OUR CHANGING PLANET
The U.S. Climate Change Science Program
for Fiscal Year 2006

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The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for FY 2006

Climate influences the environment, natural resources, the economy, and other aspects of life on Earth. The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) was established in 2002 to empower the Nation and the global community with the science-based knowledge to manage risks and opportunities of change in the climate and related environmental systems. CCSP incorporates and integrates the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) with the Administration’s U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI).

The USGCRP was established by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to enhance understanding of natural and human-induced changes in the Earth’s global environmental system; to monitor, understand, and predict global change; and to provide a sound scientific basis for national and international decisionmaking.

While the Earth has always undergone changes in its climate and environment, the potential importance of human contributions to change on a global scale has emerged comparatively recently. The importance of the issues and the unique role that science can play in informing society’s responses give rise to CCSP’s guiding vision.

The core precept that motivates CCSP is that the best possible scientific knowledge should be the foundation for the information required to manage climate variability and change and related aspects of global change.

Research conducted through CCSP is building on scientific advances of the last few decades and is deepening our understanding of the interplay of natural and human-caused forces. CCSP is developing information to facilitate comparative analysis of different approaches to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. CCSP also promotes capacity development among scientists and information users – both in the developed and the developing world – to address the interactions between climate change, society, and the environment.