Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Global Change Research Program for Fiscal Year 2013

"Our Changing Planet: The U.S. Global Change Research Program for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013" summarizes USGCRP's significant progress toward achieving its strategic goals and building a knowledge base that effectively informs human responses to global change . The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates scientific research across 13 Federal departments and agencies whose missions include understanding changes in the global environment and their implications for society. In accordance with the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (GCRA) the enclosed report summarizes USGCRP's recent achievements, current status, future priorities, and FY 2013 budget information. Notably, in Apri12012, USGCRP released the National Global Change Research Plan 2012-2021: A Strategic Plan for the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The Plan sets four strategic goals for USGCRP to achieve over the next decade: (1) advance science; (2) inform decisions; (3) conduct sustained assessments; and (4) communicate and educate. It also reinforces the importance of partnerships that leverage Federal investments and foster broad use of Program results. Implementation of this Plan will build upon USGCRP's strengths in integrated observation, modeling, information services, and science to serve societal needs. It will also fully address the GCRA mandate to "understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change."