Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change

人与环境相互作用的科学研究日益被认为是一个与传统环境科学既有联系又有区别的交叉学科研究领域。环境科学研究对维持地球生命至关重要的物理和生物系统的功能。新兴的研究领域研究这些系统与人类机构和活动之间的相互关系。研究领域是综合性的、跨学科的。它以社会科学和行为科学为中心，但它将这些科学的知识与自然科学知识相结合，以了解环境变化的人类原因；这种变化的人类后果；以及个人、组织和社会机构在追求其目标时对环境变化和变化的潜在或现状做出反应的方式。为了促进在人与环境相互作用这一新兴领域的研究和社区发展，美国国家科学院国家研究理事会设立了一个全球变化的人文层面委员会。该奖项将为CHDGC的核心业务提供支持，包括确定需要研究关注的问题并监督这些主题的研究；在需要对人与环境相互作用进行科学分析的问题上与各种联邦机构的互动；对涉及人与环境关系的国际研究计划的贡献；以及组织研讨会和其他特别活动，以增强对理解人与环境相互作用的科学贡献，但这可能不是联邦环境机构要求的。对CHDGC的持续支持将促进该组织扩大其作为主要NRC委员会的传统角色，该委员会横跨社会和行为科学领域，希望让这些社区的领先研究人员参与与人与环境相互作用相关的问题的研究。这笔资金将促进每年举办一次特别讲习班，以审查具体专题，并使委员会能够审查与气候变化没有直接关系的专题，而是与其他形式的人-自然系统动态有关的专题。委员会讲习班和研究产生的出版物将继续是今后在一系列不同领域开展工作的主要基础。由CHDGC活动推动的研究将继续直接涉及公众极感兴趣和关注的环境问题。委员会讲习班和研究的结果将使土地和资源管理者以及各级政府的政策制定者受益。该委员会的工作还将加强社会和行为科学家与已经活跃在环境讨论中的自然科学家和工程师之间的互动，从而增加未来更全面、更综合的研究活动产生的可能性。

The scientific study of human-environment interactions is increasingly being recognized as a coherent interdisciplinary research area, related to but distinct from conventional environmental science. Environmental science studies the functioning of the physical and biological systems that are important to sustaining life on Earth. The emerging research area studies the interrelationships between these systems and human institutions and activities. The research area is integrative and interdisciplinary. It is centered in the social and behavioral sciences, but it integrates knowledge from these sciences with natural science knowledge to understand the human causes of environmental change; the human consequences of such change; and the ways in which individuals, organizations, and social institutions respond to the potential or actuality of environmental variation and change in pursuing their objectives. To facilitate research and community-development in the emerging field of human-environmental interaction, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences has operated a Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change (CHDGC). This award will provide support for core operations of the CHDGC, including identification of issues needing research attention and overseeing studies on these topics; interactions with various federal agencies on issues requiring scientific analysis of human-environment interactions; contributions to international research programs addressing human-environment relationships; and organization of workshops and other ad hoc activities that enhance scientific contributions to understanding of human-environment interactions but that might not be requested by federal environment agencies.Continued support for the CHDGC will facilitate that group's expanding on its traditional role as the primary NRC committee that spans social and behavioral science fields and looks to involve leading researchers in those communities in studies of problems related to human-environmental interaction. The funding will facilitate the conduct of one special workshop each year to examine specific topics, and it will enable the committee to examine topics that are not directly related to climate change but instead to other forms of human-natural system dynamics. Publications resulting from committee workshops and studies will continue to be major foundations for future work across a diverse set of fields. The research fostered by CHDGC activities will continue to directly address environmental topics of great public interest and concern. The results of committee workshops and studies will have benefits for land and resource managers as well as policy makers at all levels of government. The committee's work also will enhance interactions between social and behavioral scientists and natural scientists and engineers who already are active in environmental discussions, thereby enhancing the likelihood that more comprehensively framed and more integrated research activities will result in the future.