Activities between Brazil and IIASA expanded in 2014 with new research collaborations and capacity building activities.
Brazil map
Brazil's membership of IIASA entered its fourth year in 2014. New research projects are using the tools of systems analysis to find the smartest ways for Brazil to simultaneously reduce deforestation, increase the production of cash crops and biofuels, and intensify cattle-raising. Other projects have focused on energy: Ranging from long-term energy planning, to learning from Brazil’s leadership in the use of ethanol fuel, to advancing understanding of the complex global energy system and its multiple connections with Brazil’s economy, environment, and society. IIASA is also working with Brazilian agencies to build capacity in systems approaches to national and international policy issues, including support for Brazilian participation in IIASA’s Young Scientists Summer Program, specialized training in model development and application, and a new partnership with Brazil’s Science Without Borders program to bring Brazilian postdoctoral scholars to IIASA.
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 Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program pioneered numerous studies on the fiscal resilience of national governments to extreme event losses, a concept that has become increasingly topical as climate negotiators deliberate on a global fund to support adaptation. 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 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
The negative emissions research of the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Policy and Science Interface (PSI) group was further developed building on several past collaborations and previous biomass and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) workshops at IIASA, in Indonesia, Brazil, and Tokyo. more
Scientists, alumni, and collaborators from the Transitions to New Technologies Program (TNT) contributed to 25 chapters of the book, Energy Technology Innovation: Learning from Historical Successes and Failures, published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. more
A new book, World Population and Human Capital in the 21st Century, presented the results of the latest population projections from the World Population Program (POP) and the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Human Capital. 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 Energy (ENE) Program made important strides in advancing the state of knowledge on energy poverty, the policy costs of expanding universal access to modern energy worldwide, and the synergies and tradeoffs between achieving universal access and other sustainable development goals. 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
Guilherme De Paula of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, USA, conducted a project to explain the significant cost reductions in sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil since 1975. 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
Guilherme De Paula of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, USA, conducted a project to explain the significant cost reductions in sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil since 1975. 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