Highlights

Since 1989, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has submitted annual reports to Congress called Our Changing Planet. The reports describe the status of USGCRP research activities, provide progress updates, and document recent accomplishments.

In particular, Our Changing Planet highlights progress and accomplishments in interagency activities. These highlights represent the broad spectrum of USGCRP activities that extend from Earth system observations, modeling, and fundamental research through synthesis and assessment, decision support, education, and public engagement.

An example indicator featured on the USGCRP Indicator Platform.

Climate indicators show trends over time in key aspects of our environment, such as greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, temperatures across land and sea, and the extent of Arctic sea ice, as well as metrics of social or economic exposure to the impacts of climate variability and change. Indicators are based on long-term, consistently collected data and can be used to assess risks and vulnerabilities from a changing climate and to inform response actions. USGCRP’s Indicators Interagency Working Group (IndIWG) leverages existing agency research, data, and indicators in support of...

Climate-sensitive infectious diseases, including vector-borne diseases (such as dengue, West Nile Virus, and Chikungunya), waterborne diseases (such as those caused by Vibrio species), soil- and dust-borne diseases (such as Valley Fever), and zoonotic diseases (such as plague and avian influenza) pose threats to the health of Americans living at home and abroad. These threats are anticipated to change in distribution and severity as climate change progresses in the coming decades. Improving U.S. capacity to predict and communicate changes in risks of climate-sensitive diseases,...

USGCRP’s International Activities Interagency Working Group (IAIWG) convened its first international and interagency workshop in December 2018, bringing together representatives from System for Analysis, Research and Training (START), Future Earth, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). These three international programs receive funding through USGCRP to support their activities and to advance USGCRP’s international mandate. USGCRP was represented by ten Federal agencies as well as USGCRP staff. The workshop’s goals were to enhance awareness of mutual priorities, investments, and...

USGCRP agencies and interagency groups played a leading role in the development of a Belmont Forum international Collaborative Research Action (CRA) launched in April 2019, focused on issues at the intersection of climate, environment, and human health.

In addition to an international scoping workshop organized by the Interagency Crosscutting Group on Climate Change and Human Health (CCHHG) and International Activities Interagency Working Group (IAIWG) in April 2018, USGCRP member agencies (including NIH, NOAA, and NSF) participated in a year-long,...

A Spanish language translation of the executive summary of USGCRP’s report The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health: a Scientific Assessment is now available.

Climate and health assessment information has been shared widely through a number of platforms and formats, including a Spanish translation of the report overview.

In April 2016, the USGCRP released The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, a groundbreaking report detailing the major risks and vulnerabilities to human health posed by...

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the primary vector for transmission of the Zika virus.

Interagency science investigated environmental influences on Zika transmission and helped support response efforts.

In February 2016, the World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak spreading across the Americas since 2015 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, based on Zika’s previously-unknown association with birth defects. The virus was first discovered in 1947 in Africa and had not previously been found in the Western Hemisphere. By February 2016, the outbreak had spread to 48 countries and territories in the Americas...

USGCRP co-led an international group of funders and implementers in initiating development of a collaborative research action.

The Belmont Forum is an international partnership between national research funding agencies and international science organizations focused on advancing transdisciplinary global change science and accelerating its application. Its Collaborative Research Actions (CRAs) combine natural science, social science, and stakeholder perspectives to produce knowledge for understanding and responding to global environmental change. In November...

This map shows the number of total heat wave days per summer projected for the mid-21st century, as a factor of increase relative to the end of the 20th century (assuming a scenario of rapid economic growth driven by a balanced portfolio of energy sources

Climate change is expected to increase the number of extremely hot days, posing health risks to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children, and those with existing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. To streamline prediction of and adaptation to these events, HHS’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NOAA held a Heat Health Summit in Silver Spring, MD, in October 2014. The Summit drew participants from across NOAA, CDC, EPA, DOE, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; state and local health departments;

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The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit features science-based resources and real-world case studies to help communities adapt to climate change.

The Administration launched the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit in November 2014, with support from the coordinated efforts of various USGCRP agencies—especially NOAA, USGS, USDA, NASA, USACE, and HHS (CDC and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences). The Toolkit aims to help communities, businesses, natural resource managers, and others plan for and respond to the impacts of climate change where they live. As called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Toolkit provides

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With leadership by EPA, NOAA, and HHS agencies including CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USGCRP is continuing development of its Climate and Health Assessment, a contribution to the sustained assessment process that will support the next quadrennial NCA report. The USGCRP Climate and Health Assessment will address the need for a more definitive understanding of climate impacts on public health, as called for in the President’s Climate Action Plan. It will synthesize

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Highlights

An interagency platform highlights important indicators of change

Interagency activities inform efforts to predict and prepare for climate-sensitive infectious diseases

USGCRP enhances cooperation among international global change science organizations

Interagency efforts help lead a new international climate and health research effort

Expanding access to climate change and human health assessment information

Responding to the Zika outbreak

Developing international support for research on climate, environment, and human health

Preparing for the Health Hazards of Extreme Heat

A Toolkit for Climate Resilience Nationwide

Assessing the Public Health Risks of Climate Change