History
In response to the plea of a regional approach entity to address global change issues, sixteen nations [5] in the Americas signed the Agreement establishing the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research on May 13, 1992, in Montevideo, Uruguay. The treaty has been ratified by all 16 signatories and has been acceded to by three other American nations. [6] The agreement came into force on March 12, 1994, thus creating the IAI. [7]
To accomplish IAI's mission and goals, in 1993 contributing scientists and science managers of the region crafted an initial Science Agenda. [8] In 1997, in response to the evolving regional priorities, the IAI Scientific Advisory Committee revised the initial Science Agenda, re-arranged it and included new pressing issues in the current IAI Science Agenda.
Each member country participating in the IAI benefits from the enhancement of regional relationships, the establishment of new institutional arrangements, open exchange of scientific data, and information generated by the institute's research programs, and the implementation of IAI Training and Education Programs. [9]
The United States National Science Foundation hosted the IAI Secretariat from September 1994 until September 1996. Currently, the IAI Directorate is located in the campus of the Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU) [10] in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of the organization, specifically in regards to the fifteen specialised agencies, the eight functional commissions, and the five regional commissions under its jurisdiction.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics.
Sir Robert Tony Watson CMG FRS is a British chemist who has worked on atmospheric science issues including ozone depletion, global warming and paleoclimatology since the 1980s. Most recently, he is lead author of the February 2021 U.N. report Making Peace with Nature.
Diversitas was an international research programme aiming at integrating biodiversity science for human well-being. In December 2014 its work was transferred to the programme called Future Earth, which was sponsored by the Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, comprising the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Belmont Forum of funding agencies, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations University (UNU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
There is a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO) was established by resolution 2.31 adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO. It first met in Paris at Unesco Headquarters from 19 to 27 October 1961. Initially, 40 States became members of the commission. The IOC assists governments to address their individual and collective ocean and coastal management needs, through the sharing of knowledge, information and technology as well as through the co-ordination of programs and building capacity in ocean and coastal research, observations and services.
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving broader socio-political and security objectives, as defined by national governments. Regional integration has been organized either via supranational institutional structures or through intergovernmental decision-making, or a combination of both.
Paul Raskin is the founding President of the Tellus Institute, which has conducted over 3,500 research and policy projects throughout the world on environmental issues, resource planning, scenario analysis, and sustainable development. His research and writing has centered on propagating the Great Transition. Raskin has served as a lead author on a number of high-profile international reports, including the U.S. National Academy of Science's Board on Sustainability, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the United Nations Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook, the Earth Charter, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report.
Elio García-Austt (1919–2005) was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was a neuroscientist.
Relations between the United States and the Uruguay traditionally have been based on a common outlook and emphasis on democratic ideals.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research is a German government-funded research institute addressing crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate impacts, and sustainable development. Ranked among the top environmental think tanks worldwide, it is one of the leading research institutions and part of a global network of scientific and academic institutions working on questions of global environmental change. It is a member of the Leibniz Association, whose institutions perform research on subjects of high relevance to society.
The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) is a Research and Training Institute of the United Nations University (UNU). Based in Bruges, Belgium since 2001, UNU-CRIS specializes in the comparative study of regional integration and the provision of global and regional public goods, including environmental stability, poverty reduction, peace and justice.
Tan Sri Zakri bin Abdul Hamid has had a distinguished career in science as a researcher, educator, administrator and diplomat.
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is an intergovernmental network that promotes policy-oriented research and capacity-building activities related to global change in the region. APN receives financial contribution from the governments of the United States, Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand, with in-kind contribution from all it 22 member countries. The APN Secretariat is based in Kobe, Japan, hosted by the Hyogo Prefectural Government.
The Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) is a climate change denial advocacy organisation set up by S. Fred Singer's Science & Environmental Policy Project, and later supported by the Heartland Institute lobbying group, in opposition to the assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the issue of global warming.
The contributions of women in climate change have received increasing attention in the early 21st century. Feedback from women and the issues faced by women have been described as "imperative" by the United Nations and "critical" by the Population Reference Bureau. A report by the World Health Organization concluded that incorporating gender-based analysis would "provide more effective climate change mitigation and adaptation."
Brigitte Luis Guillermo Baptiste, is a Colombian cultural landscape ecologist and an expert on environmental issues and biodiversity in Colombia. She is a member of the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel of the Intergovernmental Science and Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and has been part of the national representation to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. She served as director of the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute from 2011 until 2019. In September 2019, Baptiste became the director of Universidad Ean. She consider that queerness and ecology are linked together.
Juan Fernando Lugris is an Uruguayan diplomat specialized in multilateral negotiations related to the environment, human rights, trade and regional integration, currently serving as the Ambassador of Uruguay to China and Mongolia. Lugris became the first Permanent Representative of Uruguay to UNEP and UN-Habitat and was the Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in charge of developing a legally binding global instrument on mercury known as the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
