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1,183 documents from Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
Agricultural impact on soil organic carbon content: testing the IPCC carbon accounting method for evaluations at county scale
The study tests the IPCC's carbon accounting methods for soil organic carbon (SOC) in the Argentinean Pampa Region, finding that a developed Tier 2 (T2) method using the RothC model significantly outperforms the Tier 1 (T1) method. While T1 showed poor performance at both sub-region and county scales, the T2 method demonstrated strong accuracy at the sub-region scale (R2 = 0.85) and improved accuracy at the county scale (R2 = 0.73) when excluding the Flooding Pampa region. The T2 method identified the highest average SOC losses in Central Pampa (35%), Southern Pampa – Eastern (28%), and Rolling Pampa (26%).
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Document type: Research paper
Los servicios ecosistémicos en áreas de transformación agropecuaria intensiva
The text emphasizes that because humans extract ecological goods and services without fully realizing their value, formal evaluation is essential for developing conservation policies. It notes that the value of these services is not reflected in market prices, making their estimation critical for assessing the relative vulnerability of various biomes, ecoregions, and ecosystems to current or potential land-use changes.
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Document type: Research paper
Water Management and Biodiversity Conservation Interface in Mexico: A Geographical Analysis
The research analyzes the conflict between groundwater extraction in the Río Cuchujaqui watershed and the conservation goals of the Sierra de Álamos protected area, concluding that institutional mandate conflicts have blocked the creation of a conservation-focused water management program.
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Document type: Research paper
Los acuíferos transfronterizos Santa Cruz y San Pedro en Arizona y Sonora: estado actual y análisis de meta-datos
The text highlights the intense commercial and social dynamics of the Sonora-Arizona border region, noting that current economic and political events are jeopardizing the ongoing binational dialogue. It utilizes structural indicators and observations of social action in neighboring communities to critique cross-border public policies and calls for a permanent debate involving academics, politicians, public officials, businesspeople, and students.
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Document type: Research paper
Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA
The study identifies drought, floods, and frosts as the primary climatic risks for producers in Pima and Cochise Counties, Arizona. While groundwater use remains a critical adaptation strategy despite rising costs, the utility of seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) is limited by low risk tolerance and economic uncertainty. Producers instead rely on past experience and short-range forecasts to hedge against risks, suggesting that access to information is not the primary barrier to improved decision-making.
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Document type: Research paper
Spectroscopic determination of leaf water content using continuous wavelet analysis
The study demonstrates that continuous wavelet analysis of reflectance spectra (350–2500 nm) can more accurately estimate leaf gravimetric water content (GWC) than established spectral indices, particularly by identifying features in the shortwave infrared region related to dry matter absorption.
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Document type: Research paper
Low temperature resistance in saplings and ramets of Polylepis sericea in the Venezuelan Andes
The study examines how Polylepis sericea, a tree species in the Venezuelan Andes, survives high-altitude cold stress. It finds that forest understories provide more stable temperatures than forest gaps or open páramo, and that saplings and ramets exhibit frost avoidance with ice nucleation and injury temperatures between -6 and -8 °C, which limits their distribution to specific less severe habitats.
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Document type: Research paper
Recent trends and ENSO influence on droughts in northern Chile: an application of the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index
The study identifies increasing dryness in the Coquimbo region of Chile, particularly during spring and summer, noting that the frequency and duration of extreme dry events have increased over recent decades.
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Document type: Research paper
Losses of NO and N2O emissions from Venezuelan and other worldwide tropical N-fertilized soils
Research in the Venezuela savanna region found that nitrogen fertilization leads to significant N2O and NO soil fluxes, with average losses of 1.9% and 0.9% respectively. These values were influenced by soil texture, rainfall patterns, soil management (tillage vs. no-tillage), and fertilizer composition. Notably, the average LAN-N2O is approximately double the IPCC default value of 1%, suggesting a need for higher emission factors for tropical savanna cropping systems.
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Document type: Research paper
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
Transboundary Adaptive Management to Reduce Climate Change Vulnerability in the Western U.S.-Mexico Border Region
The research analyzes a decade-long initiative in the Arizona-Sonora border region, demonstrating that transboundary adaptive management is enhanced through binational collaboration, the involvement of multiple institutions, and the creation of accessible information tools for water-resources managers.
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Document type: Research paper
Electricity for groundwater use: constraints and opportunities for adaptive response to climate change
The document analyzes the role of electricity supply as a climate adaptation tool for groundwater pumping, specifically highlighting how low night-time tariffs in Mexico have led to increased pumping and higher emissions, threatening aquifer sustainability and riparian ecosystems.
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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
Recreation potential assessment at large spatial scales: a method based in the ecosystem services approach and landscape metrics
The authors present a method to evaluate outdoor recreation potential using landscape metrics and campsite density, arguing that this approach addresses the challenges of stakeholder perception and spatial scale in ecosystem services (ES) mapping. Applying the method across 15 ecoregions in Argentina, the study found that the influence of landscape determinants varies by region, limiting their generalisation capacity. Specifically, crop area did not negatively impact recreation potential as expected, and forest cover only showed a positive effect in the Pampas ecoregion. The analysis also indicates that unrealised benefits of recreation generally increase with higher population and road density.
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Document type: Research paper
Climate Change and Transboundary Waters: A Study of Discourse in the Mekong River Commission
The study finds that the Mekong River Commission frames climate change policy as science-based and short-term, while expanding its discourse to include justice, security, and development to attract donor support. However, the authors argue that these discursive trends result in the production of studies and project scoping rather than substantive adaptive actions in the basin.
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Document type: Research paper
Dinámicas energéticas e integración regional en el noroeste argentino y el sur boliviano
The document examines the energy dynamics in Northwest Argentina and Southern Bolivia, highlighting the tensions between national regulation, local profit-seeking, and the influence of transnational companies in the exploitation of a shared gas basin, which increases the vulnerability of marginalized border populations.
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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
Caracterización del uso/cobertura del suelo en Uruguay a partir de series temporales de imágenes MODIS
The research developed a land cover map for Uruguay covering 17 million hectares with an overall accuracy of 89.6%. The classification identified four main categories: perennial forage resources (63.6%), forestry and woodland (13.1%), summer crops (14.3%), and double cropping (7.4%). The findings highlight a significant decrease in perennial forage resources in recent years, primarily driven by the expansion of the agricultural frontier.
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Document type: Research paper
Interdependencias energéticas e integración regional en la cuenca del Plata
The document examines the challenges of energy integration in the Plata Basin, noting that while interconnection infrastructure developed in the 1990s increased energy exchanges, these gains were not sustained due to disputes over volumes and regulations. It specifically highlights conflicts between Argentina and Chile, and Bolivia and Brasil, which hindered regional energy complementarity and integration processes.
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Document type: Research paper