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- By Rick Piltz, USGCRP
Since its establishment a decade ago, the U.S. Global Change Research
Program (USGCRP) has supported a comprehensive program of scientific
research on the multiple issues presented by climatic and other changes
in the Earth system. USGCRP-supported research has produced substantial
increases in knowledge, predictive understanding, and documented evidence
of global environmental change, including major scientific advances
in the understanding of stratospheric ozone depletion, the El Niño-Southern
Oscillation phenomenon, global climate change, tropical deforestation,
and other issues. These interlinked problems of global environmental
change present long-term challenges at the local and regional scales
as well.
The President's Budget for FY 2000 includes $1.8 billion for the USGCRP,
a 6 percent increase above the FY 1999 level. Of the total USGCRP budget,
54 percent supports Space-Based Observation Programs while 46 percent
supports Scientific Research. The $829 million request for Scientific
Research is an 11 percent increase above the FY 1999 level. Enactment
of this USGCRP-related funding in participating Federal agencies is
subject to a complex series of steps in the Congressional appropriations
process, which is now underway in its early stages for FY 2000.
In its FY 2000 program implementation plan and budget, the USGCRP is
organized as a series of closely linked Program Elements. These include:
1. Understanding the Earth's Climate System
2. Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems
3. Composition and Chemistry of the Atmosphere
4. Paleoenvironment and Paleoclimate
5. Human Dimensions of Global Change
6. The Global Water Cycle
7. Carbon Cycle Science
The USGCRP is establishing a Carbon Cycle Science Initiative with significant
new investments proposed in the FY 2000 budget. This effort will provide
critical scientific information on the fate of carbon dioxide in the
environment, the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide on continental
and regional scales, and how sinks might change naturally over time
or be enhanced by agricultural or forestry practices.
Assessments and their related research play an integrative role across
the USGCRP programmatic areas, and are increasingly seen as an important
vehicle for disseminating information to public policy and decision-making
communities. In addition to the ongoing National Assessment, the USGCRP
facilitates U.S. scientific participation in international assessments
such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
and coordinates the U.S. Government's scientific and technical review
of IPCC reports.
This year's USGCRP annual report, Our Changing Planet: The FY 2000 U.S.
Global Change Research Program, describes the program, highlights key
research accomplishments in 1998, outlines a perspective for global
change research in the decade ahead, presents an implementation plan
for the program in FY 2000 with a discussion of each of the Program
Elements, and provides a detailed view of the FY 2000 USGCRP budget.
To obtain a free copy of the report, contact the Global Change Research
Information Office at 914-365-8930, or e-mail help@gcrio.org.
The report will also be available on the web sites http://www.usgcrp.gov/
and http://www.gcrio.org/.
For more information, contact:- Rick Piltz,
US Climate Change Science Program / US Global
Change Research Program, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington,
DC 20006. Email: rpiltz@usgcrp.gov.
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National
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