What is IAI?

This briefing describes the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), an international entity established in 1992 to conduct multinational collaborative research on global environmental change in the Americas and provide scientific information to policy-makers.

• The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) has a dual purpose: to increase the understanding of global environmental change and its socioeconomic effects across the Americas, and to supply member country decision-makers with scientific data to create plans for managing these effects.
• The IAI was established on May 13, 1992, in Montevideo, Uruguay, following a request from world leaders at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for a regional approach to global environmental change research.
• The IAI currently consists of 19 member countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
• The IAI Science Agenda is designed to be dynamic and evolve based on new scientific priorities and the needs of the region's policy-making and scientific communities.
• One primary theme of the IAI Science Agenda is 'Understanding Climate Change and Variability in the Americas,' which aims to predict climate change, understand ocean-land-atmosphere interactions, and improve weather and climate predictions. Key topics include El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV), and the American monsoon systems.
• Another core theme is 'Comparative Studies of Ecosystem, Biodiversity, Land Use and Cover, and Water Resources in the Americas,' which focuses on the effects of global change on natural and anthropogenic systems across tropical, temperate, and cold-latitude environments, specifically regarding food security and biodiversity.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (n.d.). What is IAI? https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Brochure_2004_eng.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. What is IAI? n.d. https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Brochure_2004_eng.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=What is IAI? |url=https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Brochure_2004_eng.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearchndwhat, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{What is IAI?}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, url = {https://iai.int/administrador/assets/images/ckfinder/files/IAI_Brochure_2004_eng.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }