Report of the External Review Committee Assessment of the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research

The External Review Committee (ERC) found that the IAI produces high-quality natural science and has successfully built scientific capacity across the Americas. However, it struggles to translate science into policy action, suffers from a narrow funding base heavily dependent on the United States, and lacks a comprehensive communication strategy and long-term strategic plan.

• The IAI's research program is recognized for producing high-quality science, particularly in the natural sciences, with some projects evolving into larger-scale research efforts that sustain themselves beyond IAI funding.
• The Institute has successfully increased the leadership of Latin American scientists in its projects, moving away from an initial dominance by North American principal investigators.
• Capacity building is considered the IAI's most significant regional contribution, having trained hundreds of scientists through workshops and institutes, though the Institute lacks mechanisms to track the long-term impact of these activities.
• The IAI's funding is precarious due to inconsistent voluntary contributions from member states and an overreliance on a few donors, specifically the United States, which provided approximately 87 percent of core operational and research funding from 1996 to 2003.
• The IAI has failed to establish an endowment fund as mandated by its original Charter and lacks a long-range strategic plan, which the ERC warns could cause serious difficulties in the next decade.
• Governance is hindered by irregular attendance of member states at annual Conference of the Parties (CoP) meetings and an underutilized Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) that primarily acts as a project review body rather than a strategic leader.
• There is a significant lack of awareness of the IAI within the science and policy communities, and policymakers have struggled to translate the Institute's scientific results into informed action.
• The IAI's Data and Information System (DIS) is ineffective in serving science and society, characterized by a lack of awareness of its existence and a lack of actual data, containing mostly metadata and web links.
• While research projects have become more interdisciplinary, there remains a deficiency in projects that analyze the reciprocal links between human activities and environmental change.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2007). Report of the External Review Committee Assessment of the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research. http://iai.int/pdf/es/aaas_IAIreport_0607.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Report of the External Review Committee Assessment of the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research. 2007. http://iai.int/pdf/es/aaas_IAIreport_0607.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Report of the External Review Committee Assessment of the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research |date=June 2007 |url=http://iai.int/pdf/es/aaas_IAIreport_0607.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2007report, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Report of the External Review Committee Assessment of the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2007}, month = jun, url = {http://iai.int/pdf/es/aaas_IAIreport_0607.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }