Page - 4 - in options, Volume summer 2020

AFFORDANCES Agent Based Model: Graphical abstract SO CIA L L EAR NING LEARNING + HAB ITU ATI ON News in brief Mountains and highlands are often called the Earth’s natural water towers as they provide almost 1.6 billion people living in low lying areas with essential freshwater for drinking, agriculture, industry, and energy production. High mountain snow peaks and glaciers, and the natural biodiversity of these regions are an irreplaceable part of the global water cycle. For the first time, 32 scientists from around the world, including IIASA, have assessed the planet’s 78 mountain glacier–based water systems, ranked them in order of their importance to nearby lowland communities, and measured their vulnerability to future environmental and socioeconomic changes. The research, published in the journal Nature, shows that global water towers are at risk, in many cases critically, due to the threats of climate change, growing populations, mismanagement of water resources, and other geopolitical factors. “The significance of mountain water supply for drinking water and food production is increasing, which casts a large uncertainty in many regions of the world facing melting glaciers and decreasing snow packs. Some of the vulnerable water towers are especially under pressure due to demands from population growth and alarming increases in downstream water use,” explains study coauthor and IIASA Acting Water Program Director, Yoshihide Wada. This research will help decision makers at the global and local level prioritize where action should be taken to protect mountain systems, the resources they provide, and the people who depend on them. The importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers Yoshihide Wada: wada@iiasa.ac.at Further info: pure.iiasa.ac.at/16215 Every day we make choices in our lives that affect the environment. Understanding how human behavior is influenced by our habits, skills, attitudes, and environments is vital, given that we need radical change in human behaviors and cultures to alleviate climate change and protect our ecosystems. Using a new computational method for simulating interactions between individuals and environments, an IIASA study explored how collective behavior patterns emerge systemically as a product of personal, social, and environmental factors. Researchers used Copenhagen, a city known for its well-developed cycling culture, as a case study to examine how changes in opportunities to behave sustainably – such as increasing the number of bicycle lanes in a city – affects the collective adoption of sustainable behaviors. “The drastic effect that the physical environment, for instance, cycling infrastructure, has on our collective behavior patterns is surprising. The results show that even minor changes in the structure of the environment can trigger so-called "tipping points" or "phase transitions" in the collective adoption of sustainable behaviors like cycling. Reaching such tipping points is precisely what is needed to enact society-wide behavior change. We have to start designing our everyday environments in ways that make sustainable behaviors the default option and as easy as possible,” says study lead author Roope Kaaronen, who worked on the research as a participant of the 2019 IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program. Kaaronen is currently a PhD student at the University of Helsinki’s Institute of Sustainability Science. Increasing opportunities for sustainable behavior Nikita Strelkovskii: strelkon@iiasa.ac.at Further info: pure.iiasa.ac.at/16278 By Rachel Potter By Rachel PotterFigure: The Water Tower Units (WTU) SI (blue colourscale) and downstream DI (brown colourscale) for all 78 WTUs and WTU basins. Supply index (SI) Demand index (DI) 0 – 0.10 0.21 – 0.30 0.41 – 0.50 0 – 0.20 0.41 – 0.60 0.81 – 0.1 0.11 – 0.20 0.31 – 0.40 0.21 – 0.40 0.61 – 0.80 BEHAVIOUR 4 Options www.iiasa.ac.atSummer 2020