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Why climate researcher Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber considers COP28 in Dubai to be a "temple of excesses", what should not be discussed there and what is wrong with the IPCC reports.

Interview with Austria Press Agency Science.

Modern, target-oriented research and quality education, more exchange with international peers and partners, better science-policy interaction, and improved coordination and communication with international and national actors are crucial for ensuring a sustainable future of Ukraine’s forests.

IIASA researchers contributed to a new international study that tested the extent to which global water models agree with each other and with observational data. Using a new evaluation approach, the researchers can show in which climate regions the models agree and where they differ.

Amid an alarming surge in global habitat destruction and species extinction, new research by an international team of scientists proposes a new global approach to choosing protected lands which could reduce species extinction risk twice as efficiently as current methods.

By how much did life expectancy fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic? A new study suggests that pandemics require a new method to accurately calculate life expectancy: “hybrid life expectancy” takes the duration of the pandemic into account, revealing that health crises have much smaller impact on life expectancy than previous studies have suggested.

IIASA researchers are collaborating on a new Horizon Europe project, which will use artificial intelligence to help farmers and land managers analyze their soil health without the need for a laboratory.

Accurate estimates and forecasts of crop area and yield play an important role in guiding policy decisions related to food security, especially in light of the growing impacts of climate change. IIASA researchers and colleagues highlight the value of integrating remote sensing and data sharing for timely agricultural information critical for food security and sustainability planning in a new paper.    

Working with IIASA researchers, Ghana has adopted a citizen science approach to addressing the problem of plastic pollution in marine environments, becoming the first country to integrate this type of data on marine plastic litter into its official monitoring and reporting processes. A new study presents this innovative approach on Ghana’s citizen science journey and offers a pathway that can potentially be adopted in other countries.

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.

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.

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.

New research by an international team challenges the common narrative linking climate change to migration. The findings emphasize the importance of human development factors over climate considerations and reveal the complexity of migration patterns often obscured by national averages.

An Austrian choreographer, an American playwright, and a Dutch composer have collaborated with scientists to shed light on various dimensions of the ecological crisis in artistic ways. On 6 October 2023 at 20:00 CET, they will present some of their work in an engaging program titled “What We Want” at the MuTh, one of Vienna’s well-known concert halls.

The International Boreal Forest Research Association will bring together researchers, managers, policymakers, and members from civil society for its bi-annual conference, focusing on the changing boreal biome. It will be hosted by The Natural Resources Institute of Finland from 28 - 31 August 2023 in Helsinki, Finland.

The attractiveness of new hydropower is decreasing fast, both due to the increasing economic competitiveness of solar panels and to the increasingly uncertain effects of climate change on river flows. The majority of new dams proposed across Africa should, therefore, probably never be built, suggests a new study published in Science.

A new study finds that standalone solar photovoltaic irrigation systems have the potential to meet more than a third of the water needs for crops in small-scale farms across sub-Saharan Africa.

Freshwater is vital for humans, ecosystems, and economies. However, climate and socio-economic changes are expected to substantially alter water availability. A pioneering study emphasizes considering future water withdrawals in low flow projections, highlighting the urgency of coordinated efforts to reduce excessive extraction in European rivers.

Migration is a complex and unpredictable phenomenon, often triggered by political crises, economic downturns, and natural or human-made disasters. A new policy brief and a White Paper authored by IIASA researchers and UK colleagues provide valuable insights and recommendations to support policymaking and increase understanding around the realistic implications of high-migration events.

IIASA researchers and experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) have conducted a systematic review of health and wellbeing-related indicators, as well as citizen science initiatives, to explore the potential of citizen science for mobilizing action toward the achievement of health and wellbeing related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO’s Triple Billion Targets.