MEDIA ADVISORY May 27, 1997

U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM TO SPONSOR NATIONAL SCIENCE ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS

Starting this week the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is sponsoring a series of regional workshops in the Great Plains region, to improve understanding of the implications of global climate change for the United States.

A series of seven initial workshops will be followed later this year by a National Workshop on Climate Change Impacts, which is planned to be held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The purpose of these sessions is to examine the vulnerabilities of various regions of the United States to climate variability and climate change. The sessions will also lay the groundwork for a national-scale science assessment of climate change impacts, to be completed in 1999.

The U.S. Government, through the USGCRP, has played a leading role in supporting the research that underlies the international scientific assessments of climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion. This will be the first USGCRP-supported assessment of the implications of climate change specifically for the United States.

Robert Corell, chair of the federal interagency committee that directs the USGCRP and Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation, will discuss current research highlights and future directions for the global change program. The USGCRP just released its annual report to Congress for fiscal year 1998, entitled Our Changing Planet.

WHO: Robert Corell

Chair, Subcommittee on Global Change Research

Assistant Director for Geosciences,

National Science Foundation

WHAT: National Press Club Morning Newsmaker Event

WHEN: 9:00 a.m., Thursday, May 29

WHERE: National Press Building (First Amendment Room)

Washington, D.C.

Contact: Rick Piltz, U.S. Global Change Research Program Office,

202/358-1393; fax: 202/358-4103; [email protected]

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