Minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC)

The document contains the minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Executive Council (EC), held on June 2-3, 2003, in Boulder, Colorado. The meeting focused on reviewing the IAI's science programs, financial status, and administrative rules, while approving a revised Science Agenda to be forwarded to the Conference of Parties (CoP X).

• The IAI approved a revised Science Agenda consisting of four main themes: Understanding Climate Change and Variability in the Americas; Comparative Studies of Ecosystem, Biodiversity, Land Use and Cover, and Water Resources in the Americas; Understanding Global Change Modulations of the Composition of the Atmosphere, Oceans and Fresh Waters; and Understanding the Human Dimensions and Policy Implications of Global Change, Climate Variability and Land Use.
• The Collaborative Research Network (CRN) program, in its third year, consists of 14 five-year research projects with total funding of approximately 11 million US$. Since 1999, the number of involved scientists grew from 171 to 347, and complementary funds raised by these scientists are estimated at 20 million US$.
• The IAI's core budget for FY 2002/2003 showed expenses of 624,634 US$, which was 142,858 US$ lower than the revised budget of 767,492 US$. The primary drivers of the core budget expenses were salaries (58%), other operational costs (16%), staff travel (12%), and dissemination activities (9%).
• The Executive Council postponed a proposed 8% increase in member country contributions until the following year, following a proposal from Argentina and support from the USA, due to the difficult financial situation of debtor countries.
• The IAI reported significant capacity building achievements from 1995 to 2003, supporting a total of 2,145 students through various programs including the Initial Science Program (ISP), CRN, PESCA, and Summer Institutes.
• The Executive Council approved recommendations to reduce the frequency of IAI meetings, proposing that the Conference of Parties (CoP) meet at least once every two years and the Executive Council (EC) meet at least once each year.
• The IAI Directorate is implementing six major strategies endorsed by the EC-XVI, which include enlarging Collaborative Research Networks (CRNs), prioritizing projects that integrate global change research with sustainable development, and targeting scientifically weak member countries for capacity-building.
• The EC requested the Financial and Administrative Committee (FAC) to study a 'debt swap' proposal from Colombia, which suggests that countries in arrears could cancel outstanding contributions by allocating a portion of the debt to local activities coordinated with the IAI.
• The IAI reported an 'impasse' regarding project CRN-38 due to unacceptable delays in financial reporting and a negative audit of the grantee's administrative management, leading to the suspension of the grantee in October 2002.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2003). Minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC). http://iai.int/pdf/all/2_EC_Minutas_Eng.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC). 2003. http://iai.int/pdf/all/2_EC_Minutas_Eng.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC) |date=25 November 2003 |url=http://iai.int/pdf/all/2_EC_Minutas_Eng.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2003minutes, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Minutes of the Seventeenth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC)}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2003}, month = nov, url = {http://iai.int/pdf/all/2_EC_Minutas_Eng.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }