Results of the Scoping Workshop for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call on Climate, Environment and Health II (CEH2): Latin America and the Caribbean 2022

This report synthesizes the results of a scoping workshop held in August 2021 by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and the Belmont Forum. The workshop gathered over 150 researchers and government officials from 35 countries to identify research, capacity building, and partnership priorities at the nexus of climate, environment, and health (CEH) in Latin America and the Caribbean to inform the CEH2 Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call.

• Data limitations are the primary obstacle to using information for decision-making in the climate, environment, and health (CEH) nexus. The most significant issues include a lack of publicly available real-time and historical data, difficulties accessing existing data, and a lack of standardization in data types, spatial resolution, and temporal scales, which hinders regional comparisons.
• Knowledge production is hindered by a lack of solutions-oriented and actionable research, often because academic and funding incentives prioritize scientific publications over policy influence. There is a noted oversimplification of the relationships between climate and health, and a lack of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.
• Engagement and collaborative frameworks are weakened by siloed government operations, a lack of political will, and a failure to integrate environmental health into health system agendas. Furthermore, funding cycles (typically 5 years) are often too short to build the necessary long-term relationships between policy and community partners.
• There is a significant gap in the involvement of end users and marginalized groups in the research process. Indigenous peoples and local communities are not intentionally involved, and research is frequently designed without the input of the decision-makers who would eventually use the findings.
• Training and education needs center on the necessity for practitioners and researchers to develop transdisciplinary skills. Specifically, there is a need for health practitioners to address climate-related issues, for environment professionals to address health issues, and for researchers to improve their risk communication and media dissemination skills.
• Opportunities to improve the CEH community of practice include the adoption of open-source solutions, the creation of open data platforms to increase transparency, and the use of multilateral governance tools like the Global Framework for Climate Services. Quantifying the costs of inaction on public health was also identified as a way to counteract pushback from decision-makers.
• The core partners for CEH initiatives are identified as researchers, academics, and civil society, including Indigenous groups and vulnerable populations. Other key involved partners include health and environment ministries, meteorological agencies, and NGOs, while the media was noted as a potential partner for knowledge translation.

APA

I, T., A, W., A, G., S, G., & A, S.-I. (2022). Results of the Scoping Workshop for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call on Climate, Environment and Health II (CEH2): Latin America and the Caribbean 2022. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CEH-Scoping-Workshop-EXEC-Summary-Synthesis_IAI_2022-final.pdf

Chicago

I, Torres, Watson A, Grossman A, Ganapati S, and Stewart-Ibarra A. Results of the Scoping Workshop for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call on Climate, Environment and Health II (CEH2): Latin America and the Caribbean 2022. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, 2022. https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CEH-Scoping-Workshop-EXEC-Summary-Synthesis_IAI_2022-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=I |first1=Torres |last2=A |first2=Watson |last3=A |first3=Grossman |last4=S |first4=Ganapati |last5=A |first5=Stewart-Ibarra |title=Results of the Scoping Workshop for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call on Climate, Environment and Health II (CEH2): Latin America and the Caribbean 2022 |publisher=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |date=2022 |url=https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CEH-Scoping-Workshop-EXEC-Summary-Synthesis_IAI_2022-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{i2022results, author = {I, Torres and A, Watson and A, Grossman and S, Ganapati and A, Stewart-Ibarra}, title = {{Results of the Scoping Workshop for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) call on Climate, Environment and Health II (CEH2): Latin America and the Caribbean 2022}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2022}, url = {https://iai.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CEH-Scoping-Workshop-EXEC-Summary-Synthesis_IAI_2022-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }