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Options Magazine, Summer 2021: At a crucial moment for nature, IIASA research offers hope to turn things around.
In this issue of Options, we take a look at biodiversity research undertaken at IIASA and how it is contributing to the global conversation around this important issue. We also provide a sneak peek into how different aspects of biodiversity will be studied across the institute as part of the new IIASA strategy.
Our second feature highlights how researchers at the institute continue to apply their expertise to the threat air pollution poses to the climate and global health, while our national member organization feature celebrates the institute’s collaboration with Indonesia over the past decade.
Magazine articles
Defense of the natural realm
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: At a crucial moment for beleaguered nature, IIASA research is showing that we can reverse biodiversity loss. It will need an effort that is grand in scale and focused where rewards are greatest.
Clean air needs more than climate policy
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: Actions to curb global warming can have an added benefit-cutting air pollution and saving millions of lives. This bonus however only takes us part of the way to truly clean air. We need ambitious policies focused on pollution - and urgently.
Defense of the natural realm
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: At a crucial moment for nature, IIASA research offers hope to turn things around.
Understanding the impacts of climate change
Options Summer 2021: IIASA researchers and colleagues from several other institutions worked together under the auspices of the Green Climate Fund to help developing countries better understand issues around climate mitigation and adaptation, and build local capacity for targeted action to support vulnerable populations.
Co-creating digital tools to address misinformation in the social media age
Options Summer 2021: Working with a variety of stakeholders with different perspectives to develop digital tools is invaluable for addressing misinformation online. The IIASA Co-Inform project put this approach to the test.
Tackling air pollution in India
Options Summer 2021: IIASA research informed a recent World Bank report outlining how governments can tackle the growing challenge of air pollution using the megacities Delhi, Beijing, and Mexico City as case studies.
Getting a fuller picture of COVID-19 infections
Options Summer 2021: Knowing how many people are infected is key to accurately monitor pandemics. IIASA researchers used a novel approach to indirectly estimate the fraction of people ever infected and the fraction of people detected among the infected in the United States.
Adapting to droughts in South Africa
Options Summer 2021: Smallholder farmers in the Western Cape of South Africa are particularly vulnerable to the region’s recurrent droughts. IIASA researchers looked into the impacts of the most recent drought to hit the region and how smallholder farmers adapted to the situation.
Interview: Crossing frontiers towards sustainability
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: Michael Kuhn was appointed program director of the newly established IIASA Economic Frontiers Program in January 2021.
Where are they now: Ayelet Davidovitch
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: Ayelet Davidovitch was a postdoc in the IIASA-Israel Program from 2018 to 2019.
Interview: Charting a course for IIASA strategic initiatives
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: Q&A with Tyseer Aboulnasr, Chair of the IIASA Committee for Egypt to discuss her participation in a series of workshops that aimed to set the agenda for the new program’s research activities.
Opinion: Advancing global scientific collaboration
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: IIASA alumna and current Director of International Affairs and Science Diplomacy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Kim Montgomery, highlights the role of science diplomacy in successfully addressing global challenges.
Indonesia and IIASA
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: A burgeoning collaboration is exploring how to balance complex tensions over land use and other interlinked environmental issues.
Global research highlights
Options Magazine, Summer 2021: IIASA researchers collaborate with colleagues from member countries and partner institutions around the globe to develop holistic, systems-based solutions and provide policy advice for some of the most pressing problems society faces today.