Metropolitan East Coast Regional Assessment of Climate Change Impacts

随着科学研究提高了人们对气候和全球环境其他方面正在发生变化的复杂方式的理解，人们越来越关注这些变化对人类和生态系统的影响。为了应对这些变化，美国全球变化研究计划(USGCRP)和白宫科技政策办公室(OSTP)协调了一系列研讨会的计划，这些研讨会将重点关注全球气候变化在区域范围内的影响。1997年举办了这一系列的八个讲习班和一个国家气候变化论坛；计划在1998年再举办十个区域讲习班。该奖项为哥伦比亚大学举办研讨会和相关的区域评估活动提供支持，该研讨会和相关的区域评估活动将侧重于从波士顿到华盛顿的大都会东海岸地区全球气候变化的区域影响，但重点是纽约和费城大都市地区。讲习班将于1998年3月23日至24日在哥伦比亚大学校园举行。来自该地区的约200人预计将参加研讨会。研讨会将由一套交替的形式组成，包括全体会议、小组发言、分组讨论和公开讨论会议。将重点关注的主题包括全球气候变化对商业和金融、州和地方政府、人类健康、交通和商业、能源、水、娱乐和旅游以及自然和可再生资源的影响。讲习班组织者将在讲习班结束后不久编写并分发一份书面报告。除举办讲习班外，首席调查员和区域机构的同事将继续发展区域利益攸关方网络，并为制定多区域综合报告和国家部门交叉评估作出贡献。这次讲习班和相关的评估活动将对全球变化对大都会东海岸地区一系列不同部门和活动的影响提供宝贵的新见解。由于它是作为一系列协调一致的区域研讨会的一部分进行的，其结果在美国评估环境变化可能产生的影响的比较框架中也将是有用的。除了科学价值外，大都会东海岸评估还将吸引来自许多不同领域的当地居民参与讨论，以促进关于这一重要主题的公共教育和推广。

As scientific research has improved understandings of the complex ways that climate and other facets of the global environment are changing, increased attention has focused on the impacts of those changes on people and ecosystems. In response to these changes, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) have coordinated planning for a series of workshops that will focus on the impacts of global climate change on regional scales. Eight workshops in this series and a national climate change forum were held in 1997; ten additional regional workshops are planned for 1998. This award provides support to Columbia University for the conduct of a workshop and related regional assessment activities that will focus on the regional impacts of global climate change in the Metro East Coast region that stretches from Boston to Washington but that focuses on the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. The workshop will be conducted on the Columbia campus on 23-24 March 1998. About two hundred people from the region are expected to attend the workshop. The workshop will consist of a set of alternating formats, including plenary sessions, panel presentations, break-out discussions, and open-discussion sessions. Topics on which attention will be focused include the impacts of global climate change on business and finance, state and local governments, human health , transportation and commerce, energy, water, recreation and tourism, and natural and renewable resources. A written report will be prepared and disseminated by the workshop organizers soon after the conclusion of the workshop. In addition to conducting the workshop, the principal investigator and colleagues from regional institutions will continue development of a regional stakeholders network and contribute to the development of multi-regional syntheses and national sectoral cross-cutting assessments. This workshop and related assessment activities will provide valuable new insights into the impacts of global change on a diverse set of sectors and activities in the Metro East Coast region. Because it is being conducted as part of a coordinated set of regional workshops, its outcomes will also be useful in a comparative framework as the U.S. assesses likely impacts of environmental change. In addition to its scientific value, the Metro East Coast assessment will engage local residents from many different fields into discussions that will facilitate public education and outreach about this important topic.