2015 AAAS Annual Meeting (12-16 February 2015)

February 12 - 16, 2015

National Climate Assessment: Resource for Climate Literacy and Making Decisions

The Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3), released in May 2014, assesses the science, impacts of, and responses to climate change across the United States. The process used innovative approaches to assessment including topical reports; chapters addressing the intersection of multiple sectors; sustained assessment activities such as the development and implementation of a system of indicators; and active stakeholder engagement and network building. These techniques are being continued and expanded in a sustained assessment process that continues to build capacity across the U.S. to conduct and use climate change assessments. The NCA3 report and sustained assessment process offer opportunities for increasing climate literacy and better informing decision-making at multiple scales. This session will explore how the report is being used in various sectors to address societal issues, and it will seek input from those sectors to help shape future science research programs that both increase scientific knowledge of the climate system and benefit society. In addition, the session will describe an ongoing engagement between the scientific community, climate literacy stakeholders, and decision-makers so that the assessment can continue to meet the goal of continued delivery of up-to-date climate information.