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Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat: Assessing and Addressing the Risks
The report finds that human-caused climate change significantly increased the frequency and intensity of extreme heat globally from May 2024 to May 2025. Approximately 4 billion people experienced at least 30 additional days of extreme heat, and 195 countries saw the number of such days at least double compared to a world without climate change. All 67 significant heat events analyzed were influenced by climate change, with some becoming dozens of times more likely. The authors emphasize that while adaptation strategies like City Heat Action Plans are vital, comprehensive mitigation through the phasing out of fossil fuels is the only way to limit future harms.
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Document type: Report
Artículo XI del Acuerdo para la Creación del Instituto Interamericano para la Investigación del Cambio Global: Asociados del Instituto
The document is a formal proposal from Venezuela to the 33rd meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). It argues that the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), established in 1959, possesses the necessary scientific capacity and regional influence to serve as an IAI associate. The proposal highlights IVIC's recent expansion into global change research through new centers for environmental crisis, oceanology, and atmospheric sciences. Specifically, it emphasizes the Climate Change Services System (S2C2-IVIC), which provides predictive models for extreme weather and climate impacts. The document cites S2C2-IVIC's success in predicting a megadrought starting in 2019 that affected the Paraná river basin and the economies of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
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Document type: Briefing
Article XI Associates of the Institute of the Agreement establishing the inter-American institute for Global Change Research
The document is a formal request from Venezuela to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) to grant Associate status to the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). It details IVIC's institutional capacity, including its 18 research centers and the Climate Change Services System (S2C2-IVIC), which provides climate services and predictive models for extreme weather events in South America. The request highlights IVIC's role in predicting the 2019 megadrought in the Paraná River basin and its current work on predicting infectious disease outbreaks linked to climate trends.
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Document type: Statement
Border crossings drop, climate pressures persist
The document argues that while US border crossings have declined due to restrictive policies, climate-driven pressures in the Americas persist. It encourages journalists to link economic migration to slow-onset climate impacts and provides resources for reporting on climate adaptation and displacement.
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Document type: Guide
Article XI of the Agreement Establishing the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research: Associates of the Institute
This briefing, prepared by the permanent representative of Paraguay for the thirty-third meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), proposes that the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) be invited to become an Associate of the Institute. The document outlines the WMO's regional and global roles in climate cooperation and details its existing collaborative activities with the IAI since 2022.
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Document type: Briefing
Climate change increasing pregnancy risks around the world due to extreme heat
Between 2020 and 2024, climate change increased the number of 'pregnancy heat-risk days'—days exceeding the 95th percentile of local temperatures—in every analyzed country. In 90% of countries and 63% of cities, these risk days at least doubled compared to a world without climate change. The most significant increases occurred in developing regions, particularly the Caribbean, where 15 countries saw an average of at least 60 additional risk days annually, representing roughly one-fifth of a typical pregnancy. Beyond heat, the report notes that climate-driven air pollution, flooding, and infrastructure damage further threaten maternal health and birth outcomes.
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Document type: Report
Pronunciamiento del Comité de Océanos, Islas y Regiones Costeras del Instituto Interamericano para la Investigación del cambio global
The IAI Committee on Oceans, Islands and Coastal Regions declares its commitment to establishing a transdisciplinary research and training program aligned with the UN Decade of Ocean Science. The statement emphasizes the 'One Blue Health' approach, the importance of blue carbon ecosystems for 30x30 goals, and the need for innovative financing mechanisms like blue bonds to support Latin America, the Caribbean, and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It advocates for the integration of indigenous and local knowledge and the use of transdisciplinary science to inform ocean governance and climate adaptation.
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Document type: Statement
A COHERENT FRAMEWORK FOR SOVEREIGN DEBT AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: TOWARDS GLOBAL SOUTH DEBTORS’ COALITION
The document analyzes sovereign debt in the Global South as a tool of neocolonial control that perpetuates structural dependencies in food, energy, and manufacturing. It critiques existing G20 restructuring mechanisms for treating debt as a liquidity issue rather than a structural one. Drawing on the failure of the 1980s Cartagena Initiative, the authors advocate for a Global South Debtors’ Coalition to leverage collective bargaining power. This coalition would pursue 'The Bargain of the Century,' proposing that Global South nations use their strategic mineral wealth and market size to secure technology transfers from major powers like China, the US, and the EU. The paper specifically urges South Africa to use its G20 Presidency to advance this framework, linking debt justice to food sovereignty, renewable energy independence, and regional industrial policies.
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Document type: Research paper
People Exposed to Climate Change: December 2024-February 2025
The report finds that human-caused climate change significantly increased extreme heat and health risks globally from December 2024 to February 2025. At least 1.8 billion people experienced temperatures at least twice as likely due to climate change every day of the period, with exposure peaking at 3 billion people on February 28, 2025. Africa was particularly affected, with 293 million people experiencing 30 or more 'risky heat days' added by climate change. The analysis also highlights that 110 out of 220 analyzed countries and 287 out of 940 cities saw the average person experience strong climate influence for at least one-third of the season.
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Document type: Report
Regional Policy Frameworks of Social Solidarity Economy in South America
The paper argues that while civil society presents the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) as a new economic paradigm, regional frameworks under UNASUR and MERCOSUR treat it as a supplement to capitalist economies. This is evidenced by the limited role of SSE in major integration projects and the institutional confinement of SSE to poverty eradication ministries, which prevents the restructuring of the dominant economy and maintains economic centralization.
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Document type: Research paper
Network companies: another way of thinking agriculture: a supply chain management vision in South America
The document examines the emergence of network companies and "Pools de siembra" in South America, which separate the planning and commercialization of agricultural commodities from the actual field production by outsourcing to contractors. It notes that while these farming companies are a point of concern, their actual contribution to agricultural production remains unquantified because they are not defined as a distinct statistical group.
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Document type: Research paper
Land cover change to forest plantations: proximate causes and implications for the landscape in south-central Chile
The study analyzes the expansion of timber plantations, primarily Pinus radiata, in south-central Chile from 1975 to 2007. Using satellite imagery and autologistic regressions, the research finds that plantations grew from 5.5% to 42.4% of the landscape. Early expansion (1975–1990) was strongly linked to forest-suitable soils, steep slopes, proximity to cities, and corporate landholdings. The study highlights that a significant portion of this expansion resulted from clearing secondary native forests, contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss.
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Document type: Research paper
Tree plantation in South America and the water cycle: impacts and emergent opportunities
South American tree plantations are expanding by 5,000 km²/year, causing significant shifts in precipitation partitioning and water yields. In sloped terrains, plantations typically reduce water yields by an average of 40% compared to native vegetation, with the strongest effects seen in drier climates and with eucalypt species. In flat landscapes, plantations can trigger local salinization by switching the water balance from net recharge to net discharge, although they may remediate salinization where native woodlands were replaced by agriculture. In degraded (sub)tropical rolling landscapes, plantations can reduce erosion and stabilize flow, though total water yield is reduced and benefits may be negated by large-scale clear cutting.
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Document type: Research paper
Land cover change effects on the climate of the La Plata Basin
The study uses the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to simulate the impact of basin-wide agricultural expansion in the La Plata River basin. It finds divergent regional climate responses: the northern region experiences decreased temperatures and precipitation due to increased albedo and moisture advection, while the southern region sees increased temperatures and precipitation due to decreased albedo and altered moisture flux convergence. These changes also influence precipitation patterns over the South Atlantic Ocean.
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Document type: Research paper
Observações Ambientais Atmosféricas e de Propriedades da Superfície
The text emphasizes that Brazil's vast size and climatic diversity require detailed observational studies to distinguish between natural variability and long-term climate change. It highlights that interannual variability, driven largely by El Niño and La Niña, can alter seasonal rainfall in the Amazon by a factor of more than four. The author cautions that most precipitation trends in Brazil are linked to interdecadal oscillations—such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO)—rather than global warming. Additionally, the document notes a trend of increasing air temperatures in the tropics of South America since 1948, contrasting with a negative trend in the subtropics since the mid-1990s, and mentions the influence of land-use change and biomass burning on air temperature in the Amazon and Cerrado.
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Document type: Report
Interdisciplinary Knowledge Frameworks for Transboundary River Basins
The report details a 2014 workshop in Buenos Aires that brought together a diverse group of specialists to address hydroenergy and climate change in South America. The event focused on fostering interdisciplinarity and collaboration among stakeholders to improve the governance of transboundary basins, specifically the Uruguay River Basin.
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Document type: Report
Transboundary groundwater governance in the Guarani Aquifer System: reflections from a survey of global and regional experts
The document presents survey results from global and regional experts on the governance of the Guarani Aquifer System. Experts identified gaps in regulation and data, noted that contamination and overdrafting are currently localized, and viewed groundwater as a state-administered public resource. While a formal transboundary agreement is progressing, the findings emphasize the necessity of governance at local and national scales.
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Document type: Research paper
Influence of Central and East ENSO on extreme events of precipitation in South America during austral spring and summer
The research distinguishes between East and Central ENSO types, finding that they produce different precipitation patterns in South America. East El Niño (EEN) is associated with positive precipitation anomalies in southern Brazil, while Central El Niño (CEN) is linked to negative anomalies in eastern Brazil. Generally, anomalies are more extensive and stronger during East ENSO events than Central ones, though southern Brazil in austral spring is an exception. The frequency of extreme precipitation events generally aligns with these seasonal anomalies, though the areas of increased extreme event frequency are often more extensive than those with increased seasonal precipitation.
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Document type: Research paper
The South American water balance: the influence of low-level jets
The study finds that while the Amazon and La Plata basin (LPB) generally act as moisture sinks, the presence of low-level jets (LLJs) shifts the Amazon into a moisture source and significantly increases precipitation in the LPB by 32%. The LLJs are most frequent during winter and around 0000 and 0600 UTC, acting as a crucial modulator for the LPB's water balance.
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Document type: Research paper
Charcoal production in the Argentine Dry Chaco: where, how and who?
The study finds that charcoal production in the Argentine Dry Chaco is dominated by individual or small-scale producers often associated with forest land cover, while larger kiln clusters are linked to cleared land for cultivation. While overall regional production has remained stable for 50 years, there has been a redistribution of activity from wealthier to poorer provinces. The authors conclude that small-scale production by poor rural populations currently provides the only market incentive for forest preservation, though it is characterized by inefficiency and forest degradation.
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Document type: Research paper