Understanding the nature and impacts of climate and environmental change is a research challenge that calls for international scientific collaboration on global and regional scales. In order to help facilitate this cooperation, the International Activities Interagency Working Group (IAIWG) works with USGCRP agency members to promote international and intergovernmental cooperation on global change research, in support of the Global Change Research Act of 1990.

The group works to promote and contribute to international and intergovernmental cooperation in global change research and to encourage the involvement of scientists and decision-makers in interdisciplinary research that addresses the spectrum of global change science, from foundational research and observations to more applied activities that address societal risk management and adaptation needs.

Activities

Global environmental change programs engage the breadth of developed and developing nations towards research, outreach, capacity building, and assessment activities to improve our understanding of the changing earth system. In support of these efforts, the IAIWG currently engages with international organizations and initiatives in a variety of ways, including the following:

• Contributing to the core support of several international organizations such as Future Earth, START, and the World Climate Research Program​;
• Working with regional networks such as the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and the Asia-Pacific Network (APN) for Global Change Research on topics of mutual interest;
• Engaging with the Belmont Forum, an international partnership that catalyzes funding for scientific research in support of resilience and sustainability; and
• Fostering cooperation across international organizations by hosting annual dialogues among these partners and USGCRP agencies.