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
Staff
News

26 May 2023
President of the UN General Assembly visits IIASA

11 May 2023
Nature is changing as land abandonment increases

10 May 2023
FLAM Model Presentations Garner Positive Feedback at Prestigious Conferences
Events
06 June 2023 Virtual event
IIASA Public Webinar #8: IIASA Voices - The role of science in catalyzing sustainability transformation
Focus

20 April 2023
2030 nature targets agreed in December may already be slipping out of reach
IIASA researcher Richard Cornford and colleagues discuss the need for urgent action to stop biodiversity declines, and caution that ambitious targets to stop these declines by 2030 may already be slipping out of reach, in an article just published in The Conversation.
28 March 2023
The future of biodiversity monitoring in Europe


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.
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.
Teixeira, E. , Guo, J., Liu, J., Cichota, R., Brown, H., Sood, A., Yang, X., Hannaway, D., & Moot, D. (2023). Assessing land suitability and spatial variability in lucerne yields across New Zealand. European Journal of Agronomy 148 e126853. 10.1016/j.eja.2023.126853.
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, L., Elshorbagy, A., & Helgason, W. (2023). Assessment of agricultural adaptations to climate change from a water-energy-food nexus perspective. Agricultural Water Management 284 e108343. 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108343.
Schulze, K., Malek, Ž., Shchepashchenko, D. , Lesiv, M. , Fritz, S. , & Verburg, P.H. (2023). Pantropical distribution of short-rotation woody plantations: spatial probabilities under current and future climate. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 28 (5) 10.1007/s11027-023-10066-5.