Progress on the Regional Assessment

This briefing outlines the progress of the Regional Assessment conducted by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). The assessment aims to identify knowledge gaps and uncertainties in decisions impacted by global environmental change (GEC) to better target science and capacity-building efforts for Member Countries.

• The Regional Assessment process involved scoping workshops in August 2021, an information session on 17 February 2022, and a regional survey distributed on 14 March 2022, which was completed by 17 of the 19 IAI Parties. Additionally, four sub-regional listening sessions took place between 12-21 July 2022 focusing on the Andean, Southern Cone, Central America and the Caribbean, and North America sub-regions.
• Preliminary survey results indicate that "climate action" is the primary current national priority for 14 Parties, while "energy security" and "health and human well-being" are the top emergent priorities, cited by 7 Parties each.
• The primary obstacles to using scientific information for GEC decision-making are a lack of cross-sectoral collaboration and a lack of scientific information tailored for non-technical audiences, both cited by 10 Parties. Conversely, the greatest opportunities are funding and international cooperation for GEC, and multilateral commitments such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), also cited by 10 Parties each.
• IAI Parties were grouped into three clusters based on current GEC priorities: one group (Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, and United States) prioritizes climate action, biodiversity, and clean air, water, and soil; a second group (Peru, Panama, Mexico, Jamaica, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Argentina) prioritizes food security, energy security, and climate action; and a third group (Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, and Dominican Republic) prioritizes water security, climate action, and biodiversity.
• Sub-regional listening sessions highlighted specific priorities: the Southern Cone focused on climate action and water security (specifically the Del Plata Basin); the Andean region emphasized biodiversity, ecosystem services, and land-use planning in the Amazon basin; and North America, Central America, and the Caribbean focused on climate action and biodiversity, including issues like illegal fishing.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2022). Progress on the Regional Assessment. https://archive.iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI-EC-54-4-a-i-en.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Progress on the Regional Assessment. 2022. https://archive.iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI-EC-54-4-a-i-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Progress on the Regional Assessment |date=13 October 2022 |url=https://archive.iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI-EC-54-4-a-i-en.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2022progress, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Progress on the Regional Assessment}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://archive.iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI-EC-54-4-a-i-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }