EESI Comments on Proposed Framework and Themes of Fifth National Climate Assessment

This summer, the U.S. Global Change Research Program requested public input on the proposed themes and framework of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) submitted comments in order to draw attention to case studies, issue areas, and academic disciplines that NCA5 authors should consider while drafting and researching the report. Public, private, and international institutions rely on NCAs to understand climate threats and inform adaptation. EESI has used previous versions of the NCA when writing articles and fact sheets and planning briefings, including the 16-part coastal resilience series.

Mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the NCA is a quadrennial assessment of the effects of global climate change, including its impact on “the natural environment, agriculture, energy production and use, land and water resources, transportation, human health and welfare, human social systems, and biological diversity.” The 1,500-page NCA4 was released in two volumes in October 2017 and November 2018.

As with all other National Climate Assessments, the NCA5 will not evaluate or recommend policy action, but rather serve to outline current scientific understanding of “near-term adaptation and resiliency needs over the next few decades that are likely to persist regardless of emissions pathway.”

EESI’s recommendations for the NCA5 include:

• Integrating traditional ecological knowledge into scientific observations
• Inclusion of data and reports from social science disciplines beyond economics
• Inclusion of climate impacts on cultural/historical heritage
• Incorporation of best practices and case studies on community/stakeholder inclusion in adaptation planning
• Inclusion of appendix itemizing useful, non-federal climate data and visualization tools

The comment period closed on August 10, but NCA5 is in the early stages of development, with anticipated delivery in 2023. New information will be available at https://www.globalchange.gov/nca5.

Read EESI’s full recommendations here.

 

 

 

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