Future Earth and the IAI agree to strengthen collaboration to accelerate transitions to sustainability

The international research organizations will join forces to generate new solutions around issues that are critical to the Americas, including climate change, biodiversity loss, human health and natural disasters like hurricanes

Montreal, QC – September 7, 2017 – On the margins of the 46th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Future Earth and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), two of the main global change research organizations providing scientific information to climate change and biodiversity assessments, have agreed to strengthen their collaboration on a number of key activities.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marks an important commitment by both organizations to join forces to meet the obligations and demands of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The MoU identifies scientific research, outreach activities and open data initiatives facilitated by Future Earth and IAI that will benefit from this collaborative approach.

Collaboration between Future Earth and the IAI will also enhance capacity building initiatives and facilitate the use of participatory research in the Americas. Such activities empower countries throughout the Americas to respond to regional and international environmental agreements.

“Obviously no organization has all the answers. Given the need to better predict hurricanes of exceptional destructive force such as those currently battering the Caribbean, Mexico and southern United States and the challenges related to health, food and livelihoods throughout the Americas, collaboration between our organizations is timely and needed” said Marcos Regis da Silva, the Executive Director of IAI.

Regis da Silva added that solid scientific evidence is critical to well-informed decision-making. The challenges posed by global change and the need to transition to sustainability are urgent. National and local leaders and the public need to have access to information about the pressures affecting their communities.

These communities also need to be able to consider different options for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of global changes. The partnership between Future Earth and the IAI will provide mechanisms for developing innovative research that is collaboratively designed and produced by scientists, policy-makers and practitioners from different countries and regions. It will also continue to promote collaborative networks throughout and beyond the Americas.

“Finding solutions to the social and economic impacts faced by all countries from problems arising from natural and anthropogenic effects of environmental changes, such as changes to climate, biodiversity and land and sea uses, can only be achieved through strong partnerships and collaboration. These changes or disasters must be turned into opportunities for innovation and new ways of conducting human activities to build sustainability and equity across the Americas and globally. This goal is at the heart of the Future Earth-IAI partnership,” said Anne-Helene Prieur-Richard, Director of the Future Earth Global Hub in Montreal, Canada.