Feature Articles
2013
Connecting Africa to a global data network
March, 2013: A new initiative brings smartphones to African farmers, involving them in data collection for global land-use models and at the same time connecting them to weather and agricultural data that can help improve crop yields. More
Assessing the future of water
March, 2013. Water Futures and Solutions: World Water Scenarios, a new initiative coordinated by IIASA, aims to provide a scientific basis for responding to worldwide water challenges. More
Singapore: Population under pressure
February, 2013: A trip to Singapore by IIASA Population Program Leader Wolfgang Lutz has stirred up debate and discussion in the tiny island country, which faces rising immigration and falling fertility rates. More
Education: Preparation for the unexpected
February, 2013: Education is the single most important socioeconomic factor affecting people’s vulnerability to natural disasters, both regionally and globally, according to new IIASA research. More
Seeing the ocean for the fish
January, 2013: A new study from IIASA researchers and international collaborators provides an innovative tool for fisheries managers and researchers trying to sustainably manage commercial fish stocks. More
2012
Russia Burning
November, 2012: A Q&A with IIASA’s Anatoly Shvidenko on heat, fire and climate change in the Russian forests More
YSSP Profile: "A focus on lucid communication"
Feature Article, August 2012: YSSP participant Lan Hoang, recipient of the 2012 Petr Aven Fellowship, brings an international perspective to her research on water management. More
Fertility plays role in US party politics
Research from IIASA's World Population Program shows how population changes from migration and fertility will affect political preference in the United States. More
The urban energy challenge
Options Magazine, Summer 2012: What can be done to make cities more sustainable in terms of energy? More
The Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future
Options Magazine, Summer 2012: A comprehensive, integrated analysis of how to transform energy systems to meet the world’s multiple energy challenges—namely, providing affordable, safe, secure, and environmentally sound energy for all More
Alternative water futures
Options Magazine, Summer 2012: IIASA is bringing its experience in scenario development and global assessments to a new partnership with UN-Water to explore alternative futures for the world’s water and its use to 2050 More
Sustainability & green job creation
Options Magazine, Summer 2012: Projects using local labor, manufacturing, & technology can create significant job growth More
Fiscal planning for extreme events
Options - Winter 2011/2012. IIASA analysis has supported the Mexican government in trying to identify how best to prepare financially for a major natural disaster. More
Linking climate change, extreme events, and risk
Options Magazine, Summer, 2012. IIASA research is helping quantify the links between climate extremes, natural disasters, and socioeconomic vulnerability. More
2011
Poverty alleviation is about people
Options Magazine, Winter 2011: New research aims to discover more about the people on the receiving end of our current aspirations to expand energy access. More
The quest for “clumsy solutions” in Nepal’s mountains
Options Magazine, Winter 2011: A simple cable system carrying milk across a valley in the Mahabharat Mountains provides insight into a complex theory of world views and conflict resolution More
The role of human behavioral games in international negotiations
Options Magazine, Winter 2011: Karl Sigmund, an IIASA mathematician, works in a world of games. He began his career studying dynamical systems, and then population dynamics and cooperation among early humans. He now applies his lessons learned from those first hunter–gatherers to countries and international organizations. More
Beating the poverty trap
Options Magazine, Winter 2011: People unable to escape from poverty without external help are caught in what’s commonly termed a “poverty trap.” Even people who are not extremely poor can be forced into a state of inescapable poverty by extreme events like floods or drought. Disaster microinsurance can offer resources for poor households to overcome the immediate impacts of natural disasters, but recent IIASA research shows that microinsurance, when integrated with additional adaptive measures, is much more effective than microinsurance alone in preventing people from falling into a poverty trap in the first place. More
Education spells hope for world wellbeing
Options Magazine, Winter 2011: Education has a positive effect on every aspect of human health, wealth, and wellbeing. Educational attainment, the evidence now clearly shows, is linked to economic growth as well as fertility and life expectancy. Even the transition of societies into modern democracies is rooted in widening educational participation among the young. But strong further investment in education in the developing world is needed if the potential benefits of education are to be realized. More
Feeding & fueling the 9 billion-sustainably
Options Magazine, Summer 2011: Food versus fuel isn’t the answer. Integrated land management and sustainable intensification are. More
Assessing the impacts of fisheries-induced evolution
Pressure from large-scale commercial fishing, as well as intense recreational and sport fishing, is accelerating evolution in some fish populations and threatening the sustainability of fisheries. Scientists are responding with tools to conduct evolutionary impact assessments that can lead to better management of fisheries. More
Food & water
Over the next decade, IIASA will study three interlinked global problem areas: Food and Water, Energy and Climate Change, and Poverty and Equity. The Food and Water Research Area will focus on how to improve the management of the world’s land, water resources, and ecosystems. More
IIASA looks to the future in European Nitrogen Assessment
GAINS model shows rise in damaging agricultural nitrogen More
Flexibility in livestock systems—More from less
High quality feed, improved breeding, and reduced disease significantly improve production. More
Russia faces tough climate change challenges
Melting permafrost, dying forests, and fragile ecosystems, combined with poor resource management, means climate change could hit the Russian people especially hard. More
