General Objective:

CATHALAC supports countries’ activities towards the sustainable management of their natural resources by providing current, scientifically valid data and information on the past, current, and potential future state of those resources, using the best available assessment and modeling techniques

Specific Objectives:

• Apply both observation and modeling to answer specific questions about natural resources’ historic, current, and potential future state, including availability and utilization;
• Provide scientifically valid information for the public benefit on how sustainably resources are being utilized, with the view to positively impact the management of such resources and by so doing strengthen national capacities;
• Apply techniques of direct observation of resources, taking advantage of the synoptic perspective of Earth Observation Systems where possible;
• Support the international community by increasing the pool of knowledge about Earth Observation Systems through applied research which helps to validate and improve such observations;
• Contribute to the implementation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) by serving as technology and knowledge incubator for Latin America and the Caribbean;
• Support the application of regionally relevant environmental research through North-South and South-South collaboration;
  Apply modeling techniques where appropriate to assess the current state of those resources which cannot be directly observed;

Thematic Areas

Resource Assessment: Environmental modeling and assessment serve as the twin pillars of this program, which is complementary to and synergistic with the other programs of integrated watershed management, climate change adaptation and risk management. The resource assessment approach focuses on assessing the historic, current and potential future states of those resources which can be directly observed. Because of CATHALAC’s regional scope, the institution takes advantage of advances in Earth Observation Systems (EOS) to monitor resources from an objective, extra-national perspective utilizing the best available technologies. The resource assessment approach used by CATHALAC also balances remote observation with intensive field validation. With a historic focus on water resources, CATHALAC, for instance, has pioneered work in assessing the status of the region’s ecosystems upon which hydrological balance depends.

Resource Modeling: As some resources cannot be directly observed in their entirety, CATHALAC has likewise specialized in employing modeling techniques to assess resources. These assessments have themselves not been limited to the current or historic temporal scales, as much of the institution’s resource modeling work has focused on answering “what if” sorts of questions that decision-makers have. These have included modeling of regional weather on an operational basis, and modeling of climate change and its potential impacts on the region’s resources.

Characterization of Resource Utilization: In addition to assessing historic, current and potential states of natural resources, CATHALAC supports sustainable management by providing information on how sustainably resources are being managed, and making concrete, innovative recommendations on how sustainable use can be achieved. A number of CATHALAC’s studies have bridged the research / decision-making gap by using the results of scientific research to propose adjustments to resource management regimes.