SIMARIS
Strategic Investments in Mitigation, Adaptation, and Recycling Innovations at Basic Scale

The proposed model comprises four modules: water, land use, energy, and economics. These modules are designed to work together to provide a comprehensive analysis of the interdependent relationships between water, land, energy, and economics.
The water module is built considering water flow, water distribution and use interlinkages as well as technological advancement effects in water system.
The land use module reflects the dependence of crop yield and biomass on land, water, fertilizer uses.
The energy module considers energy demand (fuel and electricity) for all water supply and agricultural operations, and energy supplies from both fossil and renewable sources.
The economics module maximizes net benefits over time and considers the intertemporal allocation of income between consumption and investments to enhance the recovery of capital stocks and to adopt adaptation, mitigation, resource recovery technologies. Income generation in the model depends on labor, capital, land, water, fertilizer and energy use constraints.
The developed model will be applied to the case of Central Asia, particularly Uzbekistan, where water scarcity and environmental degradation are serious challenges due to climate change, inefficient water institutions, and outdated infrastructure. To assess climate impact scenarios, the integrated water-energy-economic model is combined with downscaled assessments of regional climate impact outcomes from global climate models.

Peer reviewed journal articles

• Bekchanov M, 2024. The impacts of technological change policies on water uses and virtual water trade in water-constrained settings. Journal of Cleaner Production, 456, 142378. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142378
• Bekchanov M, 2024. Conveyance efficiency and irrigation water productivity under varying water supply conditions in arid lowlands of Central Asia. Agricultural Water Management 293, 108697, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2024.108697
• Babajanova M, Bobojonov I, Bekchanov M, Kuhn L, Glauben T, 2024. Can domestic wheat farming meet the climate change-induced challenges of national food security in Uzbekistan?, International Journal of Water Resources Development, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2023.2290523
• Bekchanov M, 2025 (Preprint). Strategic Investments for Enhancing Irrigation System Resilience in the Face of Reducing Water Supply. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5240919
• Bekchanov M, 2024 (work in progress). Zero-carbon transition pathways of economic development in Uzbekistan

Guest lectures, presentations at symposiums and workshops

• Bekchanov M, 2024. Climate change impacts on water and food security, and adaptation investment needs (in Central Asia). Online presentation at CMCC/EIEE joint meeting, 8 October 2024, Milan, Italy
• Bekchanov M, 2024. Climate change and water security in Central Asia. Guest Lecture at Green University, 20 September 2024, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• Bekchanov M, 2024. Strategic Investments in Mitigation, Adaptation and Recycling Innovations at Basin Scale - SIMARIS project funded by EU through Marie Curie Fellowship. A flash talk at IIASA Summer School on Systems Modeling, 15-26 July 2024, Vienna, Austria
• Bekchanov M, 2023. Challenges and optimal investment pathways to sustainable transformation of water, energy, and food systems in the Aral Sea basin of Central Asia. Presentation at CMCC brown-bag seminar, 2 May 2023, Venice, Italy

Presentations at academic conferences and research symposiums

• Bekchanov M, 2025. Investments in sustainable transition of irrigation systems in a water scarce region. A flash talk at Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) Annual Meeting 2025, 21-22 March 2025, AGH University, Krakow, Poland
• Bekchanov M, 2024. How does irrigation system transition impact on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions? Presentation at International Research Symposium on “Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation: From Research to Implementation" hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), 21-23 October 2024, Berlin, Germany
• Bekchanov M, 2024. Strategic investments for enhancing agricultural resilience in the face of reducing water supply. Online presentation at Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) Annual Meeting, 22 October - 6 November 2024, Seoul, South Korea.
• Bekchanov M, 2024. Water-Economic Research in Central Asia: Insights gained from Sub-National to Basin-Scale Integrated Assessment Modeling Explorations. ZEF international conference on “Sustainable Solutions: Shared Futures: Development Research for the 21st Century”, 30 September - 2 October 2024, Bonn, Germany
• Bekchanov M, 2024. The impacts of technological improvements on water uses and virtual water trade in Uzbekistan. International Input-Output Association (IIOA) Conference, 1-5 July 2024, Santiago, Chile
• Bekchanov M, 2023. Integrated Assessment Model for analyzing Water-Energy-Food nexus in Central Asia. Italian Association of Environmental Resource Economists (IAERE) Conference, 23-24 February 2023, Naples, Italy
• Bekchanov M, 2023. Possible and Plausible Climate Futures in Central Asia. IAMO Forum, 21-23 June 2023, Halle, Germany
• Bekchanov M, 2023. Cross-country analysis of future agricultural labor supply change induced by global warming. Online participation in Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) Annual Meeting, 14-16 November 2023, Venice, Italy
• Bekchanov M, 2022. Climate-Health-Economics Nexus analysis using Global Climate-Energy-Economic Model. Online participation in Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) Annual Meeting, 28 November - 2 December 2022, Maryland, the USA