Page - 11 - in options, Volume summer 2020

floods, meaning that if rainfall intensity exceeded the size of the remaining forest, players would be subject to flood damage, thus reducing their payoffs. The findings highlighted the influence of shared benefits, communication, and individual worldviews on the outcome of players’ decisions. A variety of participatory approaches were also used as part of a project aimed at implementing measures towards regional energy transitions in Austria. “This project’s objectives included understanding diverse stakeholder motivations, clarifying strategic stakeholder interactions and institutional framework settings that contribute to policy implementation gaps, and identifying policy options that would enable and motivate stakeholders to take action,” explains IIASA researcher Jenan Irshaid. The team used a combination of in-depth stakeholder interviews, policy exercises, a game- theoretic model, and design-thinking workshops to encourage innovative ideas on how to overcome the associated challenges. The process enabled the participants to successfully identify key problems and possible pathways to problem solutions. Interestingly, the study also revealed that where decision makers were not actively involved, the implementation of innovative solutions did not lead to immediate action due to a lack of implementation capacities and political support. In addition to the above, games and social networking are also being used to build a citizen scientists network that provides valuable data for expert-generated models and analyses. A large number of people have, for instance, participated in the IIASA game, Cropland Capture, validating more than 2.5 million km2 of land cover data – an area half the size of the EU. Several other applications are also enlisting the help of citizens and other stakeholders to, among others, map deforestation, identify damaged buildings, and collect land-cover and land-use data across Europe. Apart from those discussed above, a range of other participatory methods and tools to determine stakeholder preferences and aid robust evaluation in complex and uncertain multi-stakeholder policy contexts, such as multi-criteria decision analysis, qualitative systems mapping, and participatory scenario planning, have been successfully used in IIASA projects all over the world. Examples include the analyses of energy policy in the Middle East North African Sustainable Electricity Trajectories (MENA Select) Project; and the strategic planning of water resources and water infrastructure in Eastern Europe as part of a project undertaken by IIASA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Researchers at IIASA have embraced citizen science and co-design, not only as an integral part of many research projects, but also as a creative input into advisory processes. According to IIASA researcher Leena Ilmola-Sheppard, the trust built between the institute and policymakers over the years is key to continued successful collaboration in terms of informing the decisions that will affect all of us into the future. She says, “When policymakers are faced with a complex challenge, traditional research tools are often insufficient to serve their needs. IIASA researchers have developed close ties to decision makers at all levels and have advised them on a myriad of problems using participatory approaches. Continuous dialogue is however extremely important in this regard, especially in terms of reaching decision makers at higher levels of government, to enable informed decision making that draws on knowledge from different stakeholders.” By Ansa Heyl Strelkovskii N, Ilmola-Sheppard L, Komendantova N, Martusevich A, & Rovenskaya E (2019). Navigating through deep waters of uncertainty: Systems analysis approach to strategic planning of water resources and water infrastructure under high uncertainties and conflicting interests. IIASA Research Report. Laxenburg, Austria: RR-19-004 [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15998] Lintschnig M, Schinko T, Ortner S, Kienberger S, Leitner M, & Glas N (2019). Rollen und Verantwortlichkeiten im lokalen Klimarisikomanagement. Handbuch zum Rollenspiel-Workshop Klimarisikomanagement. Graz, Austria: Wegener Center Verlag. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15935] Irshaid J, Mochizuki J, & Schinko T (2020). Challenges to regional innovation and implementation of low-carbon energy transition measures: The tale of two Austrian regions. Submitted to Energy Policy Bednarik P, Bayer J, Magnuszewski P, & Dieckmann U (2019). A game of common-pool resource management: Effects of communication, risky environment and worldviews. Ecological Economics 156:287-292. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/15534] Steffen Fritz fritz@iiasa.ac.at Leena Ilmola-Sheppard ilmola@iiasa.ac.at Jenan Irshaid irshaid@iiasa.ac.at Nadya Komendantova komendan@iiasa.ac.at Piotr Magnuszewski magnus@iiasa.ac.at 11Optionswww.iiasa.ac.at Summer 2020