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
Sylvia Tramberend
Research Scholar (WAT)
Sarah Hanus
Guest Research Assistant (WAT)
Yusuke Satoh
Guest Research Scholar (WAT)
Yazhen Wu
Research Scholar (IBF)
News
13 September 2023
IIASA Flagship Report: Illuminating the path to sustainable wellbeing
IIASA is proud to announce the launch of its Flagship Report, "Systems Analysis for Sustainable Wellbeing. 50 Years of IIASA Research, 40 Years After the Brundtland Commission, Contributing to the Post-2030 Global Agenda” on Wednesday, 13 September 2023 at an official UN event in the framework of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Goals mid-term review.
12 September 2023
Plant-based food alternatives could support a shift to global sustainability
Replacing 50% of meat and milk products with plant-based alternatives by 2050 can reduce agriculture and land use related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 31% and halt the degradation of forest and natural land, according to new research.
12 September 2023
Water quality deteriorating in rivers worldwide
Climate change and increases in drought and rainstorms pose serious challenges to water management, not only in terms of the quantity of water, but also its quality. However, according to the most recent IPCC report, our current understanding of this issue is inadequate. To fill this gap, an international group of scientists has brought together a large body of research on water quality in rivers worldwide.
Events
29 August 2023 Rennes, France
Agri-food systems in a changing world: IIASA at the EAAE congress
22 June 2023 Online
In conversation with George Monbiot
Focus
14 July 2023
Ambitious ecological restoration and deforestation control strategies could support Colombia’s climate and biodiversity targets
IIASA researchers Juliana Arbelaez-Gaviria and Eleanor Warren-Thomas have coauthored a new policy brief published with the Colombia team of the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium, an initiative under the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) and part of the UN Sustainable Development and Solutions Network (UNSDSN). The brief outlines how deforestation and ecological restoration in Colombia may impact carbon, biodiversity, and agricultural production by 2030.
27 June 2023
Driving change from the ground up
Options Magazine, Summer 2023: Felicity Addo joined IIASA in 2021. She is a key contributor to the FACE Africa project, bringing together local actors to co-design strategies to ensure food security in The Gambia.
23 June 2023
Into the great wide open
Options Magazine, Summer 2023: By opening up access to science, IIASA is sparking new insights into our planet’s health.
Publications
Gvein, M.H., Hu, X., Næss, J.S., Watanabe, M.D.B., Cavalett, O., Malbranque, M., Kindermann, G. , & Cherubini, F. (2023). Potential of land-based climate change mitigation strategies on abandoned cropland. Communications Earth & Environment 4 (1) e39. 10.1038/s43247-023-00696-7. Yuwono, B., Yowargana, P., Fuss, S., Griscom, B.W., Smith, P., & Kraxner, F. (2023). Doing burden-sharing right to deliver natural climate solutions for carbon dioxide removal. Nature-Based Solutions 3 e100048. 10.1016/j.nbsj.2022.100048. Ippolito, T., Balkovič, J. , Skalský, R. , Folberth, C. , Krisztin, T. , & Neff, J. (2023). Predicting spatiotemporal soil organic carbon responses to management using EPIC-IIASA meta-models. Journal of Environmental Management 344 e118532. 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118532. Rinke Dias de Souza, N., Palma Petrielli, G., Dourado Hernandes, T., Leduc, S., Di Fulvio, F. , de Souza Henzler, D., Ferreira Chagas, M., Lopes Junqueira, T., & Cavalett, O. (2023). Bioenergy-livestock integration in Brazil: Unraveling potentials for energy production and climate change mitigation. Journal of Cleaner Production 422 e138586. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138586. Campo, P., Willaarts, B. , Magnuszewski, P., Giger, T., Ksiazczak, A.M., Brychczynski, H., & Kułakowska, M. (2023). Collaborative Design of Pathways to Sustainability. Guidebook for designing and running in-person workshops. Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.8345513. Lutz, W. & Pachauri, S. (2023). Systems Analysis for Sustainable Wellbeing. 50 years of IIASA research, 40 years after the Brundtland Commission, contributing to the post-2030 Global Agenda. IIASA Report. Laxenburg, Austria: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) 10.5281/zenodo.8214208.