Q: Who is the audience for the National Assessment?

A: There are multiple audiences for the Assessment. In general, the Assessment is focused on providing information for various users of information - such as people working in areas sensitive to natural resources (water managers, farmers, ranchers, etc.) and people positioned to implement or make decisions about coping strategies at local, state and federal levels. The regional assessments are primarily for regional audiences; the sectoral assessments and Synthesis are primarily for national audiences. Congress is the primary audience for the Synthesis Report, on behalf of the American people.

Q: What is the relationship between this National Assessment and activities related to implementing the Kyoto Protocol?

A: These are separate activities. The National Assessment is looking at vulnerability and coping strategies ("impacts") while Kyoto-related activities are looking mainly at emissions reductions ("mitigation"), that will reduce long-term climate change. Within the National Assessment process, regional stakeholders have been encouraged to develop "win-win" strategies that simultaneously reduce emissions and enhance the resilience of the particular sector in an effort to be flexible and open to ideas and initiatives that emerge. However, the focus of the National Assessment is not on mitigation.

Q: What is the relationship between this National Assessment and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

A: The National Assessment is being timed to provide input into the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC. The IPCC itself has been developing a regional focus and published a Special Report on Regional Impacts of Climate Change in 1997. However, IPCC regions are much larger than National Assessment regions; in the IPCC Special Report, the United States was merged with Canada in a North American chapter. In the National Assessment, the United States is divided intoabout 20 regions so that more detailed and more useful information can be provided to stakeholders.