Jan Sendzimir
Guest Research Scholar
Equity and Justice Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Biography
Jan Sendzimir first came to IIASA in the summer of 1983 to work with H.T. Odum on systems energy analysis of national economies. He is presently working in the Risk and Resilience (RISK) Program.Dr. Sendzimir studied systems ecology as part of the environmental engineering program at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, under H.T. Odum (master’s degree in 1984) and C.S. ("Buzz") Holling (PhD in 1998). In the interim he worked as a wetlands ecologist in the design and integration of natural and artificial wetlands into waste treatment systems. In addition to field research on the dynamics of lake, river and forest ecosystems, Dr. Sendzimir collaborates with academia, NGOs and government on research applied to problems with complex combinations of ecological, economic and sociopolitical factors that occur over relatively large areas such as river basins, major watersheds and mountain chains. A major research area focuses on how ecological, social and economic interactions influence our capacity to adapt to and/or mitigate change at different scales and how that affects the robustness and resilience of social-ecological systems to change. He uses conceptual and formal modeling as social simulation exercises (role-playing games) to integrate perspectives from different disciplines and sectors of society in decision-making frameworks such as the adaptive management process.
Dr. Sendzimir’s current projects use modeling to guide scientific research - policy development related to the sustainable development of communities in major river systems: The Narew, Odra and Barycz rivers (Poland), the Rhine and Elbe (Germany), the Tisza river (Ukraine, Romania, and Hungary), and the Amudarya (Uzbekistan) as well as in semi-arid regions in Africa (Sahel) and Central America (Central Cordillera of Nicaragua).
Last update: 02 MAY 2016
Publications
Rosengren, L., Schinko, T. , Sendzimir, J., Mohammed, A.-R., Buwah, R., Vihinen, H., & Raymond, C. (2023). Interlinkages between leverage points for strengthening adaptive capacity to climate change. Sustainability Science 10.1007/s11625-023-01327-y.
Kaboré, I., Moog, O., Ouéda, A., Sendzimir, J., Ouédraogo, R., Guenda, W., & Melcher, A.H. (2018). Developing reference criteria for the ecological status of West African rivers. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 190 (1) 10.1007/s10661-017-6360-1.
Magnuszewski, P., Ostasiewicz, K., Chazdon, R., Salk, C., Pajak, M., & Sendzimir, J. (2015). Resilience and alternative stable states of tropical forest landscapes under shifting cultivation regimes. PLoS ONE 10 (9) e0137497. 10.1371/journal.pone.0137497.
Linnerooth-Bayer, J., Dubel, A., Sendzimir, J., & Hochrainer-Stigler, S. (2015). Challenges for mainstreaming climate change into EU flood and drought policy: Water retention measures in the Warta River Basin, Poland. Regional Environmental Change 15 (6) 1011-1023. 10.1007/s10113-014-0643-7.
Kok, K., Baerlund, I., Floerke, M., & Sendzimir, J. (2015). European participatory scenario development: Strengthening the link between stories and models. Climatic Change 128 (3) 187-200. 10.1007/s10584-014-1143-y.