NOAA establishes new panel to guide sustained National Climate Assessment

Friday, June 24, 2016

Oklahoma State University Regents Professor of Sociology and Dresser Professor Riley Dunlap has been appointed to a new federal committee for climate change assessment.

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) today announced the appointment of 15 members to the new Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, a congressionally-mandated assessment of climate change and its implications issued every four years.

The committee will advise NOAA on sustained climate assessment activities and products, including engagement of stakeholders. NOAA will ensure the committee’s advice is provided to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for use by the United States Global Change Research Program, a confederation of the research arms of 13 federal departments and agencies, which carry out research and develop and maintain capabilities to support the Nation’s understanding and response to global change.

USGCRP is implementing a sustained National Climate Assessment process that will ultimately facilitate continuous and transparent participation of scientists and stakeholders across regions and sectors, enabling new information and insights to be synthesized as they emerge.

The advisory committee's members represent various viewpoints, interests of geographic regions of the country, and the diverse sectors of U.S. society. Members include experts in physical and social sciences, communication, education, and other topics reflecting the full scope of issues relevant to the sustained National Climate Assessment process. Members are appointed by Dr. Kathryn Sullivan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA administrator, in consultation with the OSTP Director, Dr. John Holdren.

Last year Dunlap was honored by the American Sociological Association (ASA) for his work in chairing the ASA task force on sociology and global climate change. Following a 4-year process, the task force produced Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives, which was published last fall by Oxford University Press.

Dunlap attributes his appointment to the work of the ASA task force and the positive reception to the volume it produced. “I’m honored and very excited to be representing sociology and social science more generally on this vital committee. There has been growing recognition of the need for social science input into climate change research and mitigation activities. I see my appointment as an indication that this awareness has now spread to the upper levels of our national government, which is very gratifying.”

The advisory committee's inaugural meeting will be September 13-15, 2016 in the Washington, DC area. More details will be posted in an upcoming Federal Register Notice and the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment’s website.