Das Projekt "Neue Version des Moskauer Modells der Globalen Biosphaere (MGBM)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung e.V. durchgeführt. The Russian school of global biosphere modelling has ample experience and knowledge which should be preserved and utilized for further scientific progress. The idea is to develop a new up-to-date version of the Moscow global biosphere model in the framework of newly established European scientific co-operation, based on 1) the previous experience, 2) more detailed data bases of biosphere processes, 3) improved climatic models, 4) more powerful data processing tools and computers. The main objective of the study is the development of a hierarchy of integrated biosphere models, which would incorporate the main elements of the Earth system (atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere and biota), linked with each other and with the anthroposphere by the fluxes of heat, momentum, water and the global biogeochemical cycles. The first priority in the study will be given to the problem of boundaries of the stability domain for the biosphere at the regional and global scales. The methodology to be used in the study is the analytical and simulation modelling of the Earth system, based on the hierarchical model structure. The project will be realized through the development of a hierarchy of integrated biosphere models, including the 3-dimensional (geographically explicit) integrated biosphere model, and a set of simplified conceptual models. The basic 3-dimensional integrated biosphere model will be represented by coupled climate, global (oceanic and terrestrial vegetation) biogeochemical cycles and vegetation dynamics models. The further development of this model pursues the aim of investigating not only the global-scale, but also the regional-scale processes.