Climate Science for Decision-Making
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| Group on Earth Observations, Tokyo, April 2004. |
Overview
The United States is committed to helping developing countries and countries with economies in
transition meet environmental challenges such as climate change. Improved understanding of the science
of climate change is needed to support the complex decisions that must be made by policymakers. Climate
change science is a major component of decision support resources that include “the set of
observations, analyses, interdisciplinary research products, communication mechanisms and operational
services that provide timely and useful information to address questions confronting policymakers,
resource managers, and other users.”(1)
In an effort to increase the resilience to climate variability and change in developing and transition
countries, the U.S. Climate Change Science
Program (CCSP) seeks to foster the scientific capacity in these countries through its goal of
supporting the “development of scientific capabilities and the application of results in
developing countries in order to promote the fullest possible participation by scientists and
scientific institutions in these countries in the [program] research, observational, and data
management efforts.”(1)
USAID’s Approach
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Climate Change (GCC) Program uses climate
change science to inform Agency strategies for addressing climate change in developing and transition
countries, while building the capacity within these countries to contribute to, and make use of,
advances in climate change science. USAID supports international research activities to advance climate
change science, to understand the effects of climate change and variability, and to build local
scientific capacity. For example, the Agency has provided funding for studies to determine the effects
of land use and climate on the biological, physical, and chemical functioning of a region’s
ecosystem. Capacity building efforts include supporting the creation and enhancement of regional
networks of collaborating scientists and institutions in developing countries that collaborate on
environmental change research, assess impacts of and vulnerabilities to climate (or environmental)
changes, and provide information to policymakers.
USAID works to advance the science of climate change by engaging in international climate assessment
activities through the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC).(2) Through the IPCC, GCC Team members
facilitate the development of the IPCC science assessment reports and support informed decision making
through information sharing, training and workshops. The GCC Program serves as an important bridge
between the advances in scientific understanding of climate change mediated by the IPCC process and
USAID’s development work that relates to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
In addition, USAID actively participates in the CCSP and the
U.S. Global Change Research Program.
(3) The Agency plays a key advisory role to both of these programs
in the development and implementation of U.S. climate change science strategies that have implications
for developing and transition countries. USAID supports the fifth goal of the CCSP to explore the uses
and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage the risks and opportunities related to climate
variability and change through funding for the
Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).
FEWS NET strengthens the abilities of African countries and regional organizations to manage the risk
of food insecurity through the provision of timely and analytical early warning and vulnerability
information. FEWS NET collaborates with international, national, and regional partners to provide
timely and rigorous early warning and vulnerability information on emerging or evolving food security
issues. The Agency also participates in the CCSP research-oriented interagency working groups on
communications, earth observations, and international research and cooperation, the latter of which
makes funding recommendations to the CCSP on international climate research and capacity building
programs.
USAID is involved in the efforts of the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) and the
United States Group on Earth
Observations (US GEO) to improve earth observations through the development of a comprehensive,
coordinated, and sustained earth-observing system. Capacity building for the earth-observing system
is leading to increased scientific understanding of climate, climate change, and climate variability.
This effort also helps to ensure that scientific information can be used to improve applications to
benefit society.
USAID also supports long-term research partnerships between U.S. universities, developing-country
research institutions, U.S. agribusiness, and private voluntary organizations through Collaborative
Research Support Programs (CRSPs). Through collaboration among these partners, CRSPs address issues of
agricultural productivity and sustainability, food quality, and natural resources management in programs
that benefit both developing countries and the United States. The research conducted through CRSPs has
climate change implications. Improving soil fertility for agriculture by increasing soil carbon (i.e.,
carbon sequestration) can also reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Recycling
agricultural wastes as biofuels can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and improved agricultural
practices can result in a decrease in the release of greenhouse gases from agricultural lands and
operations.
Given the Agency’s emphasis on partnerships and alliances, USAID has also supported the
Assessments of Impacts and Adaptation to Climate Change (AIACC) project to assess global climate
change impacts and developing-country vulnerabilities to these impacts. This effort strengthens the
ability of developing-country scientists to assess and evaluate potential climate change impacts and
to communicate research results to those who will make long-term development and resource allocation
decisions in developing countries around the world.
Conclusion
CRSPs and the AIACC project are just two examples of the types of activities USAID supports that
improve the understanding of climate change science by policymakers, resource managers, and others.
Scientifically informed policy decisions are essential to sustainable natural resource management and
development, key priorities of the Agency.
Footnotes
(1)Strategic Plan for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program: A Report by the Climate
Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. July 2003. The Climate
Change Science Program, sponsored by 13 federal agencies, integrates federal research on global change
and climate change.
(2)The IPCC was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United
Nations Environment Programme to assess scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information relevant
to the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
It is open to all members of the United Nations and WMO.
(3)The U.S. Global Change Research Program supports research on the interactions of natural
and human-induced changes in the global environment and their implications for society.
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