Headline: Democracy and Sustainability - News

In the struggle for their land and way of life, the indigenous Amazon peoples have already achieved a lot. But they need support in protecting their territories, which are so important for the global climate and biodiversity. During a European tour, a delegation of indigenous chiefs visited Berlin, met with the President of Germany and subsequently discussed their concerns at a public event.

The LOSLAND project has supported ten municipalities across Germany in their efforts to facilitate public participation processes on issues that will shape the future of communities. On 20 April, participants and organisers took stock of the project's outcomes at the symposium “Forging a sustainable democracy through public participation in municipalities”. Discussions at the symposium show that public participation can enrich democracy, but processes must be tailored to the demands of specific issues and target groups.

Public participation is widely considered to be crucial for the success of the energy transition. In three new research projects, RIFS researchers are investigating the impacts of participatory processes, the potential of energy communities, and the application of digital visualization and communication tools in transition planning.

Structuring discussions, explaining contexts, identifying perspectives: all of these are among the tasks of facilitators. In cooperation with the city of Magdeburg, RIFS researchers designed and accompanied three mini-publics that were facilitated in different ways. Their analysis of strengths and weaknesses contributes to a better design of future participation processes.

Young people have long been marginalized in national, regional, and United Nations political fora. Now they are actively demanding their rights as representatives of present and future generations. They do so through public protests, but also by taking legal action to assert their claims. Scientists at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) have studied the potential impacts of climate litigation in the Anthropocene.

On 20 December 2022, the Berlin Senate issued a statement on the recommendations prepared by the Berlin Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and announced that it would partially or fully incorporate 42 of the assembly’s 47 recommendations into its Energy and Climate Protection Programme (BEK 2030). RIFS (then IASS) advised the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate and accompanied the participation process.

In a podcast series, RIFS researchers discuss the role of carbon in climate and sustainability politics. They talk to academics, activists and artists whose work has influenced their own research on the transformations of our carbon-dependent society. In the fourth episode, Usha Natarajan (Columbia University/Dalhousie University) and Julia Dehm (La Trobe Law School) discuss their book “Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law”.

How can courses at vocational schools encourage their students to work for climate mitigation despite the impeding economic change? Based on workshops with trainees in the German coal-mining region of Lusatia, a team from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) offers some guidelines on how to include civics and education for sustainable development in lesson plans.

Although structural transformations of the kind unfolding in Lusatia affect everyone, young people are rarely involved in decision-making processes. And yet everyone should have a say in shaping the future! The research project "Social Transformation and Policy Advice in Lusatia" at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has developed a simulation game for six to 30 players in cooperation with game developers "Playing History". The game, which is suitable for younger audiences, was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In recent years, the rights of children and youth to participate in political processes have been expanded. But there are still deficits when it comes to putting these rights into practice. In a new publication, IASS researchers make recommendations on how to successfully engage young people in processes of structural change.

Losland, a cooperation between the IASS and the association Mehr Demokratie, supports municipalities to sustainably shape their future. The Losland team draws from citizen participation methods to develop individualised participation processes in these municipalities. IASS political scientist Daniel Oppold has been scientifically accompanying the process since 2021. In an interview, he explains how the project works, what an “assembly for the future” is, and the project’s aims.

Sustainability policy in Germany currently falls short of what is needed, despite ambitious rhetoric. In a study, IASS researchers show that the established way of mediating interests between politics, industry and trade unions stands in the way of a more ambitious agenda. For a successful transition, policymakers must remould the relationship between capitalism, democracy, and sustainability.