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4
Other Issues
~ Other Issues Require Particular Attention in the Implementation
of the Program?
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION IN
GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH
The ability of the USGCRP to secure data that are available or must be
acquired elsewhere in the world, to conduct the process research, to build
the analytical models needed to meet its goals, and to meet the demands
that the program wm place on human and financial resources will require a
truly international effort. The International Geosphere-Biosphere Program
organized under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific
Unions (ICSU) and the World Climate Research Program organized under
ICSU and the World Meteorological Organization are the international
counterparts of-the USGCRP, and they share the same objectives as the
USGCRP. Coordination between USGCRP activities and internationally-
organized programs of research should be strengthened. Collaboration with
other countries should be encouraged as well, on a bilateral or multinational
basis. (See Chapter 5 for a discussion of the need for an internationally
coordinated observational strategy.)
In many coutries, national research activities that parallel those of the
USGCRP are now under way. In others, research programs that deal with
global change are currently very limited. It is obviously necessary for the
~5
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success of the U.S. program that such national activities be encouraged and
helped, where needed, either bilaterally or through sharing of international
program expenses. In particular, we recommend that cooperation with
developing countries in global change research be strengthened to ensure
their involvement and that plans for doing so be developed by agencies
involved in the program.
These international endeavors are not included as explicit elements of
the FY 1991 program. The degree to which each element of the USGCRP
contributes to or benefits from related international, multinational, or
bilateral efforts should be made more explicit in future descriptions of
program elements and in future budgets for the program. U.S. support
for international efforts, including the appropriate share of this nation in
support of program and project offices and necessary interational travel of
involved U.S. scientists are investments in the goals of the USGCRP and
should be made an explicit element of annual budgets for the program.
AVAILABILITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES
The availability of sufficient human resources to carry out the program
may well prove the most important determinant of the success or failure of
the USGCRP. Plans for the USGCRP recognize the vital need to provide
opportunities for recruiting and educating students who will become the
next generation of research scientists and technicians needed to sustain the
program. In many areas of science the USGCRP will require substantially
larger research communities than those that currently exist. Examples are
found in the fields of global ecology, hydrology, biogeochemistIy, and in
other areas of interaction that link conventional academic disciplines, and
in the emerging area of human interactions. We can assume that increased,
sustained levels of funding in these and other areas will attract an increasing
number of scientists. Innovative programs to encourage specific careers in
both disciplinary and interdisciplinary specialties will also be required.
Increased attention will have to be paid to education and to the rates at
which these communities can grow.
As noted above, a first step toward this end can be taken by entraining
the academic research community in the program, through agency programs
of extramural research support.
DEFINITION OF "CONTRIBUTING" PROGRAMS
The FY 1991 program plan and earlier documents of the CEES divide
the USGCRP into "focused" (e.g., those programs whose goals are regarded
by the CEES as central to the USGCRP) and "contributing" (e.g., those
programs that CEES regards as supportive of the goals of the USGCRP
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but that were initiated for other reasons) elements. Funds for "focused"
programs are included within the overall USGCRP budget, while funds for
"contributing" projects are not.
The "focused" elements do not attempt to provide the entirety of the
research that will be required to meet the aims and goals of the program.
Vital "contributing" programs and additional complementary activities con-
ducted through other federal programs for example, the program of op-
erational meteorological satellites within NOAA must also be sustained if
the program is to succeed. It follows that any critical review of the overall
program must be guided by a more explicit identification of "contributing"
programs, and a distinction between "focused" and "contributing" elements
that is consistent across participating agencies.
PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The panel makes the following recommendations regarding three issues
that should receive particular attention in future plans for the USGCRP:
(1) international collaboration between programs within the USGCRP and
programs within existing international research programs on global change
should be strengthened and explicitly defined; in addition, bilateral and
multilateral research endeavors on global change should be vigourously
pursued, particularly with developing countries; (2) innovative plans to
encourage careers in global change research should be undertaken to
develop the human resources necessary to carry out the program; as a first
step, support for academic research on global change is needed to attract
students to choose careers in this area; and (3) "contributing" programs
essential to the success of the USGCRP should be more clearly defined
and distinctions between "focused" and "contributing" programs should be
made consistent across the contributing agencies.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
change research
