Minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC)

The document contains the minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Executive Council (EC), held on November 28-29, 2007, in Arlington, VA, USA. The meeting focused on the IAI's financial status, the results of an external review by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the initiation of a new strategic planning process.

• The IAI External Review Committee, funded by the NSF and presented at the AAAS headquarters, concluded that while the IAI has made "notable achievements in the past 13 years," including high-quality science and building scientific capacity, it has "unrealized opportunities" in translating science into policy-relevant action and coupling natural and social sciences.
• The IAI is initiating a strategic planning process to define its path for the next decade. The Executive Council established a group to write the plan, consisting of representatives from Argentina, Mexico, Panama, the USA, the SAC chair, two SAC members, and the IAI Director, with a target for the final document to be presented at CoP 16.
• As of October 31, 2007, the IAI's collected funds represented 53% of the approved contributions for the 2007/2008 fiscal year. The core budget reserves were estimated to cover 4 months of operations based on an annual budget of $1,015,000, though this would increase to 13.3 months if pending US contributions for 2006/2007 and 2007/2008 were included.
• The IAI is facing operational challenges regarding staff in Brazil, including a situation where the IAI pays nearly 50% of salaries for staff provided by Brazil because existing funding is insufficient for current market rates. Additionally, the IAI was informed that INPE-provided staff would be laid off as of December 31, 2007, pending a new subcontracting process.
• The IAI is working to improve member country engagement, specifically addressing non-payment of core budget contributions in Guatemala and Uruguay. Conversely, Peru has paid a large proportion of its back dues, and Chile has paid arrears and contributions in advance.
• The IAI has planned four training institutes for the 2007-2009 period with a funding proposal of US$ 300,000 submitted to the NSF: Information Management (Panama, Feb 2008), Risk - Adapting to Climate Change (Honduras, May 2008), Managing Semi-arid River Basins (Brazil, Oct 2008), and Cities’ Responses to Climate Change (Chile, March/April 2009).
• The IAI is addressing a lack of a formal data policy, with the 2nd Vice-Chair noting that "integration with other organizations is essential." The IAI may use the data policy developed by the panel on Variability of American Monsoons (VAMOS) as a reference.
• The IAI has sought external funding for the first time, obtaining a grant from the Mc Arthur foundation for an assessment of research and institutional needs regarding climate change effects on Andean Biodiversity, and submitting a proposal for CAD 440,000 to IDRC for a project on land use, hydrology, and climate in the La Plata basin.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2008). Minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC). http://iai.int/pdf/all/iai-ec-25-report-e.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC). 2008. http://iai.int/pdf/all/iai-ec-25-report-e.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC) |date=18 June 2008 |url=http://iai.int/pdf/all/iai-ec-25-report-e.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2008minutes, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Minutes of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the IAI Executive Council (EC)}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2008}, month = jun, url = {http://iai.int/pdf/all/iai-ec-25-report-e.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }