Tue 15 Jan 2013
Draft of National Climate Assessment, Led by MBL’s Jerry Melillo, is Released
Posted by ghebert under MBL
[2] Comments
Contacts:
Diana Kenney: 508-289-7139; dkenney@mbl.edu
Gina Hebert: 508-289-7725; ghebert@mbl.edu
A federal advisory committee chaired by MBL Distinguished Scientist Jerry M. Melillo has released a draft of the Third National Climate Assessment Report for public comment. The report presents the latest science about the current and projected effects of climate change across the United States. It is a scientific document—not a policy document—and does not make recommendations regarding responses to climate change. It does, however, describe some of the actions that society is already taking, and can take, to adapt to and mitigate climate change.
“Climate change is already affecting the American people,” the report begins. “Certain types of weather events have become more frequent and/or intense, including heat waves, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glaciers and sea ice are melting. These changes are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily driven by human activity.”
The draft then details climate change impacts on specific U.S. regions and sectors, including agriculture and human health, based on input from more than 240 scientist-authors.
The draft report is available for download at http://ncadac.globalchange.gov. Public comments will be accepted until April 12, 2013 and must submitted online. In addition to the public review, the report will also undergo a review by the National Academies of Sciences. The authors will use the public comments to revise the report before submitting it to the federal government for consideration in the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) Report (to be published in early 2014).
Dr. Melillo’s research focuses on the impacts of human activities on terrestrial ecosystems. He has studied carbon and nitrogen cycling in ecosystems across the globe and has played a prominent role in international climate change policy throughout his career. In 2009, Dr. Melillo co-authored the landmark report to Congress, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” issued by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. He was also a lead author on both the 1990 and 1995 Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and he served in President Clinton’s Office of Science and Technology Policy from 1996 to 1997.
The Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires a National Climate Assessment at least every four years.
Snow falls on an experimental plot at Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass., where Jerry Melillo and colleagues have studied how warming temperatures affect carbon and nitrogen cycling in soil and vegetation. Photo courtesy of Jerry Melillo. Click here for full-size image
great post and good comment , great job , thank to share
Respected Jerry M. Melillo Sir & team of Scientists,
First of all thank you for this Globally important report/ assessment/ document/ research. This will be an ideal before World Community to consider while making plan/ draft for Climate Change.
The current problem of ‘climate change’ is due to GLOBAL WARMING which in turn is the result of our past discovery of ‘STEAM POWER’ and ‘FOSSIL FUELS’ at the advent of INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. At that time, the policy makers, scientists and engineers did not judge the fate and impact of that industrial revolution. UNIPCC2007 report has predicted dark future of the earth. Here are few suggestions, which needs urgent attention:
1. There should be a “WORLD COMMISSION FOR SCIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT” for promoting the researches and developmental works which have zero to low carbon emission.
2. There should a compulsory constitutional amendment to make “ENVIRONMENTAL WAY OF LIFESTYLE” a compulsory duty.
3. Our investment in R & D should be more on the forthcoming areas like solar, tidal, wind and water energies apart from on lowering carbon emission.
4. There should be a big role for N.G.Os. in implementing environment friendly plans & projects of government.
5. There should be effective AWARENESS programmes, at grass root level, to save the environment & terrestrial “CO2 sink zones” i.e. forests from degradation. One such movement, running in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh province of India, is RED TAPE MOVEMENT [ http://unfccc.int/cc_inet/cc_inet/six_elements/public_participation/items/3530.php?displayPool=1526 & http://twitter.com/RedTapeMovement. Such movements will be helpful in the conservation & safety of forests and biodiversity, with the help & involvement of local peoples.
6. There should be the provision of financial help and green technology transfer to developing countries because the problem of Climate Change is GLOBAL & inter-related; it will be helpful in phasing-out the fossil fuels. Recently, Dec. 2012, The European Commission and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) have each announced a €5 million contribution to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help assist 25 developing countries around the world reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
7. Sustainable developments should be given priority. But recently it was reported by rainforestportal.org, on April 16, 2012, that sustainable management is not playing a good role in Rainforest areas as it is destroying Primary Rainforest [ http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2012/04/earth_meanders_the_great_rainf.asp ]. The portal says, “Old forests are a vital part of the biosphere’s ecological infrastructure – and have a prominent, central role in making the Earth habitable through their cycling of carbon, energy, water, and nutrients. Primary rainforests cannot be logged in an ecologically sustainable manner; once logged – selectively, certified, legally or not – for throw-away consumer crap, their primary nature is destroyed, and ecological composition and dynamics are lost forever”. So, on the name of Sustainable Management [ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/animals/extinction-risk-as-aceh-opens-forests-for-logging-20130114-2cpmr.html ] , no-one should be allowed to destroy forests because our terrestrial biodiversity, human population, Oxygen production, CO2 sinking etc. depends on forests.
Such steps are big BUT will be helpful in controlling GREEN HOUSE EFFECT and CLIMATE CHANGE.
Regards
Prabhat Misra
Assist. Director [ National Savings ],
Etawah, U.P., India
http://www.facebook.com/prabhat.lovepeaceunity
http://www.facebook.com/redtapemovement
http://www.twitter.com/redtapemovement
http://www.twitter.com/prabhatmisra