Building Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Collaboratively
Climate change is threatening water resource sustainability in communities around the globe. GCTW is committed to building climate knowledge with partnering regions to effectively adapt to climate change impacts and build capacity for resilience.
GCTW’s Collaborative Vision
Climate change poses an existential threat to freshwater resource sustainability in communities around the world. The Global Center for Climate Change and Transboundary Waters (GCTW) is an international research institute committed to leading innovative research to understand and generate resilience to water crises in global transboundary regions. GCTW researchers are at the forefront of advancing crucial water management solutions that support life, economies, and ecosystems.
GCTW unites ways of knowing including Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Indigenous Knowledge (IK), and western science (WS) through interdisciplinary partnerships among Indigenous First Nations and western research institutions. The Global Center holds a distinguished leadership team with extensive expertise in community engagement, climate change analysis, ecosystem monitoring and modeling, and transboundary water governance. Complemented by a multinational advisory board comprising diverse transboundary organizations, this team makes notable contributions to regional and global knowledge and practice at the intersection of science, policy, and community. GCTW represents a collaborative, multi-institutional effort that includes the University of Michigan, McMaster University, Cornell University, Toronto Metropolitan University, College of Menominee Nation, the Six Nations of the Grand River, Brock University, Wilfrid Laurier University, Red Lake Nation Department of Natural Resources, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
GCTW is comprised of 5 founding nations
The United States of America, Menominee Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River, Red Lake Nation, and Canada
GCTW’s Research Vision
The Center’s research addresses regional needs for water resource management and supports community and ecosystem sustainability. By establishing adaptive management frameworks, GCTW helps communities address gaps in the governance of regional transboundary water systems characterized by diverse political structures and stakeholder groups. GCTW uses collaborative scientific methods such as model development and water quality predictions to better understand and foster community resilience, with the North American Great Lakes serving as an initial focus point.
Through the consideration of TEK, IK, and western science, GCTW enhances community resilience across three core themes:
1) Development of reliable predictions of future hydrologic conditions in response to climate change
2) Co-production of research that complements Indigenous knowledge using water quality monitoring and modeling frameworks
3) Capacity-building for governance and management systems that incorporate the input of marginalized communities to increase disaster resilience across multiple scales
These three themes have inspired the creation of the Center’s three core research clusters.
International Support for GCTW
Currently centered along North American geopolitical boundaries, GCTW engages communities around the globe. The Center’s objective is to continually broaden its reach to connect with transboundary communities in some of the planet’s most climate-impacted regions.
Support for GCTW comes from a funding collaboration between the National Science Foundation (U.S.) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada). Combined, they form a new branch of the National Science Foundation’s Global Centers Initiative that supports interdisciplinary work to better understand climate impacts on global transboundary waterways. This funding supports GCTW research and engagement and provides critical resources for at-risk communities.
