Policy and Science Interface

The main objectives of PSI in 2014 were to provide guidance for decision making and analysis and to communicate science-oriented and policy-relevant results to policymakers, decision makers, and the general public.

On the topic of negative emissions, for instance, the group concentrated on the reconciliation of bottom-up versus top-down modeling which is also to be seen as an internal bridging function within ESM related to the different groups and their models.

PSI largely focused its activities in 2014 on optimizing integrated renewable energy systems other than bioenergy, namely, solar, wind, and hydro power in close interactions with ecosystems services at a spatially explicit resolution with a specific emphasis on socioeconomic parameters. The main initiatives in 2014 are detailed below. 

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

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

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

Negative emissions research

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

Balancing renewable energy production with ecosystem services

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

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

Last edited: 07 May 2015