Organization:
Research Title: Human Dimensions of Global Change
Funding Level (millions of dollars):
| FY94 | 11.1 |
|---|---|
| FY95 | 17.6 |
| FY96 | 12.2 |
Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Component:
(a) Subcommittee: Global Change Research Subcommittee (100%)
Social and Economic Sciences Research Subcommittee
Risk Assessment Group, NSTC Committee on Fundamental Science
(b) Environmental Issue: Other - Individual, Institutional, and Social
Behaviors in the
Context of Global Environmental Change (60%);
Large-Scale Changes in Land-Use (20%); Climate Change (10%); Ozone and
Ultraviolet
Radiation (10%)
(c) Research Activity: Impacts and Adaptation: Socioeconomic Systems
(40%);
Socioeconomic Driving Forces (30%)
Assessments: Integrated (10%); Risk (10%); Cost/Benefit (10%)
Organizational Component:
Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research Division
Directorate for the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Geography and Regional Science Program
NSF/SBER Room 995
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
Point of Contact:
Phone: 703-306-1757
E-Mail: rcantor@nsf.gov
Research Goals:
To improve our understanding of the interactions between human and natural
systems
within various decision, policy, or institutional frameworks.
Research Description:
The HDGC program supports research on human interactions in global change,
including
both direct human activity and indirect social, structural, and institutional issues
affecting
global change. Emphasis is given to research that contributes to general
understandings
of
the ways that human activities impact on natural systems; of the ways that humans
(both
individually and collectively) respond to changing environmental conditions; and
of the
complex ways that human systems interact with natural systems in a dynamic
framework.
Special attention is given to the economics of global change, including research
on
economic forces affecting and affected by global change; resource impacts and
adaptation;
the value of information and decision making under uncertainty; economic forces
shaping
technology and practice linked to global change; and economic evaluation of
different
types
of policies and policy instruments. Other types of projects supported include
inquiries
into
risk perception and assessment by individuals and groups; the impact of social and
cultural
forces on human activities and the perception of and response to global change;
geographic
variations in the form and character of human-environmental interaction; and
mathematical
approaches to data collection and management, analyses, and modeling. A new
emphasis
of the program in FY 1995 will be advancement of research on policy science,
especially
research focusing on the data, analytical methods, and models needed to address
develop,
implement, manage, and evaluate environmental policies.
Program Interfaces:
The program has had and will continue to have strong ties to other federal agencies
with
related programs emphasizing the human dimensions of global change and social
science.
Additionally, the program complements and partially supports the work of the
international
Human Dimensions of Global Change Programme. It also provides support for
activities
undertaken by the Social Science Research Council and the National Academy of
Sciences
to integrate social and economic scientists into global change research.
Program Milestones:
- Continued conduct of research projects on significant topics regarding human-
environmental
interactions within a decision, policy, or institutional context in 1995 and
subsequent years.
- Establishment of multi-disciplinary research programs focusing on significant
topical
and
methodological issues related to the human dimensions of global change by the end
of
1995.
- Conduct of research projects that analyze human adaptations, the processes
affecting
environmental policies, and the basic tools for analyzing environmental policies
from 1995
to 1999.
Policy Payoffs:
Policy payoffs include expanded knowledge of the dynamics of human impacts on
natural
systems and the form, character, and magnitude of human responses to
environmental
change. As a result, understandings of processes, predictive models, and capabilities
for
evaluating policy and response alternatives will be improved. Policy science
investigations
will contribute over both short and longer terms to advancing understanding of the
processes through which policies are developed, implemented, managed, and
evaluated
effectively. Benefits will accrue to policy makers at all levels with respect to
increasing
understandings of the ways that humans respond through individual and collective
action to
changing environmental conditions and to possible changes in human activity as
would
occur through various mitigation and adaptation strategies. Such an improved
knowledge
base provides sounder scientific bases for understanding fundamental social and
behavioral
processes, for modeling and predicting future activities, and for assessing the likely
impact
and efficacy of various types of policies and response strategies.