The IAFES Division is organized around two poles located in Sassari and Viterbo with integrated and complementary competencies. The main goal of the research, consultancy and service activities of the IAFES Division is analyzing the interactions between climate change and terrestrial – natural and semi-natural – ecosystems and anthropic sectors. These include agriculture, forests, soil and urban systems, with particular attention to connected resources and generated services, like food and water security, climate regulation, and mitigation of hazards deriving from the combination of climate conditions and land management.

In particular, the following topics are addressed by the IAFES Division: i) hazards, exposure, vulnerability and risks related to wildfires, erosion, droughts, loss of biomass and productivity, phytopathologies (pests, diseases) and other disturbances in the context of modifications in climate trends, variability and related extreme events; ii) water, carbon and nitrogen cycle as well as greenhouse gas (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) emissions modeling and/or monitoring, also based on life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches, and on land and water consumption under a footprint perspective; iii) the interactions and nexus among water-land/ecosystem-food-energy-climate, also in the context of land suitability, for more resource-efficient land management and sustainable development.

Through the IAFES Division activities, several tools are designed, developed, set-up and applied based on the integration among Earth Observations, spatial analysis (exploiting GIS environment), process-based modelling and statistical-mathematical approaches to assess, predict (on the short term) and project (on the long term) the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems and of services they provide, including uncertainty consideration.

The results of the Division research activities and studies allow to consolidate the scientific knowledge and, acting as interface between science and policy, to formulate more robust recommendations about mitigation and adaptation options at local, national and international level.