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February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1989

NEWS...
U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM

Item #d89mar3

President Ronald Reagan's fiscal year 1990 budget, announced shortly before his departure from office, plans a long-term, coordinated program to study changes in the Earth system. The goals, implementation strategy and research budget are outlined in a report prepared to accompany the budget by the Committee on Earth Sciences (CES) of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. (See REPORTS, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--Mar. 1989.) Composed of members from 13 Federal agencies and offices, CES will increase the overall effectiveness of Federal research and development, addressing national policy matters that transcend agency boundaries. The program is intended to provide a sound scientific basis for developing national and international policy on global change issues; scientifically this requires the ability to monitor, understand and ultimately predict global change. Three developments have converged to make this goal possible in the 1990s: maturity of essential scientific understanding; development of research tools such as earth-observing satellites, supercomputers and instruments; and the existence of national and international frameworks (such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program) committed to global change research. The program covers global change from natural causes as well as the effects of human activity. Fiscal year 1990 funding recommended for focused U.S. global change research is $190.5 million, compared to $134 million for 1989. A more detailed plan will be released this year.