Two new IAI alliances with international organizations
The IAI announces a new initiative to promote the integrated management of sargassum
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The IAI will be leading an initiative to develop a project identification form (PIF) under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on “Promoting the Integrated Management of Sargassum: Building Resilient Tourism and Fisheries Sectors through the Conservation of Marine Ecosystems (SARGMARINE).”
The Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) will fund this work. The initiative promotes the integrated management of sargassum in the Caribbean and Latin America, aligning with national strategies and decisions adopted through multilateral environmental agreements.
It results from the IAI Directorate's efforts to meet requests from Parties to develop initiatives and projects related to sargassum. The initiative aims to structure and prepare a PIF document in coordination with CAF, the University of West Indies, the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP) of UNEP, NOAA, and other relevant partners.
The project beneficiary countries have yet to be confirmed, but country representatives will be involved in developing the PIF. The SARGMARINE project is designed within the strategy framework proposed in the UNEPCEP 2021 Sargassum White paper, which identifies a range of possible interventions and management strategies that may be broadly categorized as either adaptation or mitigation.
The expected results include the following:
- Improved planning and response through country-driven monitoring and evaluation initiatives and exposure and vulnerability assessments of sargassum influxes;
- Improved forecasting products tailored to tourism and fisheries sectors that support the establishment of national sargassum early warning systems;
- Informed decision-making and action through the determination of the feasibility of sargassum valorization as a means of alleviating impacts
- Policy recommendations for local governments to promote blue-growth initiatives and foster the development of the blue economy.
The project was highlighted on March 3 at a side event hosted by CAF during the Our Ocean 2023 meeting in Panama City, Panama.
The IAI is grateful for the financial support received from CAF that made this initiative possible.
For more information, please contact Dr. Anna Stewart Ibarra at astewart@dir.iai.int.
Notification:
The IAI and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) sign an MoU to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information in the Americas
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The IAI Directorate and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information in the Americas.
The WMO is the United Nations system´s authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth´s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources.
WMO and IAI share common objectives about pursuing international cooperation and the complete and open exchange of scientific information relevant to global change. They also identify the need to generate scientific information in a transdisciplinary and comprehensive manner that can guide global change mitigation and adaptation efforts and contribute to policy decisions.
The IAI is collaborating with the WMO Regional Office for the Americas to support capacity building and seed grant projects at the nexus of health, climate, and the environment. The IAI and WMO also participated in joint sessions in the framework of the VIII Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean, held 28 Feb – 02 March 2023 in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
Joint activities under this framework may include efforts with the WMO Regional Office for the Americas to support developing and implementing early warning systems in response to the UN Early Warning Systems for All Initiative, which Executive Action Plan (2023-2027) was presented at the UNFCCC twenty-seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) which was held from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The IAI and the WMO also plan to discuss joint capacity-building initiatives to enhance the scientific and technological capacities in the region.
The IAI Directorate hopes that this MoU will provide IAI Parties with greater capacity to meet the following objectives in Article II of the Agreement establishing the IAI:
- Improve the scientific and technical capabilities and research infrastructure of the States of the region by identifying and promoting the development of facilities for the implementation of data management and by the scientific and technical training of professionals;
- Foster standardization, collection, analysis, and exchange of scientific data relevant to global change; and,
- Improve public awareness and provide scientific information to governments for the development of public policy relevant to global change.
The full text of the MoU is available at: