The Institute of the Americas (IOA) partnered with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and UCSD’s School for Global Policy and Strategy to organize virtually the Pacific Climate Forum of the Americas on June 1-3, 2022, in the context of the 9th Summit of the Americas. Through more than 10 sessions and four scientific briefings, we hosted over 30 experts from multiple countries— including Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the United States—who shared their experiences, research, and lessons learned.
The event was convened with the hopes that the exchange of knowledge over the three days will assist policy-makers in crafting and implementing effective climate and environmental policies in the region, responsive to the needs of local coastal communities throughout the Hemisphere.
Our goal was to bring together key policymakers and business/civic leaders from Pacific nations of the Americas to learn from climate and marine scientists and experts, and catalyze discussions on some of the most pressing environmental issues countries bordering the Eastern Pacific Ocean are facing. For this, we also held four pre-forum scientific briefings that provided the opportunity for policymakers in Pacific coastal nations to learn first-hand about innovative research that can help them better prepare to face environmental challenges.
The overarching themes the Forum focused on were water management in the face of climate change; coastal resilience and nature-based solutions; marine protected areas and sustainable fisheries; and, the energy transition and deep decarbonization.
You can download the high-level proceedings report here and you can also watch four video resources we produced as part of the Forum, highlighting the San Diego region’s innovative climate action projects and technologies, here.