Building on the research previously undertaken in the Ecosystems Services and Management and Water programs, the BNR Program fully exploits the potential for biodiversity research within integrated system analysis.
The program brings together different elements of land and aquatic ecosystems including agriculture, forests, and fisheries with water and the marine environment to inform global and regional policy assessments and provide robust science-based knowledge and foresight. The program aims to establish IIASA as an international community hub for biosphere research through innovative tool development; to lead the integration of biophysical-economic modeling with governance; to engage with stakeholders; and to facilitate community driven efforts. It provides policymaking support through core program and group research undertaken in the four BNR research groups.
BNR further engages in bilateral collaborations with other research programs and groups at the institute on key cross-cutting themes such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, the green economy, resilient food systems, transboundary governance, resource depletion and migration, and digital transformation.
Projects
Designing a resilient and coherent Trans-European Network for Nature and People (NaturaConnect)
Staff
Michiel van Dijk
Guest Research Scholar (IBF)
Ping Yowargana
Senior Research Scholar (AFE)
Lifeng Ren
Guest Research Assistant (IBF)
Yoshihide Wada
Principal Research Scholar (WAT)
News
06 March 2025
Crafting narratives for a resilient and coherent Trans-European Nature Network
An international research team is pioneering a bold approach to European conservation, integrating biodiversity as a solution to environmental challenges. It explores three value perspectives – Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature as Culture – to shape positive future scenarios.
18 December 2024
Celebrating a year of impact: IIASA highlights in 2024
IIASA proudly looks back on another successful year. Our year-end video showcases some of the milestones that have shaped IIASA's growth and impact in the global scientific community.
12 December 2024
Moose Browsing Damage in Swedish Forests
A new report, “Browsing Damage - What is Happening in the Forest and What Happens in the Statistics?”, published by the Swedish Forest Agency, provides new insights on the ongoing debate surrounding moose management and its impact on Sweden's forests.
Co-authored by Agriculture, Forestry, and Ecosystem Services (AFE) researcher Oskar Franklin and scientists from Sweden, the report highlights the complex relationship between moose populations, pine tree densities, and browsing damage from both statistical and biological perspectives.
Events
Baku, Azerbaijan
IIASA at COP29 in Azerbaijan
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
IIASA-OeAW lecture: research and prevention of forest fires
Focus
13 February 2025
New water withdrawal projections for Europe suggest more people will live in water-stressed areas
As water demand continues to rise across Europe, new analysis reveals that more people than previously estimated will face water stress in the coming decades. IIASA researchers working on the EU-Horizon ACCREU project highlight the urgent need for informed adaptation strategies.
29 October 2024
Biodiversity COP16 in Colombia: Time to deliver
Who lives up to the promises made two years ago? Not many. Only about 35 countries have a strategy on how to meet biodiversity targets, says Piero Visconti, Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation (BEC) Research Group Leader at IIASA. But in 2022, at COP15 in Montreal, the countries pledged to preserve 30 percent of the planet’s land and seas. At the same time, rich countries also don’t live up to their promise to help the poor with financing. This COP needs to show results.
Publications
Hemerijckx, L.-M., De Vos, K. , Kaunda, J.O., & Van Rompaey, A. (2025). Future scenarios for urban agriculture and food security in sub-Saharan Africa: Modelling the urban land-food system in an agent-based approach. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 118 e102258. 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2025.102258. Joseph, J., Tramberend, S. , Kabi, F., Fischer, G., & Kahil, T. (2025). Sustainable intensification of fodder crop production can mitigate feed shortage and seasonality in East Africa. Environmental Development 54 e101158. 10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101158. Krisztin, T. , van Dijk, M. , & Piribauer, P. (2025). Herding resilience: Surveys and Bayesian spatial models for Africa’s livestock. Environmental Development 54 e101141. 10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101141. Pan, Y., Sha, A., Han, W., Liu, C., Liu, G., Welsch, E., Zeng, M., Xu, S., Zhao, Y., Tian, S., Li, Y., Deng, R., Zhang, X., Shi, H., Cui, Y., Huang, C., & Peng, H. (2025). Identifying spatial drivers of soil heavy metal pollution risk integrating positive matrix factorization, machine learning, and multi-scale geographically weighted regression. Journal of Hazardous Materials 485 e136841. 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136841. Pohanková, E., Hlavinka, P., Kersebaum, K.C., Nendel, C., Rodríguez, A., Balek, J., Balkovič, J. , Dubrovský, M., Hoogenboom, G., Moriondo, M., Olesen, J.E., Pullens, J.W.M., Rötter, R.P., Ruiz-Ramos, M., Shelia, V., Skalský, R. , Hoffmann, M.P., Takáč, J., Thaler, S., Eitzinger, J., Dibari, C., Ferrise, R., Leolini, L., Bohuslav, J., Bláhová, M., Fischer, M., & Trnka, M. (2025). Climate change impacts on two European crop rotations via an ensemble of models. European Journal of Agronomy 164 e127456. 10.1016/j.eja.2024.127456. Veigel, N., Kreibich, H., de Bruijn, J. , Aerts, J.C.J.H., & Cominola, A. (2025). Content analysis of multi-annual time series of flood-related Twitter (X) data. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 25 (2) 879-891. 10.5194/nhess-25-879-2025.