In 2013, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program achieved global coverage of its GAINS (Greenhouse gas – Air pollution Interactions and Synergies) tool for the systematic assessment of co-benefits strategies, in close collaboration with a large number of national teams. more
The workshop, "Changing Land Use and Environmental Implications under the Emerging Economic and Climatic Scenarios in India," held in Gujarat, was attended by Water (WAT) Program scientists. more
In 2013 the Water (WAT) Program cooperated closely with IIASA's National Member Organizations (NMOs) of China and India - respectively, the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), India. more
Joint research by the World Population (POP) and Mitigation of Air Pollution (MAG) programs shows that advanced but costly measures to reduce fine particulate matter would improve air quality, human health, and longevity in India, and also pay for themselves in a few years by increasing productivity. more
In collaboration with IIASA’s Population Program, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program produced an innovative model of the interactions between population dynamics, economic growth and investments into environmental protection and the consequences on human well-being. more
The Water (WAT) Program and Indian partners organized workshops in 2013 to share knowledge and help establish a new research project in Gujarat, Bundelkhand, and Kerala, India. more
Special Projects in 2013 encompassed methodological upgrades to modeling tools and research with stakeholders in China and India with respect to future projects. more
In 2013 the work of the Energy (ENE) Program on energy poverty and access to clean modern forms of energy examined the broader linkages between energy services and economic development. more
In analyzing decision-support techniques for disaster-risk management measures, Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program researchers looked at objectives like information, available resources, and the perceptions and needs of stakeholders as a basis for policy decision support. more
The Agro-Ecological Systems (AES) team joined the IMPACT2C project which explores the likely impacts of a 2°C rise in global mean temperature in Europe and in three vulnerable areas in other parts of the world outside Europe: Bangladesh, Africa, and the Maldives. more
Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) researchers studied climate change impacts on food security in four East Asian countries - China, Japan, South Korea, and Mongolia. more
A Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) study proposed a new index for measuring farmers' satisfaction levels with crop insurance based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) as adapted to the specific needs of farming in Fars Province, Iran. more
As part of a larger project, Forecasting Societies’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change, a Special Feature entitled Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters was published in the journal, Ecology & Society. more
Joint research by the World Population (POP) and Mitigation of Air Pollution (MAG) programs shows that advanced but costly measures to reduce fine particulate matter would improve air quality, human health, and longevity in India, and also pay for themselves in a few years by increasing productivity. more
Work in the area of energy access involved important developments and refinements of the MESSAGE-Access model and its expansion to include decentralized electricity supply in South Asia and regional coverage for China. more
Research on energy security by the Energy Program (ENE) centers around applying the formal conceptual framework for evaluating energy security in long-term energy scenarios. The framework was established by ENE researcher Jessica Jewell in collaboration with colleagues from the Central European University (CEU, Hungary). more
The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program is coordinating a project which aims at an open and in-depth discussion and analysis of dimensions of economic integration covering Russia, its neighbors, and the European Union, as well as in a larger trans-continental framework where integration extends also to the key Asian players more
Agricultural products imported to Europe accounted for more than one-third of global deforestation associated with international agricultural trade, according to a new policy-oriented report prepared by a European consortium including IIASA, and published by the European Commission. more
As environmental problems do not respect disciplinary boundaries, integrated assessment modeling, pioneered by IIASA, is a useful adjunct to environmental policy analysis, integrating knowledge from more than one domain into a single framework. more
In collaboration with IIASA’s Population Program, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program produced an innovative model of the interactions between population dynamics, economic growth and investments into environmental protection and the consequences on human well-being. more
Within the framework of the AMPERE project, ENE in 2013 led the multi-model comparison effort involving international partners from Asia, the United States and Europe to evaluate the impact of near-term climate policies. more
The Energy (ENE) Program has been at the forefront of several research efforts for the wider science community. These include the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and two international model inter-comparison projects that were successfully completed in 2013 (EMF27 and AMPERE). more
In 2013 Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) researchers looked at multilevel governance approaches in climate and energy policy, the need for improved macroeconomic governance to promote sustainable development, and the importance of taking account of stakeholder inputs in the governance of the commons. more
Managing the risks of climate change is part of a more generalized approach to promoting sustainable development by reducing the vulnerability associated with climate risk. In 2013 the Risk, Poverty and Vulnerability Program (RPV) looked at various aspects of minimizing risk ahead of adverse weather-related impacts, including extreme events. more
Total uncertainty in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions changes over time due to “learning” and the structural change in the GHG emitters. Understanding uncertainty over time is important to improve setting emission targets in the future and was key to the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program's work in 2013. more
Nicholas L. Lam explains his YSSP project work on evaluating the potential benefits of reduced kerosene use to meet lighting demand in developing countries plus the viable alternatives for its replacement. more
Joyita Mukherjee carries out ecological network analysis to explore whole system interactions using a case study of one South African estuary, the Mdloti and in two different seasons. more
Narasimha D. Rao discusses his two postdoctoral studies on i) quantifying the energy requirements for a given universal set of living standards in three developing countries and ii) using an integrated approach to explain income inequality. more
Kalai Ramea describes her YSSP project in which she developed a bridging approach to bring consumer behavioral parameters – specifically for the transport sector – into a linear-programming IAM framework, testing this approach through scenario analysis. more
Praveen Kumar Pathak describes the outcomes of his YSSP project, which provides new insights into fertility, by empirically exploring the potential role of social networks in shaping the fertility behavior of women in rural India. more
Nicholas L. Lam explains his YSSP project work on evaluating the potential benefits of reduced kerosene use to meet lighting demand in developing countries plus the viable alternatives for its replacement. more
Joyita Mukherjee carries out ecological network analysis to explore whole system interactions using a case study of one South African estuary, the Mdloti and in two different seasons. more
Prajal Pradhan summarizes his work on achieving food self-sufficiency at the global, regional, and local scale while addressing the need to minimize agriculturally induced environmental stresses. more
Shaukat Ali, of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, and the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), Ministry of Climate Change, Islamabad, Pakistan, explores the performance and sensitivity of climate and hydrological models across the Himalayan region to project climatic and hydrological changes over the next ten years. more
Kanae Matsui shows the results of her YSSP project on developing a Web-based gaming simulation to gain a better understanding of people's decisions related to energy consumption. more
Alexandr Tarasyev discusses the building of a dynamic multiregional model with economic and demographic factors to provide insights into migration flows in Russia and the CIS region. more
Naghmeh Pakdel Lahiji explains that the coping and risk dimensions of earthquakes need to be looked at in combination when feasible risk management strategies are considered for Iran, specifically risk-spreading instruments like insurance. more
Mehdi Sadeghi explains the outcome of his YSSP project work on risk modeling of the structural vulnerability of buildings due to earthquakes in Iran. more
Melissa Whitaker, University of California, Davis, outlines the results of her YSSP project in which she modeled the effects of interaction asymmetries in order to explore the role of functional diversity on interaction dynamics. more
Xiaojie Chen is working with the Evolutionary Ecology Program (EEP) to assess evolutionary dynamics in biological and social systems, specially the emergence and stability of cooperation in social networks, using evolutionary game theory and adaptive dynamics. more
Amin Masoumzadeh summarizes his YSSP project in which he modeled long-term world crude oil supply and demand, and subsequently the global oil price. more
Xue Wang of the Institute of Geographic Sciences & Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science, gives the outcomes of her YSSP project which aimed to provide science-based evidence to assist policymakers in alleviating water stress problems in the North China Plain. more
Veronika Bertram-Hümmer of the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, Germany, aimed to identify the determinants of index-insurance uptake before the harsh winter in Mongolia in 2009-2010 to discover whether index-insurance payouts enhanced household recovery following the disaster. more
Kalai Ramea describes her YSSP project in which she developed a bridging approach to bring consumer behavioral parameters – specifically for the transport sector – into a linear-programming IAM framework, testing this approach through scenario analysis. more
Wei Liu discusses his postdoctoral work which relates to the transitioning human-environment relationships in the community of the Wolong Nature Reserve, China, in particular the period after it was struck by the 7.9 Mw Wenchuan earthquake. more
Bo Zheng of the School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, projected future energy use and emissions in the transportation sector at a provincial level in China, taking account of the different growth patterns of vehicles between provinces: the outcomes are detailed in this paper. more
Kandice Harper describes her YSSP project in which she assessed the regional importance of SLCP mitigation measures in China using updated emission projections. more
Praveen Kumar Pathak describes the outcomes of his YSSP project, which provides new insights into fertility, by empirically exploring the potential role of social networks in shaping the fertility behavior of women in rural India. more
Wei Wang describes his YSSP project work in which he explored new economic approaches to include natural resources within the analytical framework. more
Long Ji shows how he measured the geographic concentration and regional localization of vegetable production in China with newly developed indicators. more
Xinxin Zhang of the Beijing Forestry University, China, discusses her YSSP project in which she integrated a dynamic recursive cross-entropy-based probabilistic downscaling model with IIASA's GLOBIOM model to downscale global or regional scale land use change assessments to the local level. more
Claudia Seibold describes and compares government strategies in ten countries which differ with respect to the existence of catastrophe funds and public and private insurance. more
Talha Manzoor discusses his YSSP project work on better understanding the factors driving the dynamics of individual consumer behavior in order to identify policies favorable to sustainability. more
