest Coalition, of which Ecoropa is a member organization.
August: Lecture "The Role of Biodiversity"
Christine von Weizsäcker gave a public lecture on “The Role of Biodiversity – Introducing some Elements for Consideration” at Summer School „Urban Concepts in Sustainable Transition“, organized by the German Society for Human Ecology.
September: Liason group on Capacity Building for Biosafety
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in the 12th meeting of the Liason Group on Capacity-building for Biosafety, This is a small group of experts chosen ad personam, and it gave input on the Post2020 Agenda of the CBD.
September: Workshop on Gene Drives
Christine von Weizsäcker, Ricarda Steinbrecher, Elisabeth Bücking and Ernst von Weizsäcker co-organized and participated in the Workshop on Gene Drives, prior to the publication of the Gene Drive Publication (2019) https://genedrives.ch/report. The workshop was organized by Critical Scientists Switzerland (CSS), ENSSER, EMstitute and Ecoropa.
September: "More courage for Multilateralism"
Christine von Weizsäcker participated as panelist on „Biodiversity Loss in spite of 25 years of CBD“ at the Expert Conference „More Courage for Multilateralism“ (Mehr Mut zum Multilateralismus) in Berlin, organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Brot für die Welt, Misereor, and the Global Policy Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung
September: Systemic Pesticide
Christine von Weizsäcker participate in the 11th Working Meeting of the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides and the “Symposium sur la biodiversité et les néonicotnoides” organized by the Assemblée Nationale. At this point, the French Parliament had just decided to ban neonicotinoids despite strong resistance by government ministers and the Farmers Association in France.
October: Events at Navdanya and Forest Research Institute
Vandana Shiva invited founding members, Beth Burrows and Christine von Weizsäcker, of Diverse Women for Diversity, 20 Years Anniversary, and they participated in several events at Navdanya and Forsest Research institute in Dehra Dun, India. Topics included GMOs, different interpretations of "ecosystem services" and Christine von Weizsäcker's lecture on “The combination of Big Data on Digital Sequence Information and Gene Editing/CRISPR-Cas”.
October: UBA Workshop: Regulation of Geoengineering
Christine von Weizsäcker participated it a workshop on the regulation of geoengineering organized by the German Federal Environment Office (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) in Berlin.
October: Neckargemünd Talks on „Women and Ecology“
Christine von Weizsäcker participated in the Neckargemünd Talks on „Women and Ecology“.
October: Meeting with Dr. Renate Künast
Christine von Weizsäcker met with Dr. Renate Künast, Former Green Agriculture Minister, to discuss the Precautionary Principle versus the newly postulated “Innovation Principle”, Geoengineering and new genetic engineering techniques.
October: Conference „Overcoming the Crisis with Risky Technologies?"
Christine von Weizsäcker presented at the conference „Overcoming the Crisis with Risky Technologies? Biological Diversity and Land Use targeted by Geoengineering and Biotechnology” (Mit Risikotechnologien aus der Krise? – Biologische Vielfalt und Landnutzung im Visier von Geoengineering und Biotechnologie), organized by fdcl, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung- Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung, Brot für die Welt in Berlin.
November: COP14, MOP9 and MOP3: Participation and side events
Christine von Weizsäcker, Antje Lorch, Helena Paul and Ricarda Steinbrecher participated in the 14th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP14), 9th Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, and the 3rd Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their Utilization (MOP3) in Sharm El Sheik from 15 to 29 November. Activities included regular updates to Ecoropa, editing and publication of the daily NGO newsletter ECO, meetings with the Executive Secretary of the CBD, European delegates, the Austrian EU Presidency, meetings and board meeting of the CBD Alliance, and participation and/or organisation of side events. Side events and strategy meetings included: Strategy Meeting on Synthetic Biology, organized by ETC Group, Third World Network, African Centre for Biodiversity, Friends of the Earth CBD Alliance Strategy Meeting on the Post-2020 Agenda Gender and Biodiversity, organized by UN Women Better Evidence for Better Decisions, Policies and Action: Recent IPBES ASSESSMENTS, organized by the Secretariat of the IPBES What is on the horizon? Biodiversity and Gene Drives: Science, culture, ethics, socio-economics and governance. Organized by the Federation of German Scientists, chaired an introduced by Christine von Weizsäcker, main presentation by Ricarda Steinbrecher. Synthetic Biology and Gene Drives in Agriculture: Issues for the CBD, organized by La Via Campesina, ETC Group, Friends of the Earth International Informing Decision-making for a more Biodiverse Future: Next Steps for IPBES, organized by the Secretariat of the CBD Challenges to the Risk Assessment of LMOs derived from New Genetic Engineering Techniques, organized by ENSSER, main presentation by Ricarda Steinbrecher. Examples of Community Conservation, organized by Global Forest Coalition, ICCA Consortium Precautionary GMO Assessment includes Socio-economic Considerations, organized by ENSSER Effectively addressing Conflicts of Interest at the CBD and its Protocols, organized by Third World Network, with a presentation by Christine von Weizsäcker on “IPBES and its Conflict of Interest Policy” Biodiversity and Governance, organized by Canadian Universities Examples of Community Conserved Areas from all Continents, organized by IUCN and ICCA Consortium
December: Seminar on „Genetic Engineering reloaded"
Ricarda Steinbrecher and Christine von Weizsäcker participated it the civil society seminar „Genetic Engineering reloaded: Gene Gentechologies and, Big Data – Risks and Regulation Requirements“ in Berlin, organized by fdcl and Forum Umwelit und Entwicklung. Ricarda Steinbrecher gave a keynote on „New Genetic Engineering Techniques“, and Christine von Weizsäcker gave a keynote on „Digital Sequence Information – Nagoya Protocol on the Siding?“