The focus of the AFE Group is to generate knowledge and develop state-of-the-art modeling tools to advance the scientific community and support policies that enable better understanding and management of global and regional agriculture, forestry, and natural land ecosystems.
The basis for improved assessment and management of natural resources is a deep understanding of complex and interacting biophysical processes within terrestrial ecosystems. The AFE Group aims to achieve a leading position in addressing research questions requiring integrated analyses of agriculture, forestry, and natural land ecosystems at global and regional levels.
The group’s strategic ambition of biophysical tool integration for, among others, the assessment of nature-based/climate solutions, landscape restoration options, agro-forestry, or future cropland management, is at the core of the IIASA research domain on biodiversity and ecosystem services. With sustainability and biodiversity aspects as cross-cutting environmental safeguards, the group is closely aligned with the strategic direction of its host program on Biodiversity and Natural Resources. This structural and strategic setup will ensure that AFE becomes a valuable research pillar and contributor to the overarching IIASA strategy.
Models, tools, datasets
Russian Forests and Forestry Database
Wildfire climate impacts and adaptation model (FLAM)
Global Forest Model (G4M)
The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate-based global gridded crop model (EPIC-IIASA)
Projects
Land Management for Sustainability (LAMASUS)
Integrated Future Wildfire Hot Spot Mapping for Austria (Austria Fire Futures )
The Human-Tech Nexus - Building a Safe Haven to Cope with Climate Extremes (HuT)
RESTORE+: Addressing Landscape Restoration on Degraded Land in Indonesia and Brazil
Staff
Ayaulym Matisheva
Guest Research Intern (AFE)
Rastislav Skalsky
Senior Research Scholar (AFE)
Sten Nilsson
Guest Senior Research Scholar (AFE)
Dmitry Shchepashchenko
Principal Research Scholar (NODES, AFE)
News
08 May 2025
OJERI-IIASA Symposium 2025 Wraps Up with Significant Exchanges on Wildfire and Sustainable Land-Water Management
The OJEong Resilience Institute at Korea University (OJERI) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) successfully held the OJERI–IIASA Symposium 2025 on April 28–29 at IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria. With the theme “Forest Fire and Water-Land Management under the Carbon (Emission) Cycle”, the symposium aimed to continue the strong partnership between IIASA and OJERI@KU in advancing cross-disciplinary research for sustainable forest and land-water management.
01 May 2025
Petr Havlík awarded honorary doctorate by KU Leuven
IIASA Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program Director, Petr Havlík, has been awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) by KU Leuven, one of Europe’s most renowned universities, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to global research in agricultural, food, climate, and environmental economics.
03 April 2025
Celebrating Research on Health at IIASA; World Health Day 2025
Researchers at IIASA are studying the direct and indirect effects of climate change on health, shedding light on healthy aging drivers and metrics and analyzing interconnections between the components of multi-dimensional national well-being.
Events
Austrian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
IIASA-OeAW lecture: research and prevention of forest fires
Focus
09 April 2024
Forest science and education in Ukraine: Priorities for action
Ukraine’s forest sector is suffering unprecedented challenges. War has impacted both forests and forestry – devastating forest areas, infrastructure and industry, as well as causing ‘brain drain’ and capacity loss due to the disruption of research institutions and the displacement of students and scientists. These impacts are compounded by factors including climate change, unstable forest health dynamics, landscape fires, and an overall decrease in forest productivity.
24 February 2022
The number of tree species on Earth
Since humans have walked this planet, we have loved categorizing things and ecology is no exception. One of the most basic ecological questions has always been the simple question of “how many?”