To combat forest loss in the tropics, a new study uses crowdsourcing to identify the drivers of deforestation. The resulting dataset can be used to create high-resolution maps and help policymakers apply the best protection measures. Every year, 10 million hectares of forest disappear worldwide, predominantly driven by human activities such as agriculture expansion, building […]
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
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Why we must avoid temperature overshoot
November 29, 2021 – A new international study coordinated by IIASA shows how near-term mitigation can help to prevent an overshoot in global temperatures, thereby reducing climate risks and bringing long-term economic gains. The Paris Agreement’s goal is to hold global warming to well below 2°C, and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. But […]
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Research reveals location and intensity of global threats to biodiversity
Using a novel modeling approach, new research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution reveals the location and intensity of key threats to biodiversity on land and identifies priority areas across the world to help inform conservation decision making at national and local levels. IIASA scientists are part of a team of leading researchers who have produced global […]
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Assessing the feasibility of transformation pathways for achieving the Paris Climate Agreement
June 2, 2021 – What drives the feasibility of climate scenarios commonly reviewed by organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? And can they actually be achieved in practice? A new systematic framework can help understand what to improve in the next generation of scenarios and explore how to make ambitious emission reductions […]
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Evaluating the effectiveness of travel bans
August 3, 2020 – With the reopening of flights during the summer holiday season in Europe, many countries have started to see an increase in COVID-19 infections. A new IIASA-led study sheds light on how COVID-19 spreads regionally and between countries, as well as on how effective governmental measures to curb the spread of the […]
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Matching-commitment agreements to incentivize climate action
June 19, 2020 – Many countries are failing to comply with the non-binding commitments of the Paris Agreement, making it increasingly clear that we have to reconsider how to ensure collective action to limit global warming to less than 2°C above preindustrial levels. A new IIASA-led study supports a different approach to designing an international […]
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Sea level rise to cause major economic impact in the absence of further climate action
January 27, 2020 – Rising sea levels, a direct impact of the Earth’s warming climate, is intensifying coastal flooding. The findings of a new study show that the projected negative economy-wide effects of coastal flooding are already significant until 2050, but are then predicted to increase substantially towards the end of the century if no […]
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Highlighting the importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers
December 9, 2019 – Mountains and highlands are often referred to as natural “water towers” because they provide lowland communities with essential freshwater for drinking, irrigation, industry, food, and energy production. A new Nature study provides insight into this valuable resource, which is crucial to the welfare of 1.9 billion people. The combination of high […]
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Nitrous Oxide levels are on the rise
November 18, 2019 – Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas and one of the main stratospheric ozone depleting substances on the planet. According to new research, we are releasing more of it into the atmosphere than previously thought. Most of us know nitrous oxide (N2O) as “laughing gas”, used for its anesthetic effects. It is […]
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How can we feed the world without overwhelming the planet?
Sept. 11, 2019 – Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 calls for ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture. The environmental challenges posed by agriculture are however massive, and many fear that they will only become more pressing as we try to meet the growing need for food worldwide. IIASA researchers […]
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Deep transformations needed to achieve the SDGs and Paris Agreement on Climate Change
August 26, 2019 – The Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change call for deep transformations that require complementary actions by governments, civil society, science, and business. IIASA contributed to a new study outlining six major transformations that will be required to achieve these ambitious goals. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) […]
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Mapping the effects of drought on vulnerable populations
Aug. 13, 2019 – The greater frequency of droughts, combined with underlying economic, social, and environmental risks means that dry spells have an increasingly destructive impact on vulnerable populations, and particularly on children in the developing world. In a new study by researchers from IIASA and the USA, the team set out to map at-risk […]
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Study: Exploring the causes of persistent corruption
June 11, 2019 – IIASA researchers used a novel approach to explore the key processes and conditions that determine corruption levels. Their analysis shows that transparency about the integrity of institutions is key to fighting corruption, and that vigilance against corruption must be maintained despite its cost, even when corruption levels appear to be low. […]
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New interactive scenario explorer for 1.5°C pathways
Oct. 15, 2018 – IIASA and the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) have made the scenarios underlying last week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5°C Special Report publicly available, in an interactive online resource. The resource provides scenarios and a suite of visualization and analysis tools, making the assessment more transparent to researchers, policymakers, […]
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IIASA contributes to IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C
Oct. 9, 2018 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, a new assessment on minimizing global warming, and multiple IIASA researchers were involved in its production. The report was approved by the IPCC at a meeting on 6 October in Incheon in South Korea […]
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Paris climate targets could be exceeded sooner than expected
Sept. 18, 2018 – A new study has for the first time comprehensively accounted for permafrost carbon release when estimating emission budgets for climate targets. The results show that the world might be closer to exceeding the budget for the long-term target of the Paris climate agreement than previously thought. Emissions budgets represent the upper […]
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Novel framework to address uncertainty in water management
Sept. 14, 2018 – IIASA researchers have developed a general decision-making framework to support policy decisions on the management of water resources, which, for the first time, explicitly takes into account the associated uncertainties. Reliable access to clean water is one of the key aspects addressed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact, […]
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Meeting Paris climate targets will require a substantial reallocation of global investment
June 18, 2018 – A new analysis by an international team of scientists led by IIASA shows that low carbon investments will need to markedly increase if the world is to achieve the Paris Agreement aim of keeping global warming well below 2°C. The authors find that a fundamental transformation of the global energy system […]
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Small and medium farms are essential to sustain quality of global food supply
April 5, 2017 – Small and medium farms produce more than half of the food globally, and produce the vast majority of food and nutrients in low income countries, according to a new study that maps global nutrient production from farms worldwide. IIASA researchers Steffen Fritz, Petr Havlik, and Linda See contributed to the study, […]