Food and Water

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. 

Africa


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Agro-Ecological Systems

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

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Moving livestock toward a more sustainable future

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

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Resource governance

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

Asia


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Attendance at ASEAN Science and Technology Week (ASTW)

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

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Global agro-ecological zones and FAO-GAEZ data portal

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

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Indirect effects and informational entropy in natural and human networks

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

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Land use efficiency and security in China

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

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Resource governance

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

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Sustainable forest management: Certification of boreal forests

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

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Sustaining and improving rural livelihoods in India

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

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Tropical Futures Initiative (TFI)

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

Europe


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Agro-Ecological Systems

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

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Evolutionarily sustainable consumption

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

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Integrated assessment of fishery systems

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

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IUFRO World Congress 2014

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

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Renewable energy and sustainability of biofuels

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

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Sustainable forest management: Certification of boreal forests

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

Global


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Adaptation response of agriculture to climate change

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

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Agro-Ecological Systems

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

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Community flood resilience

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

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Evolutionarily sustainable consumption

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

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Flood resilience management

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

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Food-energy-water nexus: Robust solutions

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

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Global agro-ecological zones and FAO-GAEZ data portal

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

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IIASA researchers win GEO Appathon

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

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Indirect effects and informational entropy in natural and human networks

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

teaserimage

Integrated assessment of fishery systems

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

teaserimage

Moving livestock toward a more sustainable future

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

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Optimal management of heterogeneous resources

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

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Threats to freshwater resources and human water security

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

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Water Futures and Solutions Initiative

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

North America


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Sustainable forest management: Certification of boreal forests

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

South America


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Tropical Futures Initiative (TFI)

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

Africa


Asia


Europe


Global


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Global agricultural monitoring and mobile data collection

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

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Global modeling of wood biomass supply costs in G4M and GLOBIOM

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

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Improving the efficiency of citizen science for land-cover mapping applications

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

North America


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Comparative approaches to the environmental governance of transboundary water resources between the United States and Mexico: The cases of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo Basin and the Colorado River Basin

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

South America


 


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Last edited: 27 March 2015

The footprint of food

Options Winter2013/14

In the human interest

Options Winter 2013/14

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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