The September 9-11, 1997 Mid-Atlantic regional scoping workshop, held at Penn State University, was a first step in assessing how communities might be affected and how their residents might cope with or take advantage of impacts from increased climate variability and change. A large interdisciplinary team of faculty members and students at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) is now using the workshop results to build a Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment (MARA).

The September workshop focused on the Chesapeake Bay Region and the Delaware River Basin. It provided a preliminary overview of: 1) the region's current stresses and issues; 2) how climate change might affect these stresses; 3) information available and research needed to make wise decisions about such impacts; and 4) strategies to cope with negative impacts and take advantage of opportunities created by climate change. Participants represented academia, business and industry, environmental organizations and public interest groups, and state and federal government. Although the invitation process demonstrated the difficulty of engaging stakeholders, participants were enthusiastic about the process described for assessing climate change impacts. The working groups expressed concern about potential water and health impacts and emphasized the need for education and information dissemination. A detailed report is available at http://www.essc.psu.edu

Penn State now has initiated a more formal Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment (MARA). The regional coverage has been expanded to include parts or all of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia. This larger region makes it easier to account for more of the geographic and socioeconomic linkages and diversity within the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) has a wealth of data for this larger region. Penn State's integrated assessment process is designed to be open, with substantial stakeholder involvement and researcher interaction.

A June, 1998 planning meeting at Penn State included researchers from several universities, federal agencies, and other organizations. One objective was to identify inputs that can be used in MARA, including databases, analytical approaches, and existing assessments. In response to this need, Penn State's Water Resources Impacts Group is supporting by providing access to on-line data for water resources, climate, land and agriculture, census, and other socioeconomic data sets for the mid-Atlantic region.

A second objective of the June meeting was to get feedback on the planned assessment approach and process, including setting priorities about which issues to cover and identifying any key gaps in the assessment plan. During the final session of the meeting, participants gave their advice about our approach, about finding available data and assessments, and about locating additional expertise. They stressed the need to establish ground rules for data and methods to be used, keeping in mind the available time frame and the target audience. They emphasized the need to prioritize and subdivide, and to select focal issues or areas that are amenable to case study analysis yet have the potential for demonstrating an integrated approach (even if it cannot be a fully integrated assessment for the first round). They urged involvement of stakeholders early and often, including those at the local level. Stakeholder interest may be stimulated by connecting climate change to what people care about locally, such as extreme weather conditions, and by using water as the main integrating factor. They recommended a matrix approach, perhaps similar to that used in the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment. This would be helpful for identifying interesting case studies and important research gaps, as well as serving as the basis for a report-card summary of results. The meeting agenda, panelist's overheads, and summaries of each panel--with specific information about the Mid-Atlantic Region--are available on http://www.cira.psu.edu/mara/.

A companion to the June meeting is being planned for September, 1998, with a focus on stakeholder involvement. Regional stakeholders will be selected from a list that currently has about 900 names. About 25 participants will be asked to help identify regional issues and case studies that might be particularly relevant. Many of them will be part of a larger set of correspondents who provide feedback on the approaches used and interim results. Perhaps most important, they will be involved in designing and disseminating information about the MARA process and results.

For more information about, or involvement in, MARA, contact:

Ann Fisher, Penn State University, 107 Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802; (814) 865-3143; fisherann@psu.edu