The National Assessment Overview and Foundation Reports were produced  by the National Assessment Synthesis Team, an advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and were not subjected to OSTP's Information Quality Act Guidelines. The National Assessment was forwarded to the President and Congress in November 2000 for their consideration.

Why a National Assessment?

To Prepare the Nation for Future Change: To assure that the United States is prepared for future change, the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) initiated a national assessment on the potential consequences of climate variability and change for the nation. The national assessment process analyzed and evaluated what was known about the potential consequences of climate variability and change for the nation, in the context of other pressures on the public, the environment, and the nation's resources.

Responsive to Congressional Needs: The USGCRP is mandated by statute with the responsibility to undertake scientific assessments of the potential consequences of global change for the United States in the "Global Change Research Act of 1990" (P.L. 101-606), which states the federal interagency committee for global change research of the National Science and Technology Council "shall prepare and submit to the President and the Congress an assessment which --

• integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the Program and discusses the scientific uncertainties associated with such findings;
• analyzes the effects of global change on the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity; and
• analyzes current trends in global change, both human-inducted and natural, and projects major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years."

Providing Input Into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: The national assessment was timed to provide input in the Third Assessment Report of the UNEP/WMO Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was working to integrate more regional detail into its analyses.

Involving Stakeholders from a Broad Spectrum of Society: The national assessment process involved a broad spectrum of stakeholders from state, local, tribal, and Federal governments; business; labor; academia; non-profit organizations; and the general public.

Linking Scientists and Stakeholders: The assessment linked research by scientists to specific needs of the stakeholders; and provided planners, managers, organizations, and the public with the information needed to increase resilience to climate variability and cope with climate change.

Scientific Excellence Combined with an Open and Participatory Approach: The national assessment was founded on the principles of scientific excellence and openness, and was integrative and iterative.

Overview

To help prepare the nation for climate variability and change, the USGCRP, in cooperation with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), engaged in a comprehensive planning effort to implement a national assessment process. These efforts began in early 1997 with a series of regional workshops, and  included a National Forum, intensive sessions of team leaders and advisory bodies, and extensive discussions among federal agencies, the science community, stakeholder communities, and the interagency committee for global change research. These efforts contributed to the development of a comprehensive plan for the National Assessment to involve 20 regions, 5 sectors, and a synthesis, all led by teams of scientists, managers, and other stakeholders who were committed to understanding the nation's vulnerabilities and to identifying the most rewarding ways of responding to future change.

The assessment process was founded on the principles of scientific excellence and openness; was designed to be comprehensive, integrative, and iterative; linked research by scientists to specific needs of the stakeholders; and provided planners, managers, organizations, and the public with the information needed to increase resilience to climate variability and cope with climate change. The process culminated in publication of the Synthesis Report, as well as the regional and sectoral volumes.

Elements of the National Assessment

The National Assessment has was designed with a multi-pronged approach involving regions, sectors, and an overall synthesis. These different elements provided perspectives from multiple scales and for different audiences.

• Regional Assessments: 20 regional assessments focused on the issues of most importance at the regional level across the United States. Each began with a scoping workshop involving an average of 100 regional participants in a dialogue about perspectives and priorities related to global change for that part of the country. Each workshop was followed by a minimum of three activities: (1) quantitative analysis of 2-3 key issues; (2) continuous engagement of regional stakeholders; and (3) publication of a report in a common format. Many regional assessments went beyond this scope in holding additional meetings, or publishing multiple products for different audiences.
• Sectoral Assessments: Sectoral assessments  focused on issues that were national in scope and related to the goods and services on which people, society, and the economy depend. The first phase of the assessment focused on five sectors: agriculture, water, human health, forest, and coastal areas and marine resources. However, the regional assessments provided coverage (although not necessarily national) of many additional sectors and issues.
• National Synthesis: A Synthesis Team produced an Overview & a Foundation Report that integrated key findings from the regional and sectoral assessments and addressed overarching questions related to implications over the next 25 and 100 years.