News | IIASA

Fire and Ice Workshop at the IBFRA 2026 Conference

01 October 2026

Fire&Ice brings the boreal fire community together at IBFRA 2026 Conference in Canada

Where, under future climate, will fire put people's health at risk? And what can we do? These are the questions we asked in the Fire&Ice workshop that we held on 24 August 2026, at the International Boreal Forest Research Association (IBFRA) Conference in Québec City with around 28 participating boreal specialists, from students and researchers to practitioners and decisionmakers from leading institutions and organizations.

01 October 2026

Where the waters meet: Connecting global limits and local water management

Human activity and climate change are putting growing pressure on water resources, disrupting the predictability of the water cycle, and changing the availability and quality of freshwater. IIASA researchers and partners have developed a new framework for guiding water management and planning at the river-basin level, derived from the existing Global Water Planetary Boundary.

24 September 2026

IIASA researcher joins Austrian Academy of Sciences working group on integrated carbon neutrality

On 15 September, Principal Research Scholar Thomas Schinko represented IIASA at a high-level event of the Commission on the De-Fossilization and Carbon Neutrality of the European Energy Systems (DEE) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW). The meeting denoted the kick-off workshop of the newly established DEE Working Group "Transsectoral and Transcontinental Integration”.

23 September 2026

Eco-Welfare Network Conference

Julia Beier participated in the first in-person Eco-Welfare Network Conference, held in Brussels from 9-11 September at the Université Libre de Bruxelles as part of the Transform-Labor project.

Automated AI industry robot and robotic arms assembly in factory production NLP.

23 September 2026

IIASA researchers strengthen cooperation with Kyrgyzstan on AI and industrial development

IIASA Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT) Research Group Leader and Senior Research Scholar Nadejda Komendantova and CAT Research Scholar Dmitry Erokhin have contributed to a series of scientific and policy forums in Kyrgyzstan in 2026. Their research on artificial intelligence in the production sector builds on IIASA’s longstanding cooperation with the country on sustainable industrial development.

State of Global Water Resources 2025 report

23 September 2026

Global water report warns of increasingly erratic freshwater conditions

IIASA water-quality modeling has contributed to the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of Global Water Resources 2025 report. The assessment shows that the global water cycle is becoming increasingly erratic, with serious implications for people and economies worldwide.

23 September 2026

Alpine Resilience Web Atlas: New open-source platform features maps of forest disturbance, field stories, living labs and future hotspots

A web atlas at alpineresilience.org gathers the data, models and field experience behind Europe's protective mountain forests – and invites anyone, from a researcher to a regional forester or even a curious hiker, to use it and contribute.

Group photo of participants at the COP17 side event in Mongolia

22 September 2026

IIASA at UNCCD COP17: Advancing land restoration and resilience

Building on its engagement at the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, IIASA contributed to a series of events and bilateral discussions at UNCCD COP17, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, towards the end of August. Under the theme, Restoring Land, Restoring Hope, COP17 advanced action on land degradation, drought resilience, and sustainable land management, with particular emphasis on rangelands and pastoral livelihoods.

21 September 2026

Fairness informs how the world cuts emissions

Who cuts emissions fastest, and who supports others do so, are central questions in global climate action. New IIASA-led research shows that building fairness into climate models from the start can inform deliberations without changing the overall climate goal.