Communications
USGCRP Recent Accomplishments

Communications

Overview

Recent Accomplishments

Near-Term Plans

For long term plans, see Communications chapter of the Strategic Plan for the Climate Change Science Program (2003) posted on CCSP web site.

Additional Past Accomplishments:

Fiscal Year 2007

Fiscal Year 2006

Fiscal Year 2004-5

Listed below are highlights of recent communication activities coordinated at the interagency level (as of 30 June 2008), as reported in the fiscal year 2009 edition of the annual report, Our Changing Planet.

• Published and distributed (in both hardcopy and online) the FY 2008 edition of Our Changing Planet, the program’s annual report to Congress and the President.
  
  
• Produced and distributed an additional six SAP final reports, including a series of briefings and other activities focused on communicating the report findings:
  • SAP 2.2: North American Carbon Budget and Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle (November 2007)
  • SAP 3.3: Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate: Regions of Focus - North America, Hawaii, Caribbean, and U.S. Pacific Islands (June 2008)
  • SAP 4.3: The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity (May 2008)
  • SAP 4.4: Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources (June 2008)
  • SAP 4.5: Effects of Climate Change on Energy Production and Use in the United States (October 2007)
  • SAP 4.7: Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study (March 2008)
  
  
  
• Posted on-line drafts of SAP reports for public comment. All submitted public comments also were posted, along with the authors’ responses.
  
  
• Posted peer review comments on draft SAP reports, along with the authors’ responses.
  
  
• Advisory committees for many of the SAPs convened public meetings to discuss report drafts. All meetings were announced in the Federal Register.
  
  
• Solicited public comment on the summary of CCSP’s Revised Research Plan. Launched in May 2008, this plan updates the CCSP Strategic Plan released in 2003.
  
  
• Facilitated stakeholder participation in the U.S. Government Review of draft documents of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  
  
• Supported the dissemination of the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, including respective working groups’ Summary for Policymakers and the Synthesis Report.
  
  
• Managed and improved CCSP web sites, including web services to facilitate interagency collaboration.
  
  
• Managed the Global Change Research Information Office (GCRIO) as mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990, including a catalog for requesting reports.
  
  
• Managed the Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP) public web site and provided additional services such as development and management of password-protected web sites and publications support.

Another important set of communication activities by CCSP agencies is a continuing series of workshops and conferences that have been instrumental in conveying recent scientific advances. They have also provided an opportunity for CCSP to better understand stakeholder needs, concerns, and recommendations, and have been used to obtain broad input into CCSP’s ongoing strategic planning process, for example:

• Coping with Climate Change: National Summit, 8-10 May 2007, Ann Arbor, Michigan – Funded in part by EPA and NSF, the summit focused on four specific sectors that represent illustrative examples of the social, economic, environmental, and natural resource issues that are vulnerable to climate change: public health, the energy industry, water quality, and fisheries. The summit discussed general models for how different kinds of organizations, within these sectors and more generally, can put into place structures or processes that help them to anticipate and adapt to near and long-term change.
  
  
• Climate Information Users Roundtable, 10 October 2007,Washington, DC –The purpose of the roundtable was for CCSP to gain insights from a range of stakeholders in order to help inform future program directions. Participants were asked to reflect on their expectations for and ideas about CCSP’s role in providing climate information (see here).
  
  
• Climate Information: Responding to User Needs, 22-23 October 2007, College Park, Maryland – Funded in part by CCSP agencies, this event fostered dialog between the providers of climate information and its diverse user community to define specific measures needed to enhance data management, modeling, predictions in making climate-related decisions, and the use of climate observations. Providers learned how climate change affects users from different sectors of society, and what specific products they require. Users heard what other organizations are doing to prepare for climate change impacts and what types of information providers can produce now and in the future.
  
  
• NOAA Data and Information for Climate Change: A Conference for Public and Private Sector Users, 5-6 November 2007, Asheville, North Carolina –This conference focused on identifying recommendations from and requirements of the energy, insurance, and transportation sectors for data and information in a changing climate (see <noaadata.com>). The conference explored the challenges and opportunities that changing climate conditions present for businesses and state and local governments in these sectors; highlighted current scientific understanding of climate change within these sectors; and assessed the energy, insurance, and transportation sectors’ emerging data and information needs to better respond to a changing climate.
  
  
• Climate Change: Science and Solutions. National Council for Science and the Environment, 8th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment, 16-18 January 2008, Washington, DC – Funded in part by seven CCSP agencies, this dialog with leading scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, educators, and other solutions-oriented innovators focused on developing comprehensive strategies for protecting people and the planet from the threat of climate change. A set of recommendations is forthcoming, based upon the discussions in dozens of skill-building workshops, targeted breakout sessions, plenary sessions, and symposia.

Additional Past Accomplishments:

• Fiscal Year 2007
• Fiscal Year 2006
• Fiscal Year 2004-2005