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
Scott Spillias
Guest Research Scholar (IBF)
Maria Adelia Widijanto
Research Intern (AFE)
Georg Kindermann
Research Scholar (AFE)
Charlotte Janssens
Guest Research Scholar (IBF)
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.
07 May 2025
Intensifying farmland could degrade biodiversity more than expansion
The intensification of existing farmland can sometimes be more harmful to local biodiversity than expanding the area covered by agricultural land, according to new research just published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
06 May 2025
Japan’s Minister of Environment visits IIASA
IIASA had the great honor of welcoming His Excellency Mr. Keiichiro Asao, Minister of the Environment and Minister of State for Nuclear Emergency Preparedness of Japan, for a high-level visit and strategic dialogue with IIASA leadership and researchers.
Events
Online and in Wodak room at IIASA (Laxenburg, Austria)
AI for Climate Science seminar series: Why We Still Need Traditional Climate and Earth System Models – and How They Might Be Improved
Vienna, Austria & Online
IIASA at EGU General Assembly 2025
FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy and online
Launch of Global Agro-Ecological Zoning V5 and signing of MoU with FAO
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.