IAI and STRI: A Strategic Partnership for Science and Sustainability

The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have taken their partnership a step further with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on February 11, 2025, in Panama. With this act, Directors Josh Tewksbury (STRI) and Anna Stewart Ibarra (IAI) formally marked STRI’s joining the IAI as an Associate. 

As part of this alliance, a STeP fellow position will be opened this year to support the Tropical Eastern Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) initiative. Also, STRI staff and research associates are actively engaged in transdisciplinary research through the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action “Tropical Forests: Global Implications and Urgent Actions” (FORESTS 2024), in partnership with the G20.  

FORESTS 2024 aims to coordinate multilateral actions and projects with a transdisciplinary approach, promoting innovative local solutions to the challenges facing tropical forest regions.  

Through these collaborations, the IAI and STRI reaffirm their commitment to scientific research and international cooperation in addressing global change challenges in the region. 

To learn more about STRI visit: https://stri.si.edu