What's New: To receive these updates and announcements by email, manage your subscription, or review the mailing list archive, go to the NCSE List User Form. Bush Administration Climate Change Plan Draws Mixed Reviews July 31, 2003 — The Bush Administration has released a Climate Change Science Program Strategic Plan that has drawn mixed reviews from the scientific community.  The plan describes a research strategy for developing improved knowledge of climate change and the potential impacts on our environment and our lives.  It is also designed to develop resources and tools that will "empower policymakers with the knowledge necessary for making informed decisions…"  The plan is designed to provide a common management structure that improves coordination and collaboration among 13 federal agencies that support research on climate and global change.   According to the strategic plan, the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) will seek to answer the following questions:    "How will variability and potential change in climate and related systems affect natural environments and our way of life?"      "How can we use and improve this knowledge to protect the global environment and to provide a better living standard for all?" Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who co-chairs the Committee on Climate Change Science and Technology Integration, described the plan as having "four core approaches that will serve as the backbone to achieving its mission… science, observations, decision support and communications."  He elaborated on this approach, saying:  "By focusing in these specific areas we can focus on moving in new scientific directions, employing new research activities, filling critical data gaps through observations, developing operational tools for decision-makers and managers, and communicating results across communities and across borders." Working within the four core approaches, the strategic plan outlines five overarching scientific goals aimed at addressing key questions and uncertainties: Improve knowledge of the Earth's past and present climate and environment, including its natural variability, and improve understanding of the causes of observed variability and change. Improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth's climate and related systems. Reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth's climate and related systems may change in the future. Understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes. Explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability and change. Some environmentalists were less optimistic about the new plan.  According to Daniel A. Lashof, a senior scientist with the National Resources Defense Council, "The administration wants to call a lot of attention to its research plan, because it wants to distract attention from its failure to have a global warming and pollution reduction plan."  Philip E. Clapp, President of the National Environmental Trust expressed a similar sentiment, saying, "Most climate scientists around the world will see this as fiddling while Rome burns...  This would have been a great research program if it had been announced by the first President Bush 10 years ago."     In preparing the strategic plan, the Climate Change Science Program sought input from a variety of external sources.  A December 2002 workshop brought 1,300 scientists and stakeholders together to review a discussion draft, and interested parties submitted nearly 900 pages of commentary.  The National Research Council also evaluated the draft plan. As reported by NCSE, federal funding for the Climate Change Science Program would remain nearly unchanged at $1.75 billion under the President's budget request for FY 2004 (www.ncseonline.org/Updates/).  The full text of the Strategic Plan for the Climate Change Science Program is available online at www.climatescience.gov.   Amanda Brewster and Craig Schiffries National Council for Science and the Environment 1707 H Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006 Tel: 202-530-5810 E-mail: policy@NCSEonline.org www.NCSEonline.org

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