Increasing global demands for food and freshwater are pressuring the world’s land and ocean resources and are compromising the integrity of earth-system functioning. Human exploitation of natural resources has resulted in the degradation of land and vegetation over vast areas, overexploitation of marine resources, depletion of aquifers, unsustainable restructuring of natural landscapes, and losses of biodiversity. These drivers are projected to persistently impact ecosystem services beyond those merely relating to provisioning, trigger ecological and evolutionary responses, and be aggravated by climate change. Integrated solution strategies for managing the confluent large-scale risks under such altered conditions are as yet poorly researched, due to information paucity and gaps in understanding total system behavior.
IIASA pursues a systems approach in which food and water resources are viewed as embedded in the wider context of land, marine, and ecosystem management, conditioned by natural resource endowments, and dependent on socioeconomic developments and sustainable growth. Research in the "Food and water" global problem area concentrates on solution-oriented approaches within the following four integrative research themes:
More information about current research in IIASA's ‘Food and water’ global problem area can be accessed by clicking the links below and right.
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program aims to improve our understanding of ecosystems in today’s changing world—in particular, the current state of ecosystems, and their ecological thresholds and buffering capacities.New research related to ESM program can now be found in the new Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program and the Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group. More
The Water Futures and Solutions Initiative is a ground-breaking study into sustainable solutions to meet local, national, and global water challenges. It is looking for additional partners from the development, business, and scientific community. More
Water Futures and Solutions: World Water Scenarios
Mapping Land Use
Models and Tools
Advising Fisheries
Protecting Global Forests
Options: Feature Articles
Improving Crop Yields
More research areas
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313