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The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Quarterly Status Report, dated May 11, 2010, details the institute's financial standing for the 2009/2010 fiscal year, highlighting significant challenges in collecting member country contributions and a critical lack of core budget reserves.

The minutes of the 27th Meeting of the Executive Council (EC) of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), held on May 18, 2009, in Bogotá, Colombia, detail administrative, financial, and strategic decisions intended for submission to the Conference of the Parties (CoP). Key outcomes include the approval of the 2009-2010 operating budget, recommendations for the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), and proposed amendments to the EC and CoP regulations to optimize meeting schedules and costs.

This fact sheet describes a project to reduce agricultural production risks for soybean farmers in Eastern Paraguay and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, by implementing a climate-based decision support system (DSS) that utilizes seasonal forecasts and crop growth models.

This fact sheet describes the SACC project, an international consortium studying ocean-related global and climate changes in South America, with a specific focus on the exchange processes between the deep ocean and the Patagonian shelf.

This fact sheet describes a research project initiated at the end of 2008 to investigate how expanding agriculture and forestry, and the resulting land use and cover changes, impact the regional hydroclimate of the La Plata Basin and interact with climate change.

The DIVERSUS Collaborative Research Network is developing an interdisciplinary framework to analyze how land cover change (LCC) affects functional biodiversity, ecosystem properties, and the resulting ecosystem services that support human livelihoods across diverse environments from the tropics to the tundra.

This fact sheet describes a research project focused on the Rio de la Plata Basin, examining the drivers and consequences of land use change, specifically the trade-offs between food and biofuel production and the maintenance of ecosystem services.

The project examines hydrological cycles in the American cordillera, specifically in North America and basins in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Initial results include a 700-year tree-ring reconstruction showing severe 14th-century droughts in the high Andes that led to social conflict and village abandonment. In Chile, a slight decline in streamflow over the last century is noted, with significant rainfall drops in 1945 linked to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Additionally, drought risk in the southern Andes was higher between 1920 and 2002 than between 1346 and 1919, threatening agriculture and hydroelectric power.

This fact sheet describes a study analyzing transition zones (ecotones) between forest and non-forest sites across one Canadian and four South American locations to understand how climate change and human intervention drive ecosystem displacements.

This report analyzes the opportunities and barriers for clean energy, specifically Non-Conventional Renewable Energies (NCRE), in Chile's electricity sector. It examines the current energy matrix, regulatory frameworks, investment trends, and the impact of climate change policies, identifying a transition from a fossil-fuel-dependent system toward a more diversified one supported by legal quotas and financial incentives.

The report details the second year of project CRN-2094, which investigates how land cover and land use changes (LCLUC) affect the hydroclimate and extreme weather events in the La Plata Basin. Key activities include the development of a Land Data Assimilation System, the use of Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs) to improve regional climate models, and the implementation of agricultural monitoring tools in Paraguay.

The 2010 IAI Strategic Plan outlines the mission of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) to enhance the understanding of global environmental change in the Americas. The document emphasizes a transition from curiosity-driven to needs-driven science, focusing on the integration of natural and social sciences to support informed policy-making and regional adaptation and mitigation efforts.

This fact sheet describes the oceanographic mechanisms of upwelling in the Patagonian shelf of the Southwestern Atlantic. It explains how deep ocean currents, rather than wind, drive the ascent of nutrient-rich waters to the surface, supporting significant biological productivity, large-scale fisheries, and carbon sequestration.

This 2010 report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development examines the challenges and opportunities for energy security and integration in South America, focusing on the pivotal role of Brazil. The author argues that while the region possesses vast energy resources, national regulations and a lack of multilateral frameworks create insecurity and underutilization of low-cost resources. The report proposes a Multilateral Energy Security Reserve (RMSE) treaty to stabilize supply and suggests that Brazil's market size and leadership in renewables make it the ideal coordinator for a secure, competitive regional energy market.

This 2010 report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development analyzes the causes of energy insecurity in Argentina, focusing on the long-term impacts of 1990s privatization and macroeconomic reforms. It details how a shift toward private investment and a reliance on natural gas for electricity generation created a precarious supply system, exacerbated by the strategies of multinational corporations like Repsol-YPF and the failure of regional gas agreements.

This research paper examines how national governments can engage the private sector to support climate change adaptation. It argues that private sector participation depends on a strong business case for long-term resiliency and suggests that governments must identify specific business sectors and align public and private interests to promote the public good while discouraging activities that harm vulnerable populations.

This report, written by an IISD consultant, evaluates the 'Istanbul version' of the OECD's Checklist for Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure released in March 2009. While acknowledging improvements over previous versions, the author argues that the checklist remains of limited operational value for practitioners due to internal contradictions, a failure to address systemic risks of international investment arbitration, and an over-reliance on outdated theoretical models regarding decentralization and regulation.

The document analyzes the second Africa South America summit held on 27-28 September 2009 on Margarita Island, Venezuela, focusing on efforts to strengthen South-South co-operation as a counterweight to Northern influence and the ideological divisions among participating nations.

This research paper evaluates the 'price-gap approach' for measuring fossil fuel subsidies, arguing that while it provides a useful global benchmark, it systematically understates the total magnitude of government support by ignoring transfers that do not affect end-user prices.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) delivered opening remarks at the 18th Session of the SCCR in June 2009, advocating for a new international instrument on copyright exceptions and limitations to improve access for the disabled, libraries, and education.