Contact: Dane Konop FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 1996
The traditional fragmented approach to federal research--one that often gave rise to gaps in our understanding--is giving way to a new coordinated, integrated, interagency, multidisciplinary research paradigm under the leadership of the National Science and Technology Council established by President Clinton in 1993.
D. James Baker, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and co-chair of the council's Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, lays out the federal government's new agenda for environmental and natural resource research at a special full day session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Baltimore, Md., Sunday, Feb. 11.
"The National Science and Technology Council has reinvented how research and development are conducted in the United States," according to Baker, "with nine committees, each focusing on a major area of research and development to provide the scientific and technical information needed by policy and decision makers."
The council's Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has defined five critical research themes that could immediately benefit from the committee's combined support:
These issues parallel the Administration's policy of streamlining government and combining resources, in accordance with Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review.
A Natural Environmental Monitoring and Research Program would measure a core set of environmental variables at 50 "index" sites. It would provide for quality control and intercomparability of the data collected with information management systems allowing for easy synthesis and reporting. A pilot project in the Mid-Atlantic region is indicated.
A Natural Disaster Information and Mitigation Program would develop a cross-cutting set of council milestones starting from the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction milestones. It would capitalize on the $5 billion National Weather Service modernization investment. Internationally, it will dovetail with goals backed by bi- and multilateral agreements and initiatives to help other nations.
A Land Cover/Ecosystem Mapping Program would establish an interagency program for measuring and understanding the consequences of land-cover and land-use change both domestically and globally.
The Seasonal to Interannual Climate Change Program has high visibility nationally and internationally. It would focus on improved event predictability, e.g. El Nino/Southern Oscillation, agriculturally focused precipitation and temperature seasonal forecasts.
The last focus is on an Economic and Social Science Research Program, which has implications for all environmental research.