Overview of Special Projects

Special Projects in 2013 encompassed methodological upgrades to modeling tools and research with stakeholders in China and India with respect to future projects.

Deforestation © thevinman | iStock

Deforestation

Version 4.0 of the Global Agro-ecological Zones (GAEZ) system, developed at IIASA, began in 2013 to reflect the new climate model projections of the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP), which were developed for the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report and beyond. They are expected to be complete in mid-2014.  

GAEZ will be among the first applications to benefit from the creation of the “best available” land cover database developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The LANDFLOW model was extended and used in the study "The impact of EU consumption on deforestation" [1]. This highlighted that agricultural products imported into Europe (period 1990-2008) accounted for over one-third of global deforestation associated with international agricultural trade. This was mainly due to livestock feed imported from South America.

In 2013 work was carried out in close cooperation with IIASA's Chinese and Indian National Member Organizations on land use efficiency and security, particularly in the light of climate change and rapid population growth. 

Update of Global Agro-ecological Zones (GAEZ) system

A systematic update of the Global Agro-ecological Zones (GAEZ) system, began in 2013 and will be ready in mid-2014 More

New LANDFLOW model extensions developed

The LANDFLOW model, developed at IIASA, was applied to estimate how deforestation is connected to agricultural production in each country and how it relates to EU consumption via international trade. More

Collaboration with Chinese and Indian National Member Organizations

In 2013 the Water (WAT) Program cooperated closely with IIASA's National Member Organizations (NMOs) of China and India - respectively, the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), India. More


References

[1] European Commission (2013). The impact of EU consumption on deforestation. Technical Report 2013-063.

Collaborators

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO);
European Commission(EU);
Chinese National Member Organization;
Indian National Member Organization.



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Last edited: 28 April 2016

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Günther Fischer

Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar Water Security Research Group - Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program

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