Public comment period open for National Climate Assessment draft report

On January 11th, the federal advisory committee for the National Climate Assessment (NCA), approved a draft of the Third National Climate Assessment Report for release for public comment. The draft report is available for download—both as a single document and by chapter at http://ncadac.globalchange.gov.

The public comment period for the report will run January 14 – April 12, 2013. All comments must be submitted via the online comment tool that is available from http://ncadac.globalchange.gov. Anyone can comment on the draft.  Already, the draft report has been downloaded thousands of times, and hundreds of comments have been submitted.  The authors of the report will use the comments received from the public to revise the report before submitting it to the government for consideration. During the comment period, scientists and experts from inside and outside the federal government and the National Academy of Sciences will also review and comment on the report before it is finalized.

The National Climate Assessment is conducted under the auspices of the United States Global Change Research Act of 1990, which requires a report to the US President and Congress every four years. The Third NCA Report will present a comprehensive picture of the changes in regions and sectors that occur in response to climate variability and change.  The report will include information about effects on public health and human well‐being, the economy, infrastructure, and the environment. This information will help decision makers throughout the country design adaptation policies, help citizens prepare themselves for climate change impacts, and help everyone understand how their everyday decisions impact the climate and the environment.

For more on the NCA: http://www.globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment