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See also press release (date 27 April 2005)

Announcement, Invitation, and Call for Contributed Presentations

Posted: 28 April 2005

U.S. Climate Change Science Program Workshop: Climate Science in Support of Decision Making

November 14-16, 2005
Crystal Gateway Marriott
1700 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202

Sponsored by the 13 agencies comprising the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

The Workshop

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is holding a workshop on November 14-16, 2005, in the Washington, DC, area—addressing the capability of climate science to inform decision making. The workshop will serve as a forum to address the Program’s progress and future plans regarding its three decision support approaches:

1. Prepare scientific syntheses and assessments on key climate science issues.
2. Develop and illustrate adaptive management and planning capabilities.
3. Develop and evaluate methods to support climate change policymaking.

The workshop will include discussion of decision-maker needs for scientific information on climate variability and change, as well as expected outcomes of CCSP’s research and assessment activities that are necessary for sound resource management, adaptive planning, and policy formulation.

Who Should Attend?

• Members of the research community interested in exchanging ideas on climate research, observations, and information tools that would be most useful for climate-related planning and decision making.
• Decision makers, including resource managers and policy developers, interested in exchanging ideas with the climate science community on the types of information most useful for their decision-making needs.
• Representatives of international organizations and countries interested in sharing experiences or learning from U.S. activities related to the application of climate information.
• Individuals who wish to provide input to the evolution of the Program’s activities over time.

Background

The Climate Change Science Program—sponsored by 13 participating departments and agencies of the U.S. Government— coordinates and integrates scientific research on changes in climate and related systems. The CCSP Strategic Plan emphasizes the application of knowledge from CCSP to develop, improve, and disseminate products for use in decision making related to climate variability and change. Many CCSP programs and activities address these needs—for example, the use of observations and seasonal-to- interannual climate forecasts in the management of natural resources, or application of scientific knowledge in integrated assessments of global change. The CCSP Strategic Plan calls for the development of 21 Synthesis and Assessment (S&A) products that provide current evaluations of climate science issues, complementing other international assessments such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To maximize the effectiveness of all CCSP products, it is vital that these products account for the science information needs of their users. The workshop will be an opportunity for scientists and user communities to discuss future application and development of climate science, recognizing the multiple ways in which climate information will be utilized to address societal and scientific challenges. A description and status of the CCSP S&A products can be found at www.climatescience.gov.

Workshop Sessions

The workshop will include both plenary and breakout sessions. The plenary sessions will include presentations by leading figures from the international scientific community and the government, NGO, and private sectors. The breakout sessions will foster interactions among those involved in producing CCSP decision support resources, and representatives of the scientific, resource management, policy development, and other stakeholder communities. The sessions will address topics of significant general interest (e.g., water resources) and will be designed to focus on the following issues:

• Information needs of decision makers and other stakeholders
• Advances in climate change science, observations, and related data management systems
• Applications and uses of the scientific information, including the relationship of scientific uncertainties to decision support
• Suggested priorities for future research in view of information needs and science potential, and the prospects for reducing uncertainties.

Workshop Objectives and Presentation Questions?

James R. Mahoney, Ph.D.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
&
Director, Climate Change Science Program
workshop@climatescience.gov