Social & Ecological Transformation

Thomas Fatheuer, Lili Fuhr and Barbara Unmüßig of the Heinrich Böll Foundation set out to explore the basic assumptions, hypotheses and proposed solutions of the green economy and to illustrate and criticize their effects in practice.

It is estimated that there are 3.4 billion hectares of pasture areas all over the world. Twelve percent of these areas are located in China, 11% in Australia, 7 % in the USA, and 6% in Brasil. Turkey is ranked as 46th among the countries having the largest pasture areas in the world with 14,6 million hectares.1

After the restructuring of the agricultural production in Turkey in accordance with the basin-based agriculture model, which is best documented in the “Turkey Agricultural Basin Production and Support Model,” all agricultural lands in Turkey were divided into thirty basins. Even though tobacco had been traditionally produced in twenty three basins, the Production and Support Model did not entail tobacco farming, and therefore tobacco farmers were deprived of state supports, including supports for crude petroleum and fertilizers. The only state support provided to tobacco farmers was land analysis expertise.

The G20 seems to lag behind in acknowledging that gender is one of the fundamental dimension to be considered. Given that its policy stance holds critical implications for gender justice, scrutinizing the G20 from a gender perspective is crucial, especially under the light of its unfolding role and importance in terms of structuring the future of world economies.

The Political Declaration adopted in the 59th session, reflects the endeavours of the pressure groups that consists of the Vatican and some fundamentalist Muslim and Christian governments to include conservative values in the declaration, such as promoting maternal roles for women, strengthening the heterosexual family and controlling women’s sexual and bodily rights.

A few weeks ago, we came across a promotional text on a website that features fancy photos of detached houses surrounded by trees anyone living in a big city would dream of. The text illustrates a residential compound designed for high-end consumers in Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul.

With the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in the USA on 15 September 2008, it was announced that the onset of the fourth major crisis in the history of capitalism commenced. When the crisis erupted, its causes were analyzed on three different levels: structural dynamics, institutional arrangements and certain choices with respect to political economy.1 We need to simultaneously elaborate on these three levels in order to grasp both the origins and current advance of the global crisis. 

The G20, shorthand for Group 20, is considered to be one of the most significant conferences of the world leaders. Leaders of the world’s largest economies come together each year to talk about how to boost the global economy and reduce the barriers to international trade and economic development.  

Ünal Akkemik Belgrade Forest, to the north of Istanbul’s European coast, covers approximately 5300 hectares with mostly broadleaf trees. Recent archaeological excavations in Yenikapı confirm that...

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey Representation together with the Development Center Association and Traces of Seed Association is invits you to the conference between 16-17 November 2012, based on the book “Alternative and New Approaches to Rural Development” published by the Development Center Association in Turkish and Kurdish in 2011. During the two-day conference, the main topics will be “Food Sovereignty”, “Peasantry” and “Rural Development and Gender”. The first day will consist of panels addressing these topics followed by workshops on the second day of the conference.