This grant supports an IAI training program consisting of five Training Institutes and Colloquia on interdisciplinary themes of global environmental change science and its applications. As part of the training institutes, Seed Grants will be provided to successful participants to actively follow-up the training events and integrate the recipients with existing IAI research teams. Participants will be natural and social scientists, policy-makers, environmental practitioners and other stakeholders. Regionally important themes will be addressed: climate & public health, governance, risk, vulnerability and adaptation, water resource management, and research analysis tools including the modeling of complex human/natural systems. Seed grants will provide an opportunity for participants to stay engaged, to build networks and to apply the training provided to real-world issues. The program will strengthen and foster multinational and multidisciplinary collaboration and may also increase the participation of small countries in IAI research programs. These activities will be developed in collaboration with other IAI science programs so that current IAI research enhances the institutes and generates cross-program interactions.
The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) was created by an international agreement concluded among representatives of American States, namely the Agreement Establishing the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, done at Montevideo on May 13, 1992 (the IAI Agreement). The IAI Agreement created an intergovernmental organization for the purposes of coordinating and promoting scientific research related to global change. The Institute has an evolving Scientific Agenda identifying particular areas for research. Full membership in the IAI is limited to States.
The Institute is governed by an annual Conference of the Parties, and by a subsidiary Executive Council (EC). The US Government currently chairs the EC. The IAI possesses the fundamental institutional characteristics of an international organization: it was created by international agreement, is composed of States and is governed by bodies composed of representatives of States.
The US Government participates actively in the IAI. The United States played a leading role in the creation of the IAI, and has been an active participant in the IAI since its creation. Senior US Government officials have served on the Executive Council and held other responsible positions related to IAI activities. Furthermore, the IAI has been listed by the State Department and by the Office of Personnel Management as an international organization within the meaning of the Federal Employees International Organization Service Act, covered by 5 U.S.C. 3343 and 5 U.S.C. 3581.
