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- Sound environmental and economic policies require a solid scientific
and technical foundation
- Environment and natural resources R&D should be policy relevant, not
policy driven, and must be broad enough to catch, and respond, to surprises
- The research should be anticipatory, not just focused on the policy
and management issues of today
- A systems approach to environmental issues requires the complete integration
of the social and natural sciences
1. Environmental Vision and Overall Strategy
A guiding vision of the Clinton/Gore Administration is to protect the
environment for present and future generations by employing policies and
approaches that enable development to proceed in a sustainable manner,
while preserving ecological integrity and diversity, protecting human
health and safety, and enhancing the quality and quantity of food, fiber,
energy and water supplies.
The coupling of a sustainable economy with a sustainable environment
is a central theme of Clinton/Gore policies, which can be expressed through
the following principles: (i) long-term economic growth that creates good
jobs and protects the environment; (ii) world leadership in basic science,
mathematics and engineering; (iii) continued progress toward implementation
of the goals of U.S. environmental statutes; and (iv) sustainable use
of ecological systems.
Sustainable development, which is the basis of a sustainable economy,
improves the quality of human life, while at the same time living within
the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. This requires a new kind
of development, where scientific and technical knowledge, coupled with
a political will to change, sets society on a new course away from unsustainable
resource use, unwise technological practices, and continued population
growth. Indeed, environmental degradation, depletion of natural resources,
and associated stresses on societies are likely to be major national security
issues of the 21st century forcing changes in policies and practices nationally
and internationally.
The agencies of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources will
facilitate the realization of this vision of sustainable development by
developing a balanced, comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated multidisciplinary
environmental and natural resources R&D policy-relevant program that provides
the scientific and technical information needed for national and international
policy formulation and implementation. This will require understanding:
- the state of the natural system including its extreme events, and
its susceptibility to change by human activities;
- the socioeconomic dimensions of environmental changes;
- the human health consequences of environmental degradation;
- the vulnerability of ecological systems and the goods and services
they provide; and
- the development of technologies and strategies to mitigate change,
to adapt to change, and to restore damaged ecological systems, in response
to human-induced stresses on the system.
Therefore, there is a need to develop an interdisciplinary environmental
research strategy that:
- coordinates the currently fragmented agency programs;
- addresses the various environmental issues in an integrated fashion;
- is responsive to regulatory time frames and needs, but is also anticipatory
and supports long-range priority-setting and problem solving;
- builds broad and credible integrated assessments involving all stakeholders;
- invests in the future human-resource and technical research capabilities;
- strengthens extramural academic research programs, within the limits
of existing legislation;
- encourages external peer-review of all R & D programs, where guidelines
do not already exist;
- encourages international cooperation and engagement to leverage U.S.
resources and provide access to research sites worldwide; and
- facilitates innovative technologies and institutional adjustments
that will allow us to move away from the control, restoration and remediation
of pollution, to pollution prevention by embracing the tenets of industrial
ecology and efficient use of resources.
This research strategy will result in the most efficient utilization
of scarce R&D resources, and will provide the scientific and technical
information needed to maximize the cost-effectiveness of environmental
protection, management and restoration, and set us on a course of sustainable
development where the societal costs of, and need for, clean-up will be
drastically reduced.
The range of environmental issues is diverse and encompasses local,
regional and global issues such as pesticides and toxic substances, hazardous
and solid waste disposal, water quality and quantity, urban and rural
air pollution, resource use and management, loss of wetlands, soil erosion,
degradation of aquatic and terrestrial ecological systems, desertification,
deforestation, marine pollution, natural disasters, loss of biological
diversity, stratospheric ozone depletion, and climate change.
Specifically the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources will
provide the scientific and technical information needed to support the
development and implementation of :
- Administration Initiatives and Priorities, including:
- a cleaner environment, by providing the scientific and technical
information needed to continue to refine environmental and economic
policies;
- healthy safer Americans, by improving our understanding of the human
health implications of environmental changes and the societal vulnerabilities
to natural hazards;
- a strong economy, through the continued development of cost-effective
pollution prevention technologies, and a reduction of market and government
inefficiencies that prevent the diffusion of technologies and efficient
use of legal, economic and environmental resources;
- national security, by providing the information needed to reduce
destabilizing environmental degradation and resource depletion that
leads to conflict, environmental refugees, and further ecological
damage resulting from war; and
- improved education and training of Americans through environmental
education curriculum development and strengthening environmental continuing
education initiatives, utilizing such mechanisms as government-private
sector partnerships.
- Environmental Statutes including:
- Clean Water Act;
- Safe Drinking Water Act;
- Clean Air Act;
- Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act;
- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act;
- Toxic Substances Control Act;
- Coastal Zone Management Act;
- Endangered Species Act;
- Magnuson Fisheries Act;
- Resource Conservation Planning Act;
- Forest Land Management Planning Act;
- Renewable Natural Resources Planning Act;
- Disaster Relief Act;
- Marine Plastics Pollution Research and Control Act;
- Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act;
- Ocean Dumping Ban Act;
- Shore Protection Act;
- National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act;
- Energy Policy Act;
- Global Climate Change Protection Act;
- Global Change Research Act;
- Oil Pollution Act;
- National Environmental Policy Act;
- Weather Service Modernization Act.
- Regional and Global Agreements and Conventions, including:
- Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution and its associated
amendments;
- Vienna Convention to Protect the Ozone Layer and its associated
Montreal protocol;
- Framework Convention on Climate Change;
- Convention on Biological Diversity;
- International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction;
- London Dumping Convention;
- International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships;
- Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal;
- Global Forestry Agreement;
- Agenda 21 (follow-on activities such as the U.N. Council on Sustainable
Development);
- North American Free Trade Agreement;
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
The environment and natural resources R&D program will build upon three
important priorities of the Administration: (i) world leadership in basic
science, mathematics and engineering; (ii) the National Information Infrastructure
(NII) initiative; and (iii) the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit
the Environment (GLOBE) initiative:
- the U.S. scientific community must meet the challenge of world leadership
in basic science, mathematics and engineering if we are to obtain the
scientific and technical information needed to realize the vision of
sustainable development. This will challenge the best and brightest
scientists in academia, industry, national laboratories and other government
institutions in the U.S. and worldwide;
- the NII initiative will be an critical tool in filling the "information
gap", a prerequisite for realizing the vision of sustainable development.
The NII initiative views information as an empowerment tool that can
assist our pursuit of sustainable development by diffusing useful information
to citizens, businesses, and research institutions. Utilization of the
NII will also help us achieve greater research efficiencies through
the efficient distribution of information;
- the GLOBE initiative will provide a significant opportunity for environmental
education world-wide at the school level. This initiative, which will
itself build upon the NII, will be embedded within a more comprehensive
effort at environmental education for K-12, undergraduates, post-graduates,
and the workforce.
2. Overall Environmental Policy Issues and Summary of Research
Areas Needing Additional Emphasis
Policy Issues
The over-arching policy question is how to ensure the compatibility
of long-term economic growth while protecting the environment and quality
of life. For each environmental issue, the policy questions are similar:
- What are the natural and anthropogenic drivers of environmental change?
- When, where, and by how much and at what rates, will the environment
change as a result of human activities?
- How will natural and human systems be affected by environmental change,
including extreme events?
- What are the present and prospective technical options and policy
responses for mitigation and restoration of, and adaptation to, environmental
changes?
- What are the institutional and economic barriers to implementing available
options, and what will be the costs and benefits of implementation?
Research Areas Needing Additional Emphasis
This section summarizes critcal research that is currently not being
conducted or that is funded at insufficient levels. These areas have been
derived by synthesizing the research needs from each of the individual
environmental issues and cross-cutting issues, which are described in
more detail in section 3 of this report.
An improved understanding of the environmental issues requires a long-term
commitment to a balanced research program of systematic observations (monitoring),
data and information systems, process studies, and predictions. However,
if the federal environment and natural resources research program is to
provide the scientific information needed by decision-makers for policy
formulation there are a number of research areas that need to be augmented
in the near term. The areas most in need of augmentation are: (i) the
scientific basis for integrated ecosystem management; (ii) the socio-economic
dimensions of environmental change; (iii) science policy tools; (iv) observations,
and information and data management; and (v) environmental technologies.
Supporting these high priority areas will require a combination of: (i)
additional funding for some strategic areas of environment and natural
resource R&D; (ii) redirection of resources from lower priority areas
of research; and (iii) redirection of resources by eliminating redundancy
among different agency programs.
Scientific Basis for Integrated Ecosystem Management:
We must develop the knowledge required for an integrated ecosystem approach
that can evaluate the vulnerability, better manage the use, and restore
the function and integrity of ecosystems in a changing world, by utilizing
a multidisciplinary approach that examines the physical and biotic interactions
among the land, water, air and human activities at sea and landscape levels.
Specifically, there is a need for an improved understanding of:
- the natural and human forces (including changes in land- use, atmospheric
composition, and climate) driving the loss of biodiversity at all levels
(genes to ecosystems) and the degradation (structure and function) of
ecosystems;
- the value of biodiversity and ecosystems in utilitarian (goods and
services) and intrinsic terms;
- how to maintain biodiversity and manage ecosystems (agriculture, fisheries,
forestry, and parks) in a sustainable way in a changing global environment
(including consideration of economic and social activities and institutions).
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- assessing the vulnerability of food, fiber and renewable energy production,
water resources, and ecosystems to simultaneous changes in atmospheric
composition, aquatic quality and quantity, temperature, precipitation,
nutrient status, and land use, including the responses and interactions
with humans;
- developing the knowledge and tools required to sustainably manage
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems;
- initiating a limited number of pilot studies of research and observations
to support interdisciplinary, integrated approaches for adaptive management
and restoration of unhealthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Socio-Economic Dimensions of Environmental Change:
We must develop an improved scientific understanding of the relationship
between humans and their environment, including the design of policy instruments
and the selection of environmental goals. This information will assist
in:
- improving predictions of changes in the environment;
- decision making in the face of scientific uncertainty;
- developing policy alternatives that will mitigate anthropogenic effects
on the environment;
- developing policy alternatives that will facilitate adaptation to
environmental changes;
- assessing the impacts (on the economy, on the environment, on living
standards, and on particular groups within our society) of adopting,
or failing to adopt, ameliorative policies;
- enhancing our understanding of individual perceptions of, and responses
to, environmental risks, and how meaningful participation in addressing
those risks can be supported.
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- understand the societal drivers of environmental changes, including
the analyses of the environmental impacts of various patterns and growth
of population, economic growth, and international trade;
- to promote policy analysis, including the design, comparison, and
ex post evaluation of the effectiveness of policy alternatives to prevent,
ameliorate, or manage environmental problems;
- to promote the analysis of environmental goals, encompassing the concepts
of distributive justice, procedural fairness, community participation,
and economic well-being; and
- to promote the analysis of the barriers to the diffusion of environmentally
beneficial technologies.
Science Policy Tools: to improve the links between the physical,
biological, social and economic sciences, and environmental policy:
There is a need to improve the links among the physical, biological,
social and economic sciences, and environmental policy. Specifically there
is a need to further develop and utilize tools such as:
- integrated assessments, ensuring, for instance, that feedbacks between
human behavior and environmental change are appropriately taken into
account. These assessments can be used to analyze the value of various
kinds of information, enabling the prioritization of policy relevant
research;
- risk assessments, with increased emphasis on non-cancer human health
end-points and ecological endpoints, as well as exposure assessment;
- those needed to value information and facilitate policy development
under conditions of scientific uncertainty.
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- development of integrated assessments for different geographic and
temporal scales depending on the environmental problem;
- risk assessment methodologies to a wide range of environmental applications
including, natural hazards, toxic chemicals, and development of resources
on federal lands;
- improved exposure assessments and hazard characterization (exposure-dose-relationships),
evaluation of the variability of the susceptibility within populations,
effects on vulnerable populations, and the impact of cumulative exposures.
Observations, and Information and Data Management:
We must significantly improve our collection and dissemination of data
and information by developing an evolutionary and cooperative international
environmental monitoring and information system, using civilian and dual-use
technologies. This will support the identification of trends, advancement
of scientific understanding, and the development of prediction systems,
but will require the successful implementation of an international policy
for securing open and stable exchange of environmental data and information.
A multi-step strategy is proposed:
- inventorying, collecting and assessing existing data sets for a range
of environment and natural resources issues;
- increased use of existing "operational" monitoring systems, by making
minor modifications, thus enhancing the value of ongoing observations;
- improve existing monitoring systems and data bases to develop enhanced
observational capabilities;
- improved data collection, data base management, and information systems
building upon the evolutionary concepts of initiatives such as EosDiS
and the NII, and consistent with the terms and conditions of the executive
order on a National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) coordinated through
the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). Initial implementation
of this strategy will involve pilot projects that address high priority
areas that are in need of greater attention. Priorities will be determined
on the likely contribution to prediction capabilities and relevance
to policy needs.
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- air quality monitoring, particularly of urban and regional ozone;
- development of land/ecosystem-use change maps, with emphasis on utilizing
Landsat data;
- development of natural resource information (ecological and related
socio-economic) needed for vulnerability studies and integrated ecosystem
management;
- determination of the status and trends of biodiversity;
- geologic, geochemical, and geophysical maps at scales commensurate
with delineation of energy and mineral resources.
Environmental Technologies:
We must develop environmental technologies that enable sustainable development,
and accelerate their diffusion into the marketplace through partnerships
with industry, state government, academia and non-governmental organizations.
The challenge is facilitate the evolution from pollution control and waste
management to pollution prevention and resource conservation, while continuing
an aggressive program to clean up and remediate environmental hazards.
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- elimination of hazardous wastes;
- improved environmental technologies information infrastructure; and
- developing more environmentally benign:
- manufacturing and industrial maintenance processes;
- personal and shared transportation;
- alternative materials; and
- energy.
3. Visions, Policy Objectives, Policy Questions, and Research
Areas Needing Additional Emphasis for Each of the Environmental and Cross-Cutting
Issues
This section summarizes the environmental vision, the policy context,
key policy questions, and research areas needing additional emphasis for
each of the environmental issues. In each case the research programs will
be designed to provide the scientific information needed to answer the
policy questions. In addition to the discussion of the environmental issues,
there is a discussion of the goals and research priorities for each of
the cross-cutting issues.
A. Global Change Research
Environmental Vision
To protect the global environment for present and future generations
by employing policies and approaches that enable development to proceed
in a sustainable manner while preserving human health, and the diversity
and vitality of managed and unmanaged ecological systems.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research supports the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the
Vienna Convention to Protect the Ozone Layer and its associated protocols,
and UNCED's Agenda 21. Further, the research supports the U.S. Climate
Change Action Plan and such activities as the "Beyond 2000 Climate Change
Task Force" effort. Finally, the research is guided by the U.S. Global
Change Research Act of 1990.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- What are the fundamental causes of global changes?
- When, where, how much, and at what rates will the environment change
because of human activities?
- How will natural and human systems respond, and be affected by change?
- What are the present and prospective technical options and policy
responses for mitigation and/or adaptation?
- What are the institutional and economic barriers to implementing available
options, and what will be the costs and benefits of implementation?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
Global change research is designed to observe and document change, to
improve estimates of human and natural emissions, to understand chemical,
physical and biological processes and feedbacks, to predict changes using
integrated Earth system models, to determine ecosystem vulnerabilities,
to support the development of policies analysis tools, and to conduct
integrated assessments of the consequences of and options for dealing
with global change. FY 96 priorities build on this base and on the assumption
that the FY 95 high priorities on terrestrial ecology, coupled Earth system
modeling, international field programs, socio-economic dimensions, and
the development of integrated assessment tools will be implemented and
continue to receive priority treatment in FY 96. The three highest priority
research areas for the FY 96 budget are:
- Comprehensive Research on System Vulnerabilities: Develop a program
to evaluate the vulnerability of food, fiber, renewable energy production,
water resources, ecosystems and socio-economic systems to short-term
climatic fluctuations such as the El-Nino Southern Oscillation, and
simultaneous changes in atmospheric composition, aquatic quantity and
quality, temperature, precipitation, nutrient status and land use, including
the responses and interactions with humans?
- An Observing/Monitoring and Analysis Capability to Detect Global Change:
Develop and commit to a long-term international observation (in-situ
and remotely-sensed data), monitoring, and prediction program that detects
global change. Develop plans in FY 95, and implement an effort in FY
96, to integrate and preserve observations that will address such topics
as land cover and use, impacts of global change on ecological systems,
UV radiation, and ocean and climate data sets.
- Improvements in Research Infrastructure: Investigate new modes of
support for scientific personnel involved in multidisciplinary global
change research, infrastructure to support modeling activities, and
improvements in institutional arrangements implementing research on
global change.
B. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics
Environmental Vision
To ensure the sustainability of the ecological systems and processes
that support life on Earth and provide the goods and services necessary
for human life, opportunity, and well being. This includes minimizing
the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems as well as the
restoration of ecosystems, where appropriate.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research supports the Convention on Biological Diversity; UNCED's
Agenda 21; the Endangered Species Act; Natural Environmental Policy Act;
Clean Water Act; Clean Air Act; the Pollution Prevention Act; and the
White House ecosystem management initiative.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- What is the value of biodiversity and ecosystems in utilitarian (goods
and services) and intrinsic terms?
- What are the major human and natural forces driving loss of biodiversity
and degradation of ecosystem function, and what can be done to mitigate/adapt
to these changes?
- How can biodiversity and ecosystems be managed in a sustainable way
in a changing global environment (including consideration of economic
and social activities and institutions)?
- How can U.S. R&D programs most effectively contribute to conserving
the large majority of the Earth's biodiversity, which is in other countries?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- Develop the National Partnership for Biological Survey to:
- Assess and understand the status and trends of biodiversity and
improve organization of and access to natural resource information
(e.g., world ecosystem mapping developed from remotely-sensed (e.g.,
Landsat) and field-based data, systematic collections, National
Information Infrastructure, National Biodiversity Information Center);
- Conduct research and develop tools to improve knowledge of the
interactions among biodiversity, ecosystem dynamics, ecosystem management,
and environmental degradation.
C. Resource Use and Management
Environmental Vision
The sustainable management and use of our natural resources to provide
the goods and services in a manner that is both compatible with environmental
goals and enhances our health, welfare and prosperity.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research supports the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking
Water Act, U.S. Climate Change Action Plan, DOE's Domestic Natural Gas
and Oil initiative, the Administration's reform of the 1872 Mining Law,
the Endangered Species Act, NAFTA, National Geologic Mapping Act, the
White House ecosystem management initiative, and the Administration's
effort to integrate management of Federal lands.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- How are natural resource systems defined, for what purpose, at what
scales, by whom, and what scientific data are required to characterize,
assess, predict and monitor their use?
- What is the scale of human activity, rates of use of non- renewable
resources, and the role of renewable energies and energy efficiency
in sustaining materials?
- How can the understanding of natural resource systems be integrated
and used to develop creative and accommodating resource management strategies
across multiple jurisdictions and spatial/time scales?
- How can scientific information for natural resource management be
shared with all stakeholders?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- Integrated Assessments: Expand the resource mix by:
- completing basic geologic, geochemical and geophysical mapping
of the U.S. (offshore and onshore) at scales commensurate with delineation
of energy and mineral resources by the year 2005; and
- preserving and linking existing, but endangered, natural resource
data bases and archival systems by the year 2000.
- Adaptive Management: Develop prototypes for adaptive management concepts
and procedures by conducting multidisciplinary pilot studies in forestry,
fisheries, and renewable energy.
- Research Infrastructure: Establish funding and other incentives for
integrated, multidisciplinary studies of natural resource systems.
D. Air Quality Research
Environmental Vision
Protect human health and the environment from adverse risks from ambient
and indoor air pollution and deposition.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research focuses on surface-level ozone, acidic deposition, toxics,
airborne particles, and indoor air, to provide the scientific basis for
efficiently and effectively implementing the requirements, and meeting
the goals, of the Clean Air Act, and for characterizing the relative risks
and sources of air pollution that are not covered by comprehensive legislation
or regulation, such as degraded indoor air,
Policy-Relevant Questions
- What are the direct and indirect effects and impacts of air pollutants
and deposition on humans, ecosystems, materials, and cultural values
at spatial scales ranging from local to continental?
- What are the roles of technological and social systems in causing
these effects and in potentially mitigating these effects?
- What are the levels of risk from adverse effects from air pollutants
and the uncertainties in their magnitude and causes?
- What options exist for reducing, mitigating and managing adverse effects
and what are the costs of these options?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
Building upon a maintained and continued broad base of research in monitoring,
process understanding, model development and evaluation, control/prevention
approaches, and health and environmental effects, immediate and heightened
research should be focused on two critical research areas:
- Substantially improve the understanding of the formation of ground-level
ozone in urban and rural areas, with two special emphases: (i) Better
coordinate and specifically augment field observations and observing
networks that characterize human- influenced and natural sources of
ozone precursors, formation and loss processes, exposure levels and
impacts, in order to improve our overall predictive capabilities. (ii)
With the above observations and other information, carry out an "end-to-end",
integrated state-of- understanding assessment of ground-level ozone,
its consequences, and mitigation options. Payoffs to policy: Improved
scientific assistance with "mid-course" Clean Air Act State Implementation
Plans (SIPs) and a defensible observation- based evaluation of how well
regulations are meeting their intended goal.
- Better characterize the impacts of airborne fine particles, with an
emphasis on identifying the risks and causality mechanisms by which
particles adversely affect human health, with particular foci on (i)
exposure levels, (ii) size and chemical content, (iii) role of exposure
to multiple stresses, and (iv) identification of particularly susceptible
populations. Payoffs to policy: Earlier formation of an effective, efficient,
and defensible particulate-matter control strategy as required under
the Clean Air Act.
E. Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Solid Waste
Environmental Vision
To prevent, reduce, or eliminate human and ecological exposure to environmental
toxic materials and their adverse human health, ecological, and social
and economic consequences. Actions will be guided by principles such as
sustainable development, community involvement, environmental justice,
and the risk of alternatives.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research supports the Clean Water Act; the Safe Drinking Water Act;
the Clean Air Act; the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act; Toxic Substances Control Act; Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act; Occupational Safety and Health Act; Hazardous Materials Transportation
Act; Agenda 21; and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- How to use risk assessment for public policy decisions in the face
of science gaps?
- How can we integrate prevention and risk communication in private
and public sector decision making?
- How can cost-benefit analysis be used in making risk management decisions?
- How can we incorporate environmental justice in risk management?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- Risk Assessment: Increase research in the area of risk assessment
including: models for predicting adverse public health and environmental
responses; biological and ecological mechanisms of action of toxic materials;
variability of susceptibility within populations; biological measures
of exposure; effects on vulnerable populations; methods for monitoring
and assessing exposure; models for estimating and predicting exposure
and environmental fate; and biological doses of toxic materials.
- Site remediation: demonstrate and evaluate more cost- effective innovative
technologies for site characterization and site remediation, with an
emphasis on ground water cleanup, radioactive and mixed wastes, and
other hard-to-treat wastes.
- Pollution prevention: support development and evaluation of pollution
prevention technologies and strategies. As cleanup becomes more effective,
transition resources from remediation research to the development of
pollution prevention methods and cleaner technologies and processes
in partnership with industry.
F. Water Resources and Coastal and Marine Environments
Environmental Vision
To provide reliable supplies of clean water as a resource for domestic,
agricultural, and industrial use, and ensuring the integrity of aquatic
ecological systems and watersheds.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research supports the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act,
Coastal Zone Management Act; Magnuson Fisheries Act; the Endangered Species
Act, the White House ecosystem management initiative; and Agenda 21.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- How can we provide data and decision tools for integrated water resources
and aquatic ecosystems management plans at appropriate scales that meet
the multiple human and ecosystem needs?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
The highest priority is to support the research and observations needed
to implement an interdisciplinary approach to maintaining and restoring
aquatic ecosystem functions at watershed and regional scales. Integrated
studies in a few geographically targeted areas are required that will
result in the development of methods and tools that can be used broadly
in support of management and regulatory activities. More specifically
this includes:
- Observing and Prediction Systems: Development of interagency continental
and coastal observing and prediction systems. The products of this effort
will be forecasts, models, and data most needed by natural resource
managers.
- Process-related studies: This includes mass balance studies which
look at the flux, fate and ecological effects of water and dissolved
and particulate material from the atmosphere, through the watershed,
and into estuaries and the coastal ocean.
- Restoration of Ecosystems: An interdisciplinary (physical, chemical,
biological, and social) science program to guide the management and
restoration of aquatic ecosystems. These studies will further the understanding
of the cumulative effects of stressors on aquatic systems, provide the
methods and tools for restoration activity, and evaluate through ex
post analyses the outcomes and success of such efforts for future management
decisions.
G. Natural Disasters
Environmental Vision
Reduce the loss of life, property damage, and economic disruption caused
by natural hazards.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research will support the requirements of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended; the Earthquake
Hazards Reduction Act, as amended; the Weather Service Modernization Act;
and the NOAA 1993 Reauthorization Act. Reduce the impact of natural hazards
on safety and environmental quality as directed by CERCLA, the nuclear
Waste Policy Act of 1982, et seq., and the Clean Air Act Amendments of
1990.
Make the U.S. more sustainable by active planning and management in
hazard sensitive economic sectors such as agriculture, energy, and transportation,
thus reducing the need for unbudgeted federal outlays for disaster relief.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- What risks do natural hazards represent for the U.S. in coming years?
How are global changes, technological advance, and rapid societal change,
transforming our vulnerability? Who should bear the costs? What is the
Federal share? Can the U.S. insurance industry survive a major earthquake
or hurricane? If not, what assistance or restructuring is needed? What
is the threat of natural hazards to the production of food and fiber,
and to ecosystems and biodiversity?
- What are the opportunities for mitigation? What changes are needed
in land-use and management; building codes and other engineering design
and practice; financial and insurance frameworks; education and training?
- How can the U.S. foster its technology exports and reduce global tensions
by helping other nations cope with natural hazards?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- Risk Assessments: Conduct integrated Federal, State and local, risk
assessments to improve estimates of expected losses from natural hazards
and their likely societal and environmental consequences, leading to
a comprehensive assessment by the year 2000.
- National Mitigation Strategy: Under FEMA leadership, develop a National
Mitigation Strategy, identifying Federal, State, local and private sector
responsibilities. Improve the scientific basis for analysis, evaluation
and implementation of the full range of societal opportunities for mitigation.
- Improved Prediction of Natural Hazards and Their Effects:
- building on the National Weather Service Modernization, implement
the U.S. Weather Research Program, and
- upgrade observation systems and analytical capabilities for seismic,
volcanic and wildfire hazards;
- improve the dissemination of natural hazards information through
utilization of the National Information Infrastructure Initiative.
H. Social Sciences and Economics
Vision:
A better scientific understanding of the relationship between humans
and their environment and the social and economic consequences of the
policies and the environmental changes, which is essential for predicting
more accurately changes in the environment, for developing policies that
will mitigate anthropogenic effects on the environment and that will facilitate
adaptation to environmental changes.
Relevant Conventions, Congressional Legislation, and Policy
Objectives
The research program supports the Biodiversity Convention, White House
ecosystem management initiative, the Framework Convention on Climate Change,
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act,
and Clean Water Act.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- How can we measure and value losses in environmental assets, such
as biodiversity and pristine natural environments, that may be associated
with global change, acid rain, toxic substances, or resource use and
depletion?
- How can society best plan for, and manage, natural hazards in the
most cost-effective manner?
- What are the most effective and equitable ways to preserve important
ecosystems, to sequester carbon, and to protect wildlife migration paths?
- What role can labeling, education, demonstration projects and other
provision of information play in reducing energy, fertilizer, and chemical
use?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
The research priorities identified are common to the seven environmental
issues of the CENR. Underlying the success of the research agenda is enhanced
investment in methodological research and in the management and collection
of social science data sets.
- Human driving forces and mediating influences, including analyses
of the impacts of various patterns and growth of population, economic
growth, and international trade. Adaptation processes are an important
part of this research area.
- Policies and goals in the design of environmental strategies. This
area includes the design and comparison of policies to prevent, ameliorate,
or adapt to environmental problems, and the formulation (and content)
of environmental goals--goals which consider concerns about distributive
justice, procedural fairness, community participation, and economic
well-being. One research priority is a better understanding of the determinants
of the creation and diffusion of environmentally beneficial technologies.
Another priority is the ex post evaluation of the effectiveness of environmental
and natural resource policies.
- Links between physical sciences, social and economic sciences, and
environmental policy. This area includes integrated assessments ensuring
that feedbacks between human behavior and physical and natural systems
(e.g. climate change) are taken into account; research analyzing the
value of various kinds of information, enabling the prioritization of
policy relevant research; and research enhancing our understanding of
individual perceptions of and responses to environmental risks and how
meaningful participation in addressing those risks can be supported.
I. Technology and Engineering
Vision
To foster the development of environmental technologies that enable
sustainable development, both domestically and internationally, and add
value simultaneously to both the environment and the economy.
Key Policy Objectives
- effect a policy for well-paced, cost-effective correction of past
and current environmental degradation, while setting a deliberate course
for sustainable development. Over time, the investment balance between
these two technology needs must be carefully formulated;
- overcome the regulatory, financial, institutional and market barriers
that inhibit the commercialization of innovative environmental technologies.
Policy-Relevant Questions
- In a Federal strategy, what is the appropriate balance among technologies
designed for pollution prevention, control, remediation, and monitoring.
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
Accelerate the diffusion of clean energy and environmental technologies
into the global marketplace through integrated activities and partnerships
and risk sharing among industry, government, and academia; evaluate and
modify regulatory and legal systems that impede innovation; improve mechanisms
for information dissemination, increased prototyping, and new technology
demonstration and performance verification; and environmental training,
education, and literacy for the general population and skilled workforce.
The challenge is facilitate the evolution from pollution control and waste
management to pollution prevention and resource conservation, while continuing
an aggressive program to clean up and remediate environmental hazards.
The priorities for Federal R&D action in the near term emphasize increased
investment in:
- the elimination of hazardous wastes;
- an improved environmental technologies information infrastructure;
- and developing more environmentally benign:
- manufacturing and industrial maintenance processes;
- personal and shared transportation;
- alternative materials; and
- energy.
J. Risk Assessment
Vision:
To promote the use of risk assessment in the most effective, efficient,
and fair manner to prevent, reduce, and manage health and environmental
hazards. The goal is to establish an appropriate balance between basic
research in the natural, physical, and social sciences and applied research
on how risk assessment might best be used to inform decision making. A
multi-disciplinary research framework is recommended to identify couplings,
correlations, and feedback mechanisms in response to various stimuli (e.g.,
natural disruptions, chemical contamination) within biological, ecological,
physical, and engineered systems.
Policy-Relevant Questions
Critical policy questions for risk assessment include: what criteria
should determine whether a risk assessment should be undertaken?; what
is the incremental value of obtaining additional information through increased
research, and in which areas?; how should various social concerns frame
a risk assessment and define data needs?; how might one weigh and compare
different endpoints, time frames, and/or populations?; how might uncertainty
be weighed into policy decisions?; how can one risk be compared to another?
and, what is the most appropriate role of risk assessment (i.e., "science")
in setting policy or management priorities?
Specific research in need of additional emphasis:
- Endpoints: identifying and predicting the magnitudes of new ecological
risks, non cancer human health effects and intermediate endpoints with
research on the biological mechanisms (both human and ecological). Such
knowledge is crucial for setting research and testing priorities, and
understanding variations in human susceptibilities to hazards;
- Environmental Fate and Transport: Concerns regarding especially susceptible
subpopulations and/or communities impacted by multiple hazards dictate
that research should be directed toward multiple and/or cumulative exposures
and alternative pathways of exposure to hazardous pollutants, particularly
for mixtures (both of chemicals and physical stressors).
- Risk Communication: identifying factors that influence individual,
group and institutional perceptions and responses to risks;
- Use of Risk Assessment in Decision-Making: developing better and more
explicit methods for characterizing uncertainty and defining defaults
for where data are lacking; advancing methods and strategies to prioritize
risk avoidance and mitigation options; developing decision criteria
to aid in determining when it is appropriate to undertake a risk assessment;
the level of precision desired; and how risk estimates ought to be used
in decision making.
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