U.S. Climate Change Science Program Making Good Progress In Documenting And Understanding Changes, But Study Of Impacts On Humans And Communication With Decision Makers Lag
Source: U.S. Climate Change Science Program

Climate change research directed by the federal government has made good progress in documenting and understanding temperature trends and related environmental changes on a global scale, says a new report from the National Research Council. The ability to predict future climate changes also has improved, but efforts to understand the impact of such changes on society and analyze mitigation and adaptation strategies are still relatively immature, added the committee that wrote the report. Moreover, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), which oversees federal research in this area, has made inadequate progress in supporting decision making, studying regional impacts, and communicating with a wider group of stakeholders.
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Adjustments will have to be made in the balance between basic science and applications if CCSP is to achieve its vision of producing information that can be used to formulate strategies for preventing, mitigating, and adapting to the effects of climate change, the committee stated. It did not offer recommendations for how to sustain and improve the program’s basic science while strengthening its applications, but this will be among the subjects considered in a follow-up report that the committee expects to issue early next year.

The report was requested by CCSP’s former director, who asked the Research Council to develop a process for evaluating the program and to conduct a preliminary assessment of its progress. The committee’s report is the first review of CCSP’s progress since the program was established in 2002.

Read for free online (National Academies Press).

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