Today’s world is undergoing a major transformation, characterized by increased globalization, fundamental shifts in economic and political power, environmental challenges, and unpredictable social conflicts. Advances in science and technology can help policymakers cope with these changes, but charting a clear path forward requires a deep understanding of how these issues are interlinked.

For several decades the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) has conducted independent and interdisciplinary systems analysis to find solutions to a host of scientific, social, and policy problems. To effectively continue that work, IIASA has developed a strategic plan and accompanying research plan that focuses on three global problem areas where systems analysis is of critical importance: Energy and Climate Change; Food and Water; and Poverty and Equity.

The numbers underlying these problem areas make clear the urgent need for focused research that can lead to solutions:

• Of the 6.75 billion people on Earth, almost 3 billion lack access to modern energy for cooking, and some 1.5 billion don’t have electricity. The lack of efficient cooking fuels and electricity is directly tied to increased levels of poverty.
• To provide food for a world population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production must increase by 70 percent globally and 100 percent in developing countries. Currently, about one billion people go to bed hungry each night.
• Water resources are linked to food production, with agriculture accounting for 70 percent of our water use. However, human exploitation of land, marine, and freshwater resources has resulted in land and vegetation degradation over vast areas, overexploitation of marine resources, depletion of aquifers, and unsustainable restructuring of natural landscapes.
• All of these problems are made worse by climate change, yet 80 percent of global energy comes from fossil fuels, which, if unchanged, will lead to catastrophic increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases.  

The planet is confronted with seemingly contradictory problems – how to increase energy, water and food supplies for billions of people while at the same time cutting greenhouse gas emissions by half to achieve the long-term goal of stabilizing global mean temperatures at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above current temperatures.

Much of IIASA’s research in these problem areas builds on the institute’s strong research history, but with a shift in emphasis that recognizes the transformational nature of the modern world. To ensure that the research is relevant and produces useable results, the work is being conducted in the context of what is driving the global transformation, how the methods of systems analysis can be improved to find the most effective solutions, and how policymakers at national and international levels can best implement those solutions.

Systems analysis at IIASA is based on quantitative models, databases, and analytical tools that allow researchers to look at complex problems in a holistic and integrated way. The goal of systems analysis is to highlight the impacts and trade-offs of different policy choices while preserving the complexity of the analysis. The trademark of IIASA’s research is that it is crosscutting, so the work done in one research program is connected to the work in another program. This approach is designed to meet the institute’s vision of finding solutions to global problems for the benefit of humankind.

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Last updated: 20 Oct 2011