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| South American Climate Change Center | |
|---|---|
| Name | South American Climate Change Center |
| Formation | 2000s |
| Type | Research institute |
| Headquarters | Brasília |
| Region served | South America |
| Leader title | Director |
South American Climate Change Center is a regional research and policy hub focused on climate change science, adaptation, and mitigation across South America. The center convenes scientists, policymakers, and civil society actors to coordinate research on Amazon Rainforest, Andes Mountains, Patagonia, Atlantic Forest, and coastal zones. It aims to inform decision-making in capitals such as Brasília, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Lima, and Santiago while engaging with international bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Green Climate Fund.
The Center operates as a nexus linking institutions including National Institute for Space Research (Brazil), INPE, CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with multilateral agencies like the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, and Food and Agriculture Organization. Its remit spans interdisciplinary research areas represented by collaborating organizations such as Smithsonian Institution, Natural History Museum, London, European Space Agency, NASA, and NOAA while liaising with regional initiatives like the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization and Union of South American Nations.
The initiative originated from early-21st-century scientific dialogues at forums including the Summit of the Americas, Earth Summit 2002, and meetings convened by Carlos Alvarado Quesada-era environmental teams and climate science networks such as the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. Founding partners included national research councils like CONICET, CNPq, FAPESP, and universities such as Universidad de Chile and Universidad de São Paulo. Its launch was endorsed by political actors from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru and supported by grants from institutions including the European Commission, Gates Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation.
Governance combines a board of directors drawn from ministries in capitals such as Montevideo and Quito, representatives from research bodies like Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, and advisory panels featuring experts from Max Planck Society, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Tyndall Centre. Operational units mirror laboratories and centers of excellence including a climate modeling division interfacing with models from Hadley Centre, IPSL, and CNRM, a biodiversity and ecosystem services unit linked to World Wildlife Fund collaborations, and a policy engagement office coordinating with Mercosur and Andean Community delegations.
Programs include long-term monitoring networks across ecosystems such as the Amazon Rainforest, Pantanal, Páramo, and Valdivian temperate rainforests, remote sensing projects using platforms from Landsat, Sentinel-2, and Aqua (satellite), and paleoclimate studies tying into collections at Smithsonian Institution and Natural History Museum, London. The center runs capacity-building initiatives with universities including Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and operates scenario analysis aligned with reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and tools from the International Panel on Climate Change Data Distribution Centre. It publishes in journals such as Nature Climate Change, Science, PNAS, Climatic Change, and Global Environmental Change.
The Center advises national climate strategies for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia and contributes to nationally determined contributions submitted under the Paris Agreement. It supports regional adaptation planning for coastal cities like Rio de Janeiro, Valparaíso, and Barranquilla and partners with infrastructure agencies in projects financed by the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Engagements include technical briefings for negotiators at Conference of the Parties sessions, testimony to committees in legislatures in Buenos Aires, and joint programs with Mercosur and the Andean Community on transboundary water and forest governance.
The Center maintains formal ties with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, World Meteorological Organization, and regional bodies including the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization and Pan American Health Organization. Academic partners include Universidad de São Paulo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Columbia University. NGO collaborators encompass Conservation International, World Wide Fund for Nature, Greenpeace, and Oxfam International, while private-sector alliances involve firms such as Schneider Electric and Iberdrola on renewable energy deployments.
Funding streams derive from multilateral sources like the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Green Climate Fund, philanthropic foundations including the Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, and national research grants from agencies such as CNPq, FAPESP, and CONICET. In-kind resources come from satellite data shared by NASA, European Space Agency, and computational access via partnerships with CERN-linked high-performance computing centers and university supercomputing facilities at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Barcelona Supercomputing Center.
Critics, including activists aligned with Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra and scholars from Frente Amplio, have questioned ties to private energy firms and potential conflicts involving projects with Iberdrola and Petrobras. Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Amazon Watch have contested certain regional engagement strategies, citing alleged compromises over Amazon Rainforest protection and indigenous rights involving communities represented by organizations like Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin. Academic critiques in journals such as Science and Nature have called for greater transparency in funding disclosure and governance, prompting reforms overseen by boards including representatives from Max Planck Society and Tyndall Centre.
Category:Climate change organizations Category:Research institutes in South America