News | IIASA

Aerial shot of a tropical forest with cut wood logs

01 April 2022

Crowdsourcing campaign identifies drivers of tropical forest loss

To combat forest loss in the tropics, a new study uses crowdsourcing to identify the drivers of deforestation. The resulting dataset can be used to create high-resolution maps and help policymakers apply the best protection measures.

Brimstone butterfly on a purple flower against bright blue sky

31 March 2022

How can we improve biodiversity monitoring in Europe?

National biodiversity monitoring programs in Europe face many challenges, according to the first report of the Europe-wide EuropaBON project released today. The analysis includes data from more than 350 experts from policy, science, and environmental protection practice. The team is also drafting a proposal for a transnational monitoring of Europe's biodiversity and ecosystems.

25 March 2022

The drivers of tropical deforestation

Deforestation continues to be one of the greatest challenges in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change. Countries all over the world have instituted protected areas, but there is still mounting human pressure on many of these areas. A new study looks at tropical deforestation and the key factors driving it.

Image of the Earth and a satellite in space with smartphones showing the CAMALIOT app

17 March 2022

Use your cellphone to improve weather forecasts

Ahead of World Meteorological Day, you can help improve weather forecasting models with CAMALIOT, an infrastructure and app that uses GPS from smartphones to support scientific research. Join our crowdsourcing campaign on 17 March 2022 ̶ any person with access to an Android cellphone is invited to download the free app and participate.

Renewable energy and nature conservation concept

14 March 2022

Modeling to support sustainable food, energy, and water

IIASA Advancing Systems Analysis Program Director, Elena Rovenskaya, contributed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) toolkit called “Mathematics for action: supporting science-based decision making” with a brief on allocating scarce resources modeling to support food-energy-water sustainability.

Medical workers in hazmat suits holding spray bottles with disinfecting chemicals

11 March 2022

Systemic Risk Briefing Note highlights complexity of interconnected, interdependent, and uncertain challenges

The systemic and uncertain risks facing the world today can have cascading impacts across systems and sectors. A new briefing note on systemic risk highlights that an integrated perspective that incorporates the inherently complex nature of climate-related hazards, vulnerability, exposure and impacts, is crucial to better understanding and responding to systemic risk.

Planet Earth as a green, ecological and renewable energy world concept.

10 March 2022

Cutting HFCs to cool the Earth

To have a better chance of holding global warming to 1.5°C, we need to accelerate the phase-down of HFC refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol. This could also reduce pollution and improve energy access.

Conceptual image with an hourglass and a world map

10 March 2022

We are running out of time to counteract global change

The increase in emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is only one of several serious global threats to our continued existence on Earth, and their reduction is at the core of international agreements like the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Together with Ukrainian colleagues, IIASA researchers took a novel approach to further the understanding of the planetary burden and its dynamics caused by emissions from human activity.

World map overview of virus infected regions.

08 March 2022

Understanding modern infectious diseases and their impacts

Curbing or even containing a pandemic breakout like COVID-19 almost always implies unpalatable choices between lost lives and livelihoods. The authors of a new study just published in the Journal of Economic Literature set out to better understand the impacts and trade-offs policymakers must consider when addressing modern infectious diseases and their macroeconomic repercussions.

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