The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) was created by the Agreement Establishing the Inter American Institute for Global Change Research, done at Montevideo on May 13, 1992. The IAI was created to coordinate and promote scientific research related to global change in the Americas. The Institute has an evolving Scientific Agenda identifying particular areas for research. The US has played a leading role in the creation of the IAI and has been an active participant in the IAI since its creation. The IAI proposes to carry out a plan of research according to a Science Agenda that has been defined by the scientific community of the Americas in a series of meetings held over the last five years, and has been agreed upon by the member States. The Scientific Agenda is complementary to the research priorities of the US Global Change Research Program. The IAI will supervise fourteen research teams that in total sum ninety-eight separate research institutions that will carry out Collaborative research on Scientific Agenda items. The fourteen teams are led by the following institutions, and will carry out the following projects: 1. Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada (Mexico): An Eastern Pacific Consortium for Research on Global Change in Coastal and Oceanic Regions 2. Escuela Politecnica del Litoral (Ecuador): Multi Objective Study of Climate Variability for Impact Mitigation in the Trade Convergence Climate Complex Region 3. Florida International University (USA): Andean Amazon Rivers Analysis and Management (AARAM) Project 4. Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (Brazil): Diagnostics and Prediction of Climate Variability and Human Health Impacts in the Tropical Americas 5. Scripps Institute of Oceanography/University of California at San Diego (USA): Enhanced Ultraviolet-B Radiation in Natural Ecosystems as an Added Perturbation Due to Ozone Development 6. The Network for Social Studies on Disaster Prevention in Latin America (Peru): ENSO Disaster Risk Management in Latin America: A Proposal for the Consolidation of a Regional Network for Comparative Research, Information and Training from a Social Perspective 7. Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (Mexico): Climate Variability and its Impacts in the Mexican, Central American and Caribbean Regions 8. Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina): Development of a Collaborative Research Network for the Study of Regional Climate Variability and Changes, their Prediction and Impact in the MERCOSUR Area 9. Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina): The Effects of Biodiversity on Ecosystem Functioning: A Comparison Across the Americas 10. Universidad de los Andes (Venezuela): Comparative Studies of Global Change Effects on the Vegetation of Two Tropical Ecosystems: the High Mountain and the Seasonal Savanna 11. Universidade do Sao Paulo (Brazil): An International Consortium for the Study of Global and Climate Changes in the Western South Atlantic 12. University of Florida (USA): Cattle, Land Use and Deforestation in the Amazon: A Comparative Study 13. University of Saskatchewan (Canada): Biogeochemical Cycles Under Land Use Change in the Semiarid Americas 14. University of Western Ontario (Canada): The Assessment of Present, Past and Future Climate Variability in the Americas from Treeline Environments The teams were selected on the basis of submitted proposals evaluated for technical merit using a peer-review system. Twelve of these teams have US scientists involved as co-Investigators, and all have US scientists indirectly involved as affiliated researchers. Results from this research will be available to the US scientific community, as a condition of US funding, through an electronic data and information system connected to the Internet. The IAI receives additional support for its activities from the other Parties to the Agreement Establishing the IAI: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. This additional support takes the form of direct contributions to the IAI Budget, in-kind contributions, or in-kind contribution pledges made at the time of proposal submission in the form of investigator salaries, ship-time, computer time, logistical support, etc.
