Leading scientists, planners, managers and policymakers are meeting this week in Washington, D.C., to help craft a national adaptation response to climate-change. The resulting recommendations will help advance federal and regional climate adaptation programs and research planning. Rosina M. Bierbaum, dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, is co-chairing the three-day conference.
Approximately 150 representatives of diverse climatological regions and economic sectors are attending the May 25-27 National Climate Adaptation Summit event in an effort to coordinate near- and long-term climate-change adaptation plans of local governments, various industries, nonprofit organizations and private citizens. Their collective insights will be incorporated into a broad range of federal climate adaptation planning efforts, including the planning of Climate Adaptation Task Force and the U.S. Global Change Research Program, as well as build on related reports.
"Local, state, regional, federal, public and private users and providers of climate-related information have many of the same interests - they are working to ensure their communities have adequate access to reliable and affordable water, food, energy, transportation and health resources and services in the face of a changing climate," said Dr. John Holdren, President Obama's Science and Technology Advisor, who called for the summit last year based in part on the contributions of a 2007 conference at SNRE led by Dean Bierbaum. Dr. Holdren also recently delivered the Ninth Annual Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability at University of Michigan in March (snre.umich.edu/wege_lecture).
In break-out groups, participants will examine the incentives and barriers to climate adaptation and vulnerability assessment; the knowledge needed by public and private decision makers to assess vulnerability and adapt to climate change; and appropriate leadership and organizational roles for communicating knowledge.
"For too long, the research, development, demonstration and deployment funding for both mitigation and adaptation research has been inadequate," Dean Bierbaum said. "More integrative science assessments should be conducted with a focus on understanding regional impacts and multiple stresses, resulting in a strategic prioritization of research needed by policy makers."
Dean Bierbaum is co-chairing the invitation-only summit with Shere Abbott, associate director for environment in President Obama's Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Jack D. Fellows, corporate affairs vice president and UCAR community programs director.
In 2007, SNRE hosted a first-ever national summit examining the climate-change adaptation needs of the nation. The U-M National Summit on Coping with Climate Change focused on preparation for the impact of climate change and the ongoing alterations in temperature, precipitation, sea-level rise and species range. (View material from the Summit at snre.umich.edu/climate_change)
President Obama named Dean Bierbaum to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in April 2009. PCAST is a group of 21 scientists and engineers who advise the President and Vice President directly on science, technology and innovation. Dean Bierbaum was also co-author and co-director of the World Bank's 2010 World Development Report 2010, which focused on climate change and development.
Key parts of the summit will be webcast. Journalists wishing to cover the summit can find instructions for accessing the Webcast at: http://www.joss.ucar.edu/events/2010/ncas/index.html