See Also: Seeking Nominations.  The National Research Council's Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate is seeking nominations for an ad hoc committee to identify lessons learned from past global change assessments and to guide future global change assessment activities of the CCSP. All nominations are due by Tuesday, July 12, 2005. (posted 28 June 2005)

CONTACT:
Kent Laborde
202-482-5757

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2005

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies announced today an agreement to establish a new NRC committee to provide independent advice on the implementation of CCSP’s strategic plan.  CCSP is the federal interagency group responsible for integrating approximately $2 billion in annual climate research expenditures sponsored by 13 separate agencies.

The new NRC committee will address numerous topics, but will focus over the next three years on gauging CCSP’s progress toward accomplishing its stated goals, evaluating its strategy to implement research directives, identifying which programs require greater emphasis, and evaluating CCSP’s production of decision support materials as outlined in the program's strategic plan.

“This is a testament to CCSP’s commitment to conducting climate science in an open and transparent forum,” said Dr. James Mahoney, CCSP director and assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. “We have relied on the NRC for advice and guidance throughout the process of organizing CCSP and developing its strategic plan. We will now receive similar support as we go forward to meet our goals and implement our plan.”

With this agreement, NRC will have a broad expert group in place to provide continuous advice about CCSP activities, as well as timely response to specific issues as requested by CCSP.   Under the agreement, NRC will provide overall program advice to CCSP, carry out a comparative study of relevant previous global change assessments conducted around the world, and provide broad expertise in areas central to CCSP’s core responsibilities.

"External, independent review is a hallmark of good science, not only because it provides a check on the soundness of research plans and findings, but also because it increases the public's confidence in the science," said Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the National Research Council.   "We look forward to providing such independent review to CCSP."

The NRC will also help facilitate an ongoing dialog between CCSP and its core scientific and decision support constituencies. This will assure that the CCSP plans and progress are well communicated, and that CCSP program management is constantly aware of emerging scientific ideas and decision support methodologies.

CCSP will host a workshop to address the program’s progress and focus its future course in providing sound science for policy makers. The workshop “Climate Science in Support of Decision Making” will be Nov. 14 – 16 in Arlington, Va., and will focus on three specific decision support goals: (1) preparing scientific synthesis and assessment products on key climate issues, (2) developing and illustrating adaptive management and planning capabilities, and (3) developing and evaluating methods to support climate change policymaking.

CCSP is the U.S. government organization that coordinates and integrates scientific research on changes in climate and related systems. CCSP is composed of 13 federal scientific agencies and integrates the planning and budgeting of federal climate and global change activities. CCSP was formed by the Bush Administration to accelerate research that would reduce uncertainties surrounding climate change, and incorporates the congressionally mandated U.S. Global Change Research Program. CCSP retains USGCRP responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Global Change Research Act of 1990, including its provisions for annual reporting of findings and short-term plans, periodic assessments, scientific reviews by the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, and periodic publication of a 10-year strategic plan for the program. More information on CCSP and the upcoming workshop is available at www.climatescience.gov.