Secretary Salazar Launches New North Central Climate Science Center

WASHINGTON, DC—Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the Department of the Interior’s North Central Climate Science Center will be operated by a consortium of universities headed by Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. The center is expected to be up and running in early 2011.

The North Central Climate Center is the fifth of eight planned regional Climate Science Centers—or CSCs—to be established by the Department. With Colorado State University as home base, the center will be led by a consortium of that school and others—University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wyoming, Montana State University, University of Montana, Kansas State University and Iowa State University. 

“The members of the consortium headed by Colorado State University can provide us with great expertise in the major climate-related challenges facing the North Central region--including diminishing water supplies, the spread of invasive species, outbreaks of pests and diseases, changing fire regimes, decreased crop and livestock production, and loss of habitat for critical fish and wildlife species,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “Selected through an open competition, these universities represent the full array of landscapes in the Rocky Mountains, Intermountain West, and Great Plains.”

For example, members of the consortium are engaged in research to understand the effects of pine bark beetle outbreaks on water, forest conditions, and grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park, and are also studying the potential for dust from overgrazed areas to accelerate climate-driven snowpack melting.

Other work of the U.S. Department of the Interior North Central Climate Science Center will include:

• Downscaling of global climate change models linking physical factors with biological, physical and ecological responses.
• Forecasting of the effects of climate change on fish and wildlife populations, habitat, and ecosystem services dynamics--including research as well as tool and data development and distribution.
• Climate adaptation research related to vulnerability assessments, adaptive management development, coping strategies, and risk analysis development.
• Developing innovative decision-support tools for adaptation and mitigation

Secretary Salazar initiated a coordinated climate change strategy in September 2009, with Secretarial Order 3289. The order called for establishing the regional Climate Science Centers as well as a network of “Landscape Conservation Cooperatives” that engage federal agencies, local and state partners, and the public in crafting practical, landscape-level strategies for managing climate change impacts on natural resources. Twenty-one LCCs are planned through FY 2012.

The CSCs will serve as regional “hubs” of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, located at the headquarters of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey. USGS is taking the lead on establishing the CSCs and providing initial staffing. Ultimately, funds and staff from multiple Interior bureaus will be pooled to support these centers and ensure collaborative sharing of research results and data. Together, the CSCs and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives will assess the impacts of climate change that typically extend beyond the borders of any single national wildlife refuge, national park or Bureau of Land Management unit and identify strategies to ensure that resources across landscapes are resilient.

EIGHT REGIONAL CLIMATE SCIENCE CENTERS

The Department of the Interior previously announced: 

• The Alaska Climate Science Center hosted by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in Anchorage.
• The Southeast Climate Science Center hosted by North Carolina State University.
• The Northwest Climate Science Center led by a consortium of three universities--Oregon State University, University of Washington and the University of Idaho.The Southwest Climate Science Center—University of Arizona, Tucson; University of California, Davis; University of California, Los Angeles; Desert Research Institute, Reno; University of Colorado, Boulder ; and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego. In addition to the six host institutions, the CSC also includes the following as partners: Arizona State University; Northern Arizona University; University of California, Merced; University of Nevada, Los Vegas; NASA Ames Research Center, Calif.; and the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, Tucson.

Announced today was:

• The North Central Climate Science Center headed by Colorado State University and including the University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Wyoming, Montana State University, University of Montana, Kansas State University and Iowa State University.

Announcements to come include:

• The Northeast, South Central, and Pacific Islands Climate Science Centers-- Interior intends to invite proposals in the spring of 2011 to host the remaining regional centers.

Obama Administration Officials Release Progress Report on Work of Climate Change Adaptation Task Force

WASHINGTON – A new interagency report released today outlines recommendations to President Obama for how Federal Agency policies and programs can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change.  The report, produced by the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, recommends that the Federal Government implement actions to expand and strengthen the Nation’s capacity to better understand, prepare for, and respond to climate change.  The recommendations include making adaptation a standard part of agency planning and ensuring scientific information about the impacts of climate change is easily accessible.

The Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force is co-chaired by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and includes representatives from more than 20 Federal Agencies.  When the President signed the Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, on October 5, 2009, he called on the Task Force to develop, within one year, Federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts. “Progress Report of the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force,” released today, provides those recommendations, based in part on numerous listening sessions and public outreach events with a wide range of stakeholders.

“While taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the effects of climate change is a priority, we must also prepare for the inevitable effects of climate change.  Adaptation requires thoughtful, preventative actions and investments to build resilience and reduce risk,” said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  “The Federal Government must consider climate impacts in decision making and how it will affect our services, operations and assets throughout the country.”

“This report’s framework for climate adaptation moves science into practice to help the Nation cope with the impacts of climate change,” said Shere Abbott, Associate Director for Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “It makes plain that adaptation, and not just mitigation, is absolutely necessary if we are to avoid the worst consequences of global climate change, and it outlines a course of action that will put that part of our Nation's response on track to succeed.”

“There is a growing and urgent need for society to develop and implement science-based strategies to adapt to climate change,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator.  “Adaptation and resilience will require partnerships and action across all segments of society—the public sector, local to Federal government, the private sector, the nonprofit sector and individuals.  In addition, climate change impacts vary from region to region, so new approaches and preparations tailored to meet the needs and solutions for each region must also be part of our strategy.”

The Federal Government is already taking steps to build adaptive capacity and increase resilience to climate change in the United States and internationally.  In the Progress Report, the Task Force recommends that the Federal Government implement the following actions to expand and strengthen these efforts to help the Nation better understand and prepare for climate change:

·        Make adaptation a standard part of Agency planning to ensure that resources are invested wisely and services and operations remain effective in a changing climate.

·        Ensure scientific information about the impacts of climate change is easily accessible so public and private sector decision-makers can build adaptive capacity into their plans and activities.

·        Align Federal efforts to respond to climate impacts that cut across jurisdictions and missions, such as those that threaten water resources, public health, oceans and coasts, and communities. 

·        Develop a U.S. strategy to support international adaptation that leverages resources across the Federal Government to help developing countries reduce their vulnerability to climate change through programs that are consistent with the core principles and objectives of the President’s new Global Development Policy.

·        Build strong partnerships to support local, state, and tribal decision makers in improving management of places and infrastructure most likely to be affected by climate change. 

The Task Force’s work has been guided by a strategic vision of a resilient, healthy, and prosperous Nation in the face of a changing climate.  To achieve this vision, the Task Force identified a set of guiding principles that public and private decision-makers should consider in designing and implementing adaptation strategies.  They include (but are not limited to) the following:

·        Adopt Integrated Approaches:  Adaptation should be incorporated into core policies, planning, practices, and programs whenever possible.

·        Prioritize the Most Vulnerable:  Adaptation strategies should help people, places, and infrastructure that are most vulnerable to climate impacts and be designed and implemented with meaningful involvement from all parts of society.

·        Use Best-Available Science:  Adaptation should be grounded in the best-available scientific understanding of climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities. 

·        Apply Risk-Management Methods and Tools:  Adaptation planning should incorporate risk-management methods and tools to help identify, assess, and prioritize options to reduce vulnerability to potential environmental, social, and economic implications of climate change.

·        Apply Ecosystem-based Approaches:  Adaptation should, where appropriate, take into account strategies to increase ecosystem resilience and protect critical ecosystem services on which humans depend, to reduce vulnerability of human and natural systems to climate change.

The Task Force will establish, by Spring 2011, a partnership committee composed of local, state, and Tribal representatives to consult with the Federal Government as it begins to implement the recommended actions.  The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, with the advice of the Task Force’s Agency Adaptation workgroup, will develop implementing instructions within 120 days for how agencies should undertake adaptation planning.  Through this planning process, agencies will develop and implement strategic plans that identify how and where adaptation should be incorporated into their programs, policies, and regulations.

The Task Force will continue to meet over the next year as an interagency forum for discussing the Federal Government’s adaptation approach and to support and monitor the implementation of recommended actions in the Progress Report.  It will prepare another report in October 2011 that documents progress toward implementing its recommendations and provides additional recommendations for refining the Federal approach to adaptation, as appropriate.  The full report can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/ceq.