# About the Authors of this CD-ROM

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