New topics related to sustainable land management were a key IIASA focus in 2014; scientists began constructing globally consistent national land use scenarios with an emphasis on policy support throughout the decision-making process. In-depth research was conducted on the evolutionary ecology of living systems, and enormous progress was made in data collection and raising public awareness through gaming.
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) research group advanced global and regional crop modeling in 2014, implementing and calibrating additional crops in the global EPIC model and also studying the phosphorus cycle. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Environmental Resources and Developments (ERD) research group upgraded the livestock module of the IIASA model GLOBIOM to make it the state-of-the-art global economic model in terms of livestock sector representation. more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) scientists showed how political risks to large-scale solar institutions planned for the Mediterranean and North African region depend on the specifics of the sector, size of project, and type of activity. They also discussed the water shortage challenges facing Iran. more
In cooperation with its National Member Organizations of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group co-hosted a session on applied systems analysis as part of the ninth ASEAN Science and Technology Week (ASTW) in Bogor, Indonesia. more
Following up on a widely acknowledged and highly successful release of the global agro-ecological zones (GAEZ v3) data portal by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and IIASA in 2012, the Water (WAT) Program in 2014 continued to collaborate with FAO to update data and extend model components in preparation of data portal GAEZ v4 scheduled for release in 2015. more
Advanced System Analysis (ASA) Program researchers develop methods and case-studies analyzing ecological, economic, energy, financial and other networked empirical systems. These methods often originate in the natural science disciplines (e.g., physics, ecology) and then transfer to social sciences disciplines (e.g., economics). more
The Water (WAT) Program carried out methodological development and socioeconomic analysis for the “Integrated Analysis and Modelling of Land Use Efficiency and Security under Rapid Agricultural Transformation in China” in Chongqing, Southwest China; the work was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC). more
Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) scientists showed how political risks to large-scale solar institutions planned for the Mediterranean and North African region depend on the specifics of the sector, size of project, and type of activity. They also discussed the water shortage challenges facing Iran. more
With the Ecosystems Services and Management’s (ESM) Earth Observation Systems research group, the Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group developed a methodology to support assessment of forest management certification and policymaking. In 2014, this methodology was refined and applied to a case study in the boreal forest area. more
The collaborative project, Sustaining and Improving Rural Livelihoods through Adaptive Approaches to Land, Soil Nutrient and Water Management, covers three geographically distinct but thematically related research projects in India, with the focus in 2014 on Gujarati. Exchange visits of IIASA and Indian institutions are building the basis of the integrated project cluster on sustaining and improving rural livelihoods. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group organized the formal launch of the cross-sectoral “Tropical Futures Initiative” (TFI) at a workshop with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Jakarta, Indonesia, in February 2014. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) research group advanced global and regional crop modeling in 2014, implementing and calibrating additional crops in the global EPIC model and also studying the phosphorus cycle. more
During 2014 the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) group further developed IIASA’s BeWhere model to optimize hydropower systems. more
Research by the Evolution and Ecology Program (EEP) on exploitation-induced evolution is assembling evidence and insights with respect to how human exploitation alters the heritable traits of targeted populations. Options are being developed on this basis for reducing unwanted alterations. more
Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) researchers and collaborators finalized the first fully verified carbon account for the Ukrainian forest for 1990-2010 and produced a forecast for the next 30 years. more
As at the end of January 2015 a study by the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Methods for Economic Decision-Making under Uncertainty (MEDU) research group was the most cited of all papers ever published in a top Springer journal. more
A series of improvements were introduced to the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s standalone fire model (SFM) which quantitatively estimates climate impacts on forest fires in Europe. more
Fisheries play a key role in food security worldwide, but many aquatic food resources are fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted. This reflects the failure of management systems devised to address competing demands on the multiple services rendered by aquatic ecosystems. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group helped organize a series of IIASA presentations at the 2014 International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) World Congress in Salt Lake City, Utah, in October. more
The Water (WAT) Program worked on a project on Progress in Renewable Energy and Biofuels Sustainability (PREBS14) which provides the analytical basis for monitoring, assessing, and evaluating the evolution of 27 European Union member states in implementing the RES Directive, based on a detailed analysis of the progress reports submitted by each of the EU member states. more
With the Ecosystems Services and Management’s (ESM) Earth Observation Systems research group, the Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group developed a methodology to support assessment of forest management certification and policymaking. In 2014, this methodology was refined and applied to a case study in the boreal forest area. more
Scientists from the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program applied the GLOBIOM model to analyze a large number of climate change scenarios in order to investigate the extent to which producers facing climate change favored irreversible adaptation measures over low-cost field-scale adjustments. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) research group advanced global and regional crop modeling in 2014, implementing and calibrating additional crops in the global EPIC model and also studying the phosphorus cycle. more
To operationalize the concept of social and ecological resilience, the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program and partners in the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance are developing a comprehensive conceptual model for operationalizing disaster resilience thinking, which is being rolled out in several countries globally. more
Living systems undergo ecological and evolutionary change. Typically, ecological and evolutionary dynamics interact, giving rise to eco-evolutionary dynamics that cannot be understood in terms of either ecology or evolution alone. more
In 2014 Evolution and Ecology Program (EEP) researchers further strengthened the individual-based foundations of ecological and evolutionary models. more
Research by the Evolution and Ecology Program (EEP) on exploitation-induced evolution is assembling evidence and insights with respect to how human exploitation alters the heritable traits of targeted populations. Options are being developed on this basis for reducing unwanted alterations. more
Research by the Evolution and Ecology Program (EEP) in 2014 continued to apply mathematical models to elucidate the formation and maintenance of vegetation diversity, structure, and functioning. more
In 2014 the Water (WAT) program collaborated with the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program, and the Zurich Flood Resilience Program on a project to enhance community flood resilience. more
Through case studies, Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program researchers model interconnected food, water, and energy systems at the local and global levels with the aim of suggesting robust management strategies with respect to uncertainties and risks. more
Following up on a widely acknowledged and highly successful release of the global agro-ecological zones (GAEZ v3) data portal by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and IIASA in 2012, the Water (WAT) Program in 2014 continued to collaborate with FAO to update data and extend model components in preparation of data portal GAEZ v4 scheduled for release in 2015. more
Growers’ Nation, a mobile app developed by Ecosystems Services and Management researchers, won the 2014 Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Appathon, a global app development competition. more
Advanced System Analysis (ASA) Program researchers develop methods and case-studies analyzing ecological, economic, energy, financial and other networked empirical systems. These methods often originate in the natural science disciplines (e.g., physics, ecology) and then transfer to social sciences disciplines (e.g., economics). more
Fisheries play a key role in food security worldwide, but many aquatic food resources are fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted. This reflects the failure of management systems devised to address competing demands on the multiple services rendered by aquatic ecosystems. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Environmental Resources and Developments (ERD) research group upgraded the livestock module of the IIASA model GLOBIOM to make it the state-of-the-art global economic model in terms of livestock sector representation. more
Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program researchers develop and study stylized models of management of heterogeneous resources to allow them to analyze size-structured populations, such as fish and forests; the aim is to understand the consequences of various management strategies and also to reveal which management principles can optimize certain economic and environmental objectives. more
The Water (WAT) Program implemented a hybrid accounting approach for tracking land and other resources along global supply chains, extending the IIASA model LANDFLOW. more
In 2014 the Water (WAT) Program worked on a project to improve the current understanding of the geography of water-related ecosystem services, while accounting for both biophysical and economic controls on services; it will also assess how new management strategies can enhance the resilience of the global water system over a 100-year time frame. more
The Water (WAT) Program carried out fast-track analysis for the IIASA Futures Initiative, the Water Futures and Solutions Initiative (WFaS), completing a first set of multi-model quantified scenarios of water demand in 2014 that focused on the domestic, industrial, and energy sectors. more
With the Ecosystems Services and Management’s (ESM) Earth Observation Systems research group, the Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group developed a methodology to support assessment of forest management certification and policymaking. In 2014, this methodology was refined and applied to a case study in the boreal forest area. more
The Water (WAT) Program helped develop comparative approaches to the environmental governance of transboundary water resources along Rio Grande/Río Bravo Basin and the Colorado River Basin, which forms the national border between the United States and Mexico. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) research group organized the formal launch of the cross-sectoral “Tropical Futures Initiative” (TFI) at a workshop with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Jakarta, Indonesia, in February 2014. more
Onalenna Gwate of Lupane State University, Zimbabwe, studied changes in historical streamflow and rainfall patterns with reference to dynamics in land cover in the C52A catchment in South Africa. more
Emmanuel Mavhura of the Department of Geography, Bindura University of Science Education, Bindura, Zimbabwe, looked at shrinking rural livelihoods in Muzarabani, Zimbabwe, and found low human wellbeing and low community resilience to flooding. more
Fatima Sumbul of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, examined the virtual water trade flow and its importance in informing water governance strategies. more
Johanna Schild of VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands, quantified water flow regulation within a semi-arid catchment and investigated the impact of implementing rainwater harvesting for more optimal water flow regulation. more
Shengfa Li of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, estimated the amount of abandoned croplands in 2000-2010 and the future changes expected in China’s mountainous areas. more
Volodymyr Blyshchyk of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine improved the models needed to estimate carbon stock in live biomass and carbon flux between the atmosphere and vegetation. more
Delin Fang of Beijing Normal University used Network Environ Analysis to study water conservation assessment with respect to cycling and indirect flows in the Ganzhou District of the Heihe River Basin, China. more
Qiuying Ding of the Shanghai Climate Center, China, looked at the coupling of crop models across different spatial scales and the multi-scale evaluation of adaptive technologies locally, for different cropping regions, and China as a whole. more
Pietro Landi of the Evolution and Ecology Program is studying animal movement behavior and the sustainable management of fisheries to assess the adaptive behavior of single individuals in ecosystems and societies. more
Fatima Sumbul of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, examined the virtual water trade flow and its importance in informing water governance strategies. more
Floor Soudijn of the University of Amsterdam/Institute, Netherlands, examined predator-prey interactions to elucidate how the fishing of cod and sprat affects the Baltic Sea ecosystem. more
Edoardo Borgomeo of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK, presented a sensitivity-based approach to testing the vulnerability of water resources systems to intense and persistent drought conditions, using a case study of London, UK. more
Volodymyr Blyshchyk of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine improved the models needed to estimate carbon stock in live biomass and carbon flux between the atmosphere and vegetation. more
Irene Nilsen of the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway, used observations to simulate heat fluxes, establish their variability across extremely dry and wet months, and compared the resulting trend in heat fluxes with temperature and precipitation trends for the same time period. more
Amandine Pastor of the Earth System Science Group, Wageningen University, Netherlands, compared the spatial allocation of global agricultural lands from scenarios, including water availability and environmental flow requirements, with socio-economic optimization. more
Jon Nordling of the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, explored ways to utilize F-VGI (Facilitated-Volunteered Geographic Information) ground observation information, remote sensing, and GIS to gain a month-to-month understanding of production crops on a global scale. more
Fulvio Di Fulvio is working in the Ecosystems Services and Management Program using IIASA’s GLOBIOM and G4M models for a project designed to produce a harmonized approach to the modeling of wood production and delivery costs in the light of increasing competition for wood biomass between material and energy uses in recent years. more
Haoqi Liu of Xinjiang University, China, used modeling to investigate how habitat loss affects biodiversity when evolutionary dynamics are stable. more
Carl Salk is working with the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program assessing the quality of the work of volunteers—as opposed to the “gold standard” of experts—who are carrying out image classification for IIASA’s “Cropland Capture,” when they are faced with tasks of non-uniform difficulty and, in particular, of extreme difficulty. He is already applying insights to a new game under development. more
Gergely Boza of the Evolution and Ecology Program is researching best plant investment strategy, or best cultivar, with the optimal balance between investment in allelochemical production and growth, in combination with different agricultural techniques such as monocropping, rotational cropping, or alternate cropping. more
Jonas Wickman of Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, studied how interaction between aspects of food webs shapes the structure and formation of food webs. more
Daniel Suarez of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, examined the spread and uptake of ecosystem services approaches in global environmental governance. more
Jie Zhang, of the Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, USA, examined the sensitivity of different MODIS-derived indicators for agricultural drought and investigated their effectiveness agricultural drought monitoring during the growing season on the Southern Great Plains of the USA. more
Luzma Fabiola Nava Jiménez is working with the Water Program, researching the transboundary governance regime in the binational US/Mexico Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin to assess the institutional and organizational arrangements for water management and conservation, and thereby define a broader framework to compare different scenarios of transboundary water governance. more
Margaret Garcia of Tufts University, USA, studied how to improve evaluation of water supply reliability alternatives using a case study of Las Vegas, USA. more
Etienne Fluet-Chouinard of the Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, presented a classification of wetland ecosystems that are biodiversity hotspots in Africa and South America. more
Pietro Landi of the Evolution and Ecology Program is studying animal movement behavior and the sustainable management of fisheries to assess the adaptive behavior of single individuals in ecosystems and societies. more
Minella Martins of the Earth System Science Center, National Institute for Space Research- CCST/INPE, Brazil, assessed the vulnerability of agricultural production in the Semi-Arid of Brazil and identified hotspots where public policies could be applied to reduce current and future risks. more