Günther
Fischer is the leader of the Land Use Change (LUC)
Project at IIASA. A primary research objective of this project is the development
of a GISbased modeling framework, which combines economic theory and advanced
mathematical methods with biophysical land evaluation approaches to model spatial
and dynamic aspects of land-resources use. Previously, Fischer was principal
investigator of the World Agriculture, Environment and Land Use Project and
research scientist of the Food and Agriculture Program at IIASA. He participated
in the formulation of a general equilibrium framework and the implementation
and application of a global model of the world food system, known as IIASA's
Basic Linked System. He was a major contributor to two studies of the Food and
Agriculture Program: On welfare implications of trade liberalization in agriculture
Towards Free Trade in Agriculture, and on poverty and hunger Hunger: Beyond
the Reach of the Invisible Hand. Also, Fischer participated in several research
projects on climate change and world agriculture. He was a member of the Core
Project Planning Committee on Land-Use and Land-Cover Change (LUCC), under the
International Geosphere-Biosphere Program and International Human Dimensions
of Global Environmental Change Program (IGBP-IHDP), and is a coauthor of the
LUCC Science Plan. For six years he has served on the Scientific Steering Committee
of the joint LUCC Core Project/Program of the IGBP-IHDP, and has been leading
the LUCC Focus 3 office at IIASA.
E-Mail: fisher@iiasa.ac.at
Harrij
van Velthuizen
is land resources ecologist and specialist in agroecological zoning. He was
a member of the working group that developed FAO's AEZ methodology. In the capacity
of senior consultant to and chief technical advisor of various organizations
of the United Nations (UN), he has, over the last 20 years, done extensive work
on agro-ecological assessments for agricultural development planning, covering
more than 20 countries in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Since 1995,
he has been engaged with the activities of the IIASA-LUC Project. At IIASA,
he has enhanced the AEZ methodologies for various applications, including agricultural
and forest production potentials and the impacts of climate variability and
climate change on food security. With the support of FAO, he initiated at IIASA
the work on the Global AEZ Assessment. In 2001, he joined IIASA as research
scholar at LUC.
E-Mail: velt@iiasa.ac.at
Serge
Medow is senior computer systems analyst at IIASA, and the technical
designer and implementer of this Global
Agro-ecological Assessment for Agriculture in the 21st Century CD-ROM as
well as the Global
AEZ WebSite/CD-ROM. He is involved in maintaining the Institute's web server,
IIASA's
web site, and developing various systems software applications. He has been
providing computer support and consultation on software and hardware issues
to the scientific community at IIASA for the last 25 years, and has held a range
of different computer-related positions including; Systems Programmer, Senior
Systems Consultant, Software Project Leader, and Computer Services Department
Head. He has also worked as a Research Assistant to the Resource and Environment
Area within the Institute. In 1982 he has been the main consultant for the development
and creation of a new computer center for the Arid Zone System Analysis Project
(ASZA) at Saltillo, Mexico.
E-Mail: serge@iiasa.ac.at
Freddy
Nachtergaele is
an agronomist who has been working since 1989 for the FAO
in Rome as a Technical Officer for Soil Resources and Land Classification with
the Land and Water Development Division. Prior to that he was a land resources
expert for FAO in field projects in North and East Africa and in Southeast Asia.
He is Vice-Chairman of the International Union of Soil Scientists (IUSS) working
group on the World Reference Base for Soil Resources, and coordinates the update
of the Soil Map of the World sponsored by FAO and the UN Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He is the author of numerous scientific
articles in the field of agro-ecological zoning, land evaluation, land-use planning,
and soil classification.
E-Mail: freddy.nachtergaele@fao.org