Suchergebnisse

The objective of this report was to study how some countries work in practice with the ecosystem service concept. The approach chosen was rather broad focusing on green infrastructure planning, development or management including urban, rural and coastal areas at all scales. The countries chosen were Great Britain, Germany and Norway, since this allowed to read documents in the national languages. For each country also the national ecosystem service assessments based in the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 have been investigated. It can be concluded that the three countries have come differently far in their work to implement the ecosystem service concept in planning practice. Great Britain can be seen as most advanced with comprehensive assessments at national level and regional and local examples which take their point of departure in the ecosystem service concept. The green structure plans of Birmingham and Manchester as well as the work in the South Downs can be pointed out as inspiring examples. In Germany comprehensive assessments at national levels have been carried out in later years. The practical examples found have often a research connection or had not their starting point in the ecosystem services concept, but have been interpreted within its context afterwards. This might be seen as an indication that the implementation of the ecosystem service concept in Germany at regional and local level outside research environments is still limited. Norway has comparable work ongoing regarding the implementation of the ecosystem service concept despite not being member of the EU and thus not been obliged to follow the EU biodiversity strategy. National assessments of ecosystem services have been carried out, partly in cooperation with the other Nordic countries. The number of research environments working with the ecosystem service concept is of course smaller than in the other countries considered here. However, in Norway as in Sweden, there is an ambition to implement the ecosystem service concept within municipal planning. Interestingly, in Norway the ecosystem service concept has also been integrated in the environmental impact assessment legislation. Studying these three countries' approach to work with the ecosystem service concept in practice in relation to green infrastructure has given interesting first insights. To get a more comprehensive and detailed overview further studies would be needed, preferably including site visits and personal contact with research institutes leading in the field as well as meeting local and regional authorities.

The relations with Russia rank among the most important and most complex issues in the US and UK foreign policy. The years after the Second World War have been marked by an exhausting arms race between the Western and Eastern bloc that ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the victory of the United States and its Western allies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relations between the US and the United Kingdom on the one hand, and Russia, on the other, during the mandate of President Trump and after Brexit and point to possible directions that these relations may take in the aftermath of Biden's victory in the 2020 US Presidential elections. The author proceeds from a hypothesis that the efforts of President Trump, who, contrary to his predecessors, felt that the relations with Russia should be based on interests rather than ideology, have failed. He has not been successful primarily due to the huge resistance mounted by the state structures, mainstream media and anti-Russian coalition forged by the Republican and Democratic parties. The relations between the UK and Russia remain cold after Brexit as well due to the severe problems between the two countries. The first part will deal with the strained relations between the United States and Russia following the West's victory in the Cold War, the efforts of President Trump to improve these relations and his failure to do so. The second part of the paper will address the relationship between the United Kingdom and Russia, which is in many respects even more complicated than that between Russia and the US. After Brexit, the relations between the two countries continue to be plagued by the activities of the Russian agents in Great Britain, the crisis in Ukraine and different views on the war in Syria. In the third part, the concluding part of the paper, the author tried to answer the question of how the relations between the US and Russia will develop after Joseph Biden won the 2020 US Presidential elections. According to him, the new President will continue to pursue the traditional policy towards Russia agreed upon by both US parties. It can be expected that Biden will, despite the policy of sanctions pursued by his predecessors, Obama and Trump, engage more in supporting the opposition and civilian sector in Russia. Given the cold and strained relations between these two states, it may be assumed that Great Britain will readily follow a new, tougher course of action pursued by President Biden towards Russia and Putin. It is especially important for UK politics that Biden returns to the ideas of liberalism because, as we have seen on previous pages, in London, in addition to the actions of Russian agents on the UK territory, Putin is most resented precisely for his activities to overthrow the ruling liberal order. Despite the good ties between Prime Minister Johnson and the former US President who supported Brexit, Biden's victory will bring relief to the UK because of his commitment, as opposed to Trump, to bring back America to the world political stage, where London is likely to expect to find space for its new global role after leaving the EU. On the other hand, Moscow will probably continue with its past foreign policy strategy in anticipation of the moves to be taken by the new US President without high expectations regarding the future relations between the two countries. Russia has even fewer expectations when it comes to relations with the UK, given the gravity of the problems that burden the relations between the two countries.