IIASA research investigates the drivers of poverty and inequality, their impacts on human well-being and the environment, and the impacts of policies and general development on the poor and most vulnerable.
The Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) team joined the IMPACT2C project which explores the likely impacts of a 2°C rise in global mean temperature in Europe and in three vulnerable areas in other parts of the world outside Europe: Bangladesh, Africa, and the Maldives. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program research found that selling livestock was the most frequently reported coping strategy for smallholders in rural Uganda following weather disasters. more
Progress with EPIC crop modeling in 2013 allowed the Agro-Economic Systems (AES) group to join the international Ag-GRID initiative which aims to improve global gridded crop modeling. more
Results from IIASA's global land use model GLOBIOM model, adapted to the Congo Basin region - the CongoBIOM model - were used to inform a World Bank study on future deforestation trends in the Congo Basin published in 2013. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) researchers presented novel suggestions for regional risk management platforms. Suggestions included risk insurance pools to manage climate loss and damage, which are gaining traction in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa and recently Europe. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) analysts in 2013 looked at how the energy transition might be constrained by the vulnerability of solar energy systems to extreme event risks in a changing climate. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
The Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) team joined the IMPACT2C project which explores the likely impacts of a 2°C rise in global mean temperature in Europe and in three vulnerable areas in other parts of the world outside Europe: Bangladesh, Africa, and the Maldives. more
A Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) study proposed a new index for measuring farmers' satisfaction levels with crop insurance based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) as adapted to the specific needs of farming in Fars Province, Iran. more
As part of a larger project, Forecasting Societies’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change, a Special Feature entitled Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters was published in the journal, Ecology & Society. more
Joint research by the World Population (POP) and Mitigation of Air Pollution (MAG) programs shows that advanced but costly measures to reduce fine particulate matter would improve air quality, human health, and longevity in India, and also pay for themselves in a few years by increasing productivity. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program is coordinating a project which aims at an open and in-depth discussion and analysis of dimensions of economic integration covering Russia, its neighbors, and the European Union, as well as in a larger trans-continental framework where integration extends also to the key Asian players more
As environmental problems do not respect disciplinary boundaries, integrated assessment modeling, pioneered by IIASA, is a useful adjunct to environmental policy analysis, integrating knowledge from more than one domain into a single framework. more
In collaboration with IIASA’s Population Program, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program produced an innovative model of the interactions between population dynamics, economic growth and investments into environmental protection and the consequences on human well-being. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
The Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) team joined the IMPACT2C project which explores the likely impacts of a 2°C rise in global mean temperature in Europe and in three vulnerable areas in other parts of the world outside Europe: Bangladesh, Africa, and the Maldives. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) staff introduced a new method to up-scale dependent loss distributions from natural hazards to higher spatial levels, explicitly incorporating their dependency structure over the aggregation process. more
Since 2011 the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program has been developing an agent-based model (ABM) “Dream Valley” which is able to simulate the economic, social, and environmental interactions and dynamics of a region. more
World Population Program (POP) researchers challenge the widespread notion that replacement level fertility is the most desirable level of fertility for countries currently both above and below that level. more
Currently emerging “big data” techniques are reshaping many fields of science into data science. The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program in 2013 began developing tools to gain added value from large data clusters. more
In 2013 the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program's Policy Science Interface (PSI) group together with ESM Forest Ecosystems Management (FEM) continued their involvement in the recharge.green project that aims to analyze bio-energy potential and impacts in the Alps from biomass, solar, wind, and hydro. more
As part of a larger project, Forecasting Societies’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change, a Special Feature entitled Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters was published in the journal, Ecology & Society. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program is coordinating a project which aims at an open and in-depth discussion and analysis of dimensions of economic integration covering Russia, its neighbors, and the European Union, as well as in a larger trans-continental framework where integration extends also to the key Asian players more
Recent Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) research addressed how a multi-risk approach (MRA) can be implemented in different governance systems marked by different degrees of centralization in policy and decision-making processes. more
As environmental problems do not respect disciplinary boundaries, integrated assessment modeling, pioneered by IIASA, is a useful adjunct to environmental policy analysis, integrating knowledge from more than one domain into a single framework. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) researchers presented novel suggestions for regional risk management platforms. Suggestions included risk insurance pools to manage climate loss and damage, which are gaining traction in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa and recently Europe. more
The aim of the project was to analyze two contrary and yet sustainable forest management options under the influence of climate change: maximization of forest stock and maximization of forest increment. more
Similarly to ecosystems, social systems – from firms to countries – are becoming more and more subject to various stressors whose effects penetrate throughout the system by means of social ties and economic links. The external disturbances here may be of political, economic, financial and even environmental nature. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) analysts in 2013 looked at how the energy transition might be constrained by the vulnerability of solar energy systems to extreme event risks in a changing climate. more
As the methods used to measure and inventory GHG emissions have significant uncertainties and gaps, the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program has been developing an advanced methodology of a Terrestrial Ecosystems Full Verified GHG Budget. more
The World Population Program (POP) researchers in 2013 identified and elaborated critical policy gaps and possible solutions for a report on the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region, entitled "Population Trends and Policies in the UNECE Region: Outcomes, Policies and Possibilities." more
In 2013, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program achieved global coverage of its GAINS (Greenhouse gas – Air pollution Interactions and Synergies) tool for the systematic assessment of co-benefits strategies, in close collaboration with a large number of national teams. more
In a review paper, developed in cooperation with colleagues from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies of Japan, scientists of the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program argued that a multidisciplinary approach, involving the interplay with other policy objectives beyond air quality and climate, is needed to bring policies into line with current research on co-benefits. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program actively participated in two comparison exercises with the GLOBIOM model, looking at how the model reacts to different scenarios of climate change. more
In 2013 the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program made several new contributions to the development of optimal control theory for managing socio-environmental systems within a modeling framework. more
Age and Cohort Change (ACC) worked in two major areas in 2013: beliefs and skills. The former focused on projections of beliefs and values over the life course, the latter on cognition and skills, especially with respect to aging. more
In the area of air pollution and health, the Energy (ENE) Program intensified collaboration with the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program at IIASA, the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy (part of the European Commission), and Columbia University in the USA to explore the health benefits of climate and pollution control scenarios. more
The Earth Observation System (EOS) group has developed "Cropland Capture," an online game that engages citizen scientists as data gatherers in global land cover research. The Cropland Capture game was listed among the top 10 education games of 2013. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program's Policy and Science Interface (PSI) team has been considering how to mitigate climate change through the use of carbon-neutral bio-energy (BE), combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS), to produce negative-emissions conditions. more
The IIASA World Population Program (POP) in close collaboration with other Wittgenstein Centre partners has finalized the book, World Population and Human Capital in the 21st Century, to be published by Oxford University Press. more
In 2013 the Energy (ENE) Program conducted policy analyses in areas where the energy related challenges were greatest, for example, universal energy access. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program group on environmental resources and development (ERD) tackles the multiple interrelationships that exist between the natural environment and the human systems that actually or potentially affect it - population, land use, soil, water, chemicals, climate, crop management systems, and global trade. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program in 2013 studied communication, friendship, or trade networks, known as multiplex networks, which form the structural backbone of human societies. more
A Geo-Wiki study of more than 53,000 samples of human impact and land cover collected from over 60 individuals of varying expertise showed that the non-experts were as good as the experts at identifying human impact on land cover, and with additional training, could perform as well as experts. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program has been working for several years on Web-enabled structured modeling, multi-criteria analysis, and infrastructure for sharing research databases, all aimed at supporting collaborative interdisciplinary research for decision support. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program reviewed techniques available across various fields for characterizing the performance of environmental models with a focus on numerical, graphical, and qualitative methods. more
The first research results on redefining age and investigating improved methods for predicting life expectancy were published in 2013 by POP researchers. more
The Methods for Economic Decision making under Uncertainty (MEDU) group contributed to the first results of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), a pioneering collaboration within the international scientific community. more
The Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program contributed to papers that highlight how the global nitrogen cycle could change in the 21st century and the extent to which this is reflected in the current set of global emission scenarios. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) researchers in 2013 worked on developing new economic growth models capable of generating “green growth” and sustainable development solutions. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Policy and Science Interface (PSI) group aims to strengthen various aspects of the role played by the ESM research program in the climate and land use change-relevant community. more
The joint work with IIASA’s Energy Program on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) was completed at the beginning of 2013 and all the data was made available in the SSP Database on the IIASA website. more
In work on religious beliefs and values in 2013, Age and Cohort Change (ACC), headed by Vegard Skirbekk, worked on projections of beliefs and values over the life course that are related to demographic behavior. more
In 2013 the work of the Energy (ENE) Program on energy poverty and access to clean modern forms of energy examined the broader linkages between energy services and economic development. more
Comprehensive modeling of the effects of climate change, including extreme events, by RPV involves advanced techniques and takes into account stakeholder requests and needs. more
Age and Cohort Change (ACC) projections and cognitive performance showed that workers improve in cognitively intense tasks, particularly those requiring fluid cognitive abilities, over the working life. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program in 2013 contributed to the research of network structures and resilience by conducting studies of economic networks. more
The Policy Science Interface (PSI) group of the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program worked with ESM's Earth Observation Systems (EOS) to develop a new methodology to support assessment of, and decision making for, future forest management certification. more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program in 2013 looked at systems marked by interlinkages and interdependencies, where failure of one entity or a cluster of entities can cause a cascading failure capable of bringing down an entire system. more
New global emission scenarios enable a fresh perspective on air pollution trends in different world regions, and in particular on the importance of proper governance for future air quality. more
The World Population (POP) Program made substantial contributions to the 2013 UN Human Development Report "The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World," which examines the profound shift in global dynamics being driven by the fast-rising developing world and the implications of this for human development. more
IIASA researchers contributed to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction coordinated by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. more
A new study, which analyzed future woody biomass resource availability plus sectoral competition for biomass for energy and material use, showed the key question for biomass energy use not to be the amount of resources available but rather their accessibility and thus their price. more
As part of a larger project, Forecasting Societies’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change, a Special Feature entitled Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters was published in the journal, Ecology & Society. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) researchers presented novel suggestions for regional risk management platforms. Suggestions included risk insurance pools to manage climate loss and damage, which are gaining traction in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa and recently Europe. more
John Lupwana Kandala analyzes criminal engagement by identifying demographic aspects that might contribute to the phenomenon, with specific reference to education. more
Sunday Y. Hosu presents a study characterizing the present and future vulnerability of smallholder farming households in contrasting agro-ecological zones in Eastern Cape Province. more
Nicholas L. Lam explains his YSSP project work on evaluating the potential benefits of reduced kerosene use to meet lighting demand in developing countries plus the viable alternatives for its replacement. more
Alexandr Tarasyev discusses the building of a dynamic multiregional model with economic and demographic factors to provide insights into migration flows in Russia and the CIS region. more
Naghmeh Pakdel Lahiji explains that the coping and risk dimensions of earthquakes need to be looked at in combination when feasible risk management strategies are considered for Iran, specifically risk-spreading instruments like insurance. more
Praveen Kumar Pathak describes the outcomes of his YSSP project, which provides new insights into fertility, by empirically exploring the potential role of social networks in shaping the fertility behavior of women in rural India. more
Claudia Seibold describes and compares government strategies in ten countries which differ with respect to the existence of catastrophe funds and public and private insurance. more
Talha Manzoor discusses his YSSP project work on better understanding the factors driving the dynamics of individual consumer behavior in order to identify policies favorable to sustainability. more
Anne Seppänen outlines the results of her YSSP project on explaining complex cooperative and uncooperative interactions in nature and how these evolve. more
Markus Enenkel gives initial results of his YSSP project which focused on the development of i) a new, transparent drought index derived from satellite data and ii) a mobile phone application to speed up the assessment of food security-related vulnerabilities. more
Claudia Seibold describes and compares government strategies in ten countries which differ with respect to the existence of catastrophe funds and public and private insurance. more
Ligia B. Azevedo quantified the degree to which habitat transformation and fragmentation have driven decreases in red-listed animal populations worldwide. more
Trond Husby summarizes his YSSP project, in which he analyzed the macroeconomic impacts on the Dutch economy that would occur if there were a partial shift in the allocation of risk from the public to the private sector. more
Nicholas L. Lam explains his YSSP project work on evaluating the potential benefits of reduced kerosene use to meet lighting demand in developing countries plus the viable alternatives for its replacement. more
Eleanor Brush reports the results of her YSSP project, in which she asked i) is it possible for discriminators to stabilize cooperation? and ii) how does this depend on how much information the discriminators store and use? more
Claudia Seibold describes and compares government strategies in ten countries which differ with respect to the existence of catastrophe funds and public and private insurance. more
Claudia Seibold describes and compares government strategies in ten countries which differ with respect to the existence of catastrophe funds and public and private insurance. more
Ligia B. Azevedo quantified the degree to which habitat transformation and fragmentation have driven decreases in red-listed animal populations worldwide. more
