The Development of the U.S. Climate Change Science ProgramVice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. (Retired), Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere, NOAA AdministratorRemarks to the World Climate Change Conference Moscow, Russia September 30, 2003 Good Morning. It is a great pleasure and privilege to be with you today to commence this session of the conference. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today on behalf of Dr. James Mahoney, the Assistant Administrator for NOAA and on behalf of the United States Government. Dr. Mahoney regrets that he is unable to attend and he looks forward to the next opportunity to engage with many of you. I have found his expertise and breadth of knowledge to be invaluable to NOAA’s mission and to the U.S. Government’s approach in meeting its commitment to address climate at the ministerial level.
U.S. Climate Change Science Program
Climate change research is not new to the United States. In 1989, the U.S. Global Change Research Program began as a presidential initiative and was codified by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990. This Act mandates development of a coordinated interagency research program for the United States. The acronym we use to refer to the research program is USGCRP -- that is a large number of letters, but please bear with me -- it gets better.
The USGCRP supports research on the interactions of natural and human-induced changes in the global environment and their implications for society.
Over the years, as the need for global climate change research increased, the United States has responded. In May 2001, the Administration called upon the National Academy of Sciences -- National Research Council to provide an updated evaluation of key questions about climate change science. When the report was released in June 2001, President Bush immediately responded by launching the Climate Change Research Initiative to focus on key elements of climate change noted in the report.
To advance our nation’s commitment to climate change research, President Bush announced the U.S. Climate Change Science Program in February 2002, which incorporated the USGCRP and the Climate Change Research Initiative. So, now we have a new acronym CCSP -- this is an easier one to use since it is much shorter! The President also announced the companion to CCSP, the CCTP, or Climate Change Technology Program. This is the technology piece of the research program, which is focused on the technological challenges associated with climate change.
The concept was to develop a coordinated, cabinet-level management structure to oversee public investments in climate change science and technology. The science side is directed from the Commerce Department -- by Assistant Secretary James Mahoney -- while the technology development side is managed by the Energy Department, but both programs are coordinated with representatives from 13 Federal agencies including Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Transportation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to name a few.
Each program reports through the Interagency Working Group on Climate Change Science and Technology to the cabinet-level committee on Climate Change Science and Technology.
This is really an unprecedented initiative to integrate and to manage research across agency boundaries. As you can imagine, obtaining the involvement of scientists and high-level management from 13 diverse agencies is a daunting task. The U.S. Government is committed to moving forward on addressing the challenges posed by global climate change and variability. Through the leadership of Dr. James Mahoney, and the dedicated work of interagency partners, this process was successful.
Framework for CCSP Operation
There are several guidelines under which the CCSP functions. First, CCSP has developed a goal and question-oriented, comprehensive Strategic Plan. This plan was released on July 24th of this year. To avoid duplication of work, the CCSP is designed to integrate and build upon the efforts of the USGCRP and the Climate Change Research Initiative that was announced by President Bush in 2001. One of the most important guidelines, if not the most important, is ensuring transparent and open standards, which are central to scientific credibility. One way this was done was through active involvement of the scientific community, of interested stakeholders, and of policy makers.
Other principles central to the Plan, and to all of our work in this area, include ensuring policy neutral standards, and conveying the level of confidence, or uncertainty, in research findings. I do realize that this audience has a clear view of the meaning of uncertainty in science. However, the general public does not always have the same understanding. Thus, it was important that the Strategic Plan, and other documents that may follow, explain the uncertainties and convey results to the public in a way that is clear and honest about our findings.
While the guidelines mold the CCSP, the vision sets forth the expectations. The vision states: A nation and the global community empowered with the science-based knowledge to manage the risks and opportunities of change in the climate and related environmental systems.
It follows, then, that the CCSP also has a mission. Its mission has four main pieces: research, observations, decision support, and communication. These are not mutually exclusive areas.
About a year ago, the Climate Change Science Program, led by Dr. James Mahoney, embarked on a monumental effort to develop a comprehensive Strategic Plan for ministerial-level activities in this area. Since then, over 250 career and government scientists have been involved in the development of the Plan to manage the nearly $2 billion that our government spends on climate science.
In July 2002, we commenced a year-long process to develop a 10-year strategic plan for the CCSP. The planning process followed the guidelines that I described for building from existing research, transparency, stakeholder involvement, and communicating the uncertainties.
The first major step in the development process was to complete a draft Strategic Plan. This was an arduous task, especially since we were committed to including such a wide community in its development. The Draft was completed in November 2002 and released to a broad community for review. Individual comments were received via the website into the month of January 2003.
To give you an idea of what transpired during the review period, let’s look at what the workshop entailed. The purpose of the workshop was to have an open review and public comment period about the draft. This workshop drew over 1,300 participants with representation from 47 states and 35 nations. To my knowledge, this is the largest workshop on climate change ever! During the public comment period, over 900 pages of comments were submitted, all of which were reviewed prior to the completion of the strategic plan.
A major component of the review period was the valuable input from the National Academy of Sciences -- National Research Council. The National Research Council formed a special review committee, which also participated in the workshop. The committee reviewed the draft and all comments and published a report in February of 2003 with their comments and recommendations.
All of the National Research Council recommendations, as well as public comments, were included during the development of the final plan. Last month, the National Research Council held another meeting to review the final plan. Their report is scheduled for release at the beginning of 2004.
The final version of the plan comprised 300+ pages, and it is truly a comprehensive document. It contains seven research elements, and other chapters include modeling, decision support, observations, communications and international research and cooperation. The full version of the strategic plan was released with the accompanying 30-page Vision Document. The Vision document is a good-faith attempt to provide the reader with highlights and salient points of the full plan.
Five goals were developed to focus and orient research. The goals range from improved understanding of the causes of climate variability and change, to reducing uncertainty, and ultimately to making a smooth transition from research to operational applications by developing decision support resources. These goals are:
1. Improve the understanding of climate including natural variability and of the causes of observed variability and change
2. Improve quantification of forces bringing about changes in climate and related systems (e.g., combustion of fossil fuels, changes in land cover, GHG and aerosol impacts, etc. alter the composition of the atmosphere and physical and biological properties of the Earth’s surface which result in climatic effects)
3. Develop information and scientific capacity needed to sharpen qualitative and quantitative understanding to reduce uncertainties in projections of the behavior of climate systems
4. Understand the sensitivity and adaptability of natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes
5. Develop decision support processes and products that use knowledge to the best effect, while communicating levels of uncertainty.
In the near-term (within 2 to 4 years), the 13 CCSP agencies will deliver 21 synthesis and assessment products. The products identified span all 5 goals. Efforts in decision support resources, including transition from research to operational applications, and capacity building will receive focused attention from the CCSP.
And, finally, as addressed in Chapter 12 of the Strategic Plan, comprehensive and sustained observations are essential to understanding climate. Improving the global network of Earth observations -- both satellilte and in situ -- has been of particular importance to me since I became NOAA Administrator 2 years ago. Now, with the first-ever ministerial level Earth Observation Summit held last summer, we have taken the first steps toward establishing a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth Observation System, which will serve climate, as well as other important environmental challenges.
In July of this year, the U.S. hosted 34 nations, including the European Commission, and over 20 international organizations at the first Earth Observation Summit. The participating nations adopted a declaration calling for international support for a system of coordinated space-borne, airborne, and in situ observations to help understand and address global environmental, social, and economic concerns. The website for more background and documents can be found at http://www.earthobservationsummit.gov.
One of the key outcomes of this historic meeting was the establishment of an ad hoc intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations, which met for 2 days following the Summit. This group is referred to as the GEO. I have been given the honor to represent the US as one of four co-chairs of this intergovernmental group, along with Japan, the European Commission and South Africa.
The goal of this group is to develop a framework for the 10-year plan for a comprehensive, coordinated system of Earth observations, which will be ready for presentation at the next ministerial, Earth Observation Summit-2, in Tokyo next Spring. The GEO has already begun its work and will meet again in late November in Baveno, Italy at GEO-2. Clearly, the political commitment from the Earth Observation Summit and advances through the work of the GEO will help to improve our collective knowledge about climate.
The United States has managed effectively to pool resources and expertise from several different agencies to put together a well thought-out process to address climate change issues. This program began by building upon what is known from previous assessments in order to avoid duplication of efforts and has devised a plan to deliver products that will ultimately make policy makers and stakeholders more knowledgeable during their decision making processes.
I will conclude here by reiterating the United States’ commitment to the issue of climate change and implementing our comprehensive plan to address core climate change questions. The United States looks forward to drawing from the enormous experience and established record of achievement represented here in this room as we work in partnership on climate research.
Thank you for your time and this outstanding opportunity to share with you some details about the United States’ strong commitment to addressing the global issue of climate change. |
 | |||
|
