International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

About: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis is a nonprofit organization based out in Laxenburg, Austria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Greenhouse gas. The organization has 1369 authors who have published 5075 publications receiving 280467 citations. The organization is also known as: IIASA.

Effects of Educational Attainment on Climate Risk Vulnerability

Abstract: In the context of still uncertain specific effects of climate change in specific locations, this paper examines whether education significantly increases coping capacity with regard to particular climatic changes, and whether it improves the resilience of people to climate risks in general. Our hypothesis is that investment in universal primary and secondary education around the world is the most effective strategy for preparing to cope with the still uncertain dangers associated with future climate. The empirical evidence presented for a cross-country time series of factors associated with past natural disaster fatalities since 1980 in 125 countries confirms this overriding importance of education in reducing impacts. We also present new projections of populations by age, sex, and level of educational attainment to 2050, thus providing an appropriate tool for anticipating societies' future adaptive capacities based on alternative education scenarios associated with different policies. (authors' abstract)

Identifying effects of land use cover changes and climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and carbon stocks in Mexico

Abstract: Land use cover change (LUCC) has a crucial role in global environmental change, impacting both ecosystem services and biodiversity. Evaluating the trends and possible alternatives of LUCC allows quantification and identification of the hotspots of change. Therefore, this study aims to answer what the most vulnerable ecosystems and the carbon stocks losses to LUCC are under two socioeconomic and climate change (CC) scenarios–Business as Usual (BAU) and Green. The scenarios integrate the Representative Concentration Pathways, and the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, with a spatially explicit LUCC. Distance to roads and human settlements are the most explicative direct drivers of LUCC. The projections include thirteen categories of natural and anthropogenic covers at a fine resolution for Mexico for the two scenarios. The results show that 83% of deforestation in the country has taken place in tropical dry forests, scrublands, temperate forests, and tropical evergreen forests. Considering the range of distribution of natural vegetation and the impacts of LUCC and CC, tropical dry and evergreen forests, followed by other vegetation and cloud forests are shown to be most vulnerable. By 2011, anthropogenic covers accounted for 26% of the country’s cover, and by 2050, according to the BAU scenario, they could account for 37%. The Green scenario suggests a feasible reduction to 21%. In 1985, Mexico had 2.13 PgC in aboveground biomass, but the LUCC would be responsible for 1–2% of LUCC global emissions, and by 2100, it may account for up to 5%. However, if deforestation were reduced and regeneration increased (Green scenario), carbon stocks would reach 2.14 PgC before 2050. Therefore, identifying which natural covers are the most vulnerable to LUCC and CC, and characterizing the principal drivers of ecosystems loss are crucial to prioritizing areas for implementing actions addressing resources to combat the loss of ecosystems and carbon stocks.

Education or wealth: which matters more for reducing child mortality in developing countries?

Abstract: This article systematically addresses mother’s education as a fundamental determinant of child mortality in developing countries. The main proposition is that setting the right policy priorities in developing countries requires distinguishing between the role of education and that of material resources in influencing child survival. Despite a tendency to regard both education and economic resources as interchangeable indicators of socioeconomic status, determining their relative importance with respect to child health is important because policies for enhancing one or the other can be quite different. We begin with a comprehensive review of the literature addressing the different causal mechanisms through which maternal education impacts on the health of her offspring. We include better maternal health, increased health-specific knowledge, adoption of non-traditional behaviours, and general female empowerment in addition to the effects of greater economic resources gained as a consequence of education. We use recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data for developing countries and examine the associations between survival of the youngest child over the first year of life, the mother’s educational attainment and the DHS indicator of household wealth both descriptively and using multivariate models. The results show that in the vast majority of countries and under virtually all models mother’s education matters more for infant survival than household wealth. Our findings challenge frequently held views and suggest a reorientation of global health policies to more directly address increasing female education as a primary policy option for improving child health.

Boreal forest fires in Siberia in 1998: Estimation of area burned and emissions of pollutants by advanced very high resolution radiometer satellite data

Abstract: [1] The NOAA 12 advanced very high resolution radiometer detected extensive forest fires in boreal Siberia and northern Mongolia during April through October 1998, a year of extremely dry weather, in particular, in the Russian Far East. Analysis of the satellite data has been carried out to estimate the area burned and gaseous emissions to the atmosphere from the point of view of ozone precursors. The fires started in western and eastern Siberia and moved eastward during the summer, until they were concentrated in the Russian Far East, near Sakhalin Island, in the period of July to October. Satellite observations for the fire season and detailed characteristics of terrestrial vegetation in the form of multilayer geographic information systems were used along with published emission factors from similar fires to calculate the gaseous emissions. The total area burned is estimated to be 1.1 × 107 ha with 350 Tg of biomass consumed and 176 Tg of carbon released into the atmosphere. The carbon released into the atmosphere is calculated to contribute 516 Tg of CO2, 50 Tg of CO, 1.6 Tg of CH4, 1.1 Tg of NMHC, and 9.5 Tg of C particles as smoke. In addition, we estimate that 1.8 Tg of NOx (as NO2) were released.