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
Jose Albiac
Guest Research Scholar (WAT)
Dor Fridman
Research Scholar (WAT)
Zuelclady Araujo Gutierrez
Research Scholar (IBF)
Albert Brouwer
Research Scholar (IBF)
News
28 March 2023
Climate-related costs could significantly affect largest listed livestock companies
IIASA researchers collaborated with the FAIRR Initiative – a collaborative investor network – on the development of a new IPCC-aligned climate risk analysis tool for investors. Analyses done using the new tool, show that climate-related cost increases could significantly affect the bottom lines of the largest listed livestock companies unless new strategies are urgently adopted.
22 March 2023
Petr Havlík appointed as Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program Director
Petr Havlík has been appointed to lead the IIASA Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR) Program.
01 March 2023
European conservation leaders gather to boost collective dialogue for a Trans-European Nature Network
More than 70 leading EU policy and governmental decision makers came together to lay the foundation for a bold new vision for Europe's nature protection in the first NaturaConnect stakeholder event this year.
Focus
25 January 2023
Ambitious actions are urgently needed to shift food and land use systems to a sustainable future
The Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use and Energy (FABLE) Consortium's publication in Sustainability Science collects insights from 20 countries.
20 January 2023
Understanding the link between biodiversity and land-use management
Meet Cindy Azuero-Pedraza, a participant in the 2022 IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program. Learn about her forestry research in the Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, where she worked with the Integrated Biosphere Futures Research Group to incorporate biodiversity data into forest management decisions.
20 January 2023
Securing sustainable and resilient food systems for The Gambia
Policy Brief #36, January 2023. Co-developing resilient food and land-use systems can help bridge the gap between demand for sustainable, healthy food and attainable food supply in The Gambia.
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.
Rius, B.F., Filho, J.P.D., Fleischer, K., Hofhansl, F. , Blanco Casagrande, C., Rammig, A., Domingues Ferreira, T., & Lapola Montenegro, D. (2023). Higher functional diversity improves modeling of Amazon forest carbon storage. Ecological Modelling 481 e110323. 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2023.110323.
Wu, Y., Deppermann, A., Havlik, P. , Frank, S. , Ren, M., Zhao, H., Ma, L., Fang, C., Chen, Q., & Dai, H. (2023). Global land-use and sustainability implications of enhanced bioenergy import of China. Applied Energy 336 e120769. 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120769.
Hunt, J. , Zakeri, B. , Nascimento, A., Gazoli, J.R., Bindemann, F.T., Wada, Y. , van Ruijven, B. , & Riahi, K. (2023). Compressed air seesaw energy storage: A solution for long-term electricity storage. Journal of Energy Storage 60 e106638. 10.1016/j.est.2023.106638.
Huggins, X., Gleeson, T., Castilla‐Rho, J., Holley, C., Re, V., & Famiglietti, J.S. (2023). Groundwater connections and sustainability in social‐ecological systems. Groundwater 10.1111/gwat.13305. (In Press)