IAI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Report to the Conference of the Parties

The June 2015 report from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) evaluates the progress of interdisciplinary research programs in the Americas. The SAC emphasizes the success of combining natural and social sciences to create policy-relevant solutions but identifies a critical lack of regional data infrastructure to distribute these findings to decision-makers and the public.

• The IAI utilizes a unique interdisciplinary model that integrates natural and social sciences to produce policy-relevant solutions, a method now being studied by other global regions. Examples include project CRN 3035, which uses meteorological data from South America since 1961 for crop yield modelling, and project CRN 3095, which models population vulnerability to the loss of ecosystem services, such as soil salinity and hydrology changes caused by deforestation.
• The SAC identifies a significant regional deficiency in infrastructure for hosting and distributing data and products to the public and decision-makers. Currently, there is no regional service for this purpose, and countries in the region rely on products from US agencies such as NASA and NOAA.
• Based on a review of CRN3 projects, the SAC recommends that future proposals integrate social science and social relevance from the start rather than as an 'add-on' at the end. The committee suggests that training teams of social and natural scientists, alongside policy makers, is necessary to properly design interdisciplinary research programs.
• The SAC is exploring strategic linkages with several international programs to improve science and innovation, including Future Earth, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), IPBES, the Belmont Forum, and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. Specifically, the Ramsar Convention offers opportunities to address the needs of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2015). IAI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Report to the Conference of the Parties. https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-cop-23-sac-report-e.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. IAI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Report to the Conference of the Parties. 2015. https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-cop-23-sac-report-e.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=IAI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Report to the Conference of the Parties |date=June 2015 |url=https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-cop-23-sac-report-e.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2015iai, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{IAI Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Report to the Conference of the Parties}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-cop-23-sac-report-e.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }