The Strategic Plan fulfills Congress's mandate in the Global Change Research Act to develop a program to "understand, assess, predict, and respond to" global change. It reflects recommendations from multiple reports of the National Academies, from dozens of listening sessions with stakeholders around the country, and from collaborative planning among the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) member agencies. Altogether, the USGCRP envisioned through this Strategic Plan, by connecting fundamental human and Earth system research with the translation and dissemination of credible and authoritative information, harnesses the work of Federal agencies into a coordinated effort for the future benefit of the Nation.