The challenges of climate change and nature loss are interconnected. Yet, the significance of nature in recent patterns of intensifying floods, heat stress, and wildfire is often overlooked. More frequent and extreme floods are the result of climate change and the extensive loss of wetlands that once acted as buffers, reducing some flood impacts. More intense heat waves stem from climate change and the loss of forests’ cooling canopies in cities and around farms. These interacting aspects of global change need to be understood and confronted together.
To better understand the full picture of what is happening with nature, USGCRP is undertaking a National Nature Assessment, which will take stock of U.S. lands, waters, wildlife and the benefits they provide to our economy, health, climate, environmental justice, and national security. The Assessment will also look ahead at how nature might change in the future, and what those changes may mean for our economy and our lives.
The National Nature Assessment is in the early stages of development and is anticipated to be released in 2026. As with other USGCRP assessments, the National Nature Assessment will draw on expertise from the Federal Government, Indigenous communities, academia, non-profit organizations, and the private sector. The Assessment team will hold an array of public engagement opportunities to ensure the report answers questions that are important to every American’s life, and is informed by the best available evidence.
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NNA1 Participant Roles and Responsibilities
A Federal Steering Committee is responsible for the development, production, and content of the assessment as well as high-level scoping to ensure coherence, and relevance. The Federal Steering Committee (with concurrence from the Subcommittee on Global Change Research) selects Federal Coordinating Leads and Lead Authors; based on a number of criteria, including expertise and experience with the relevant products.
Federal Coordinating Lead Authors work across chapters to ensure consistency throughout the report and adherence to development guidance. Coordinating Lead Authors are also the points of contact to the Chapter Leads.
Chapter Leads are selected from a pool generated in part by a public nominations process. In consultation with Federal Coordinating Lead Authors, Chapter Leads organize, direct, and lead authorship of individual chapters. Chapter Author teams are established by the Chapter Leads with suggestions from the Federal Coordinating Lead Authors and the Federal Steering Committee. Chapters are submitted to the corresponding Federal Coordinating Lead Author, and ultimately transmitted to the Federal Steering Committee as the individual input of the Chapter Leads.
Chapter Authors are selected by the Chapter Leads in consultation with the Federal Coordinating Lead Author and Federal Steering Committee, based in part on nominations via the public call. They are responsible for developing chapter content. Chapter author teams work with Chapter Leads to develop draft chapters and edit those materials in response to comments received during the multiple rounds of review.
Technical Contributors provide limited, requested inputs into chapter development. They are selected on an as-needed basis, for specific needs identified by the author team. Technical Contributors may be selected from the pool of publicly nominated authors.
Review Editors are selected by the Federal Steering Committee from a pool of experts, including those generated through a public nomination process. Their role is to ensure that authors respond adequately and provide sufficient justification for their responses to all comments received during the public and National Academies review periods.
Call for Author Nominations and Scientific/Technical Inputs
In coordination with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is seeking author nominations and scientific/technical inputs for the First National Nature Assessment (NNA1). Refer to the Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the full text.
The USGCRP Public Contribution System will accept author nominations through January 4, 2024. Scientific/technical inputs—including observed, modeled, and/or projected changes in nature and/or benefits from nature—can be submitted on an ongoing basis. All inputs must be made via the USGCRP Public Contribution System if they are to be considered.
Recent Opportunities
Call for Public Comment: Draft Prospectus of the First National Nature Assessment
Request for Information: Framing The National Nature Assessment
Public Collaboration Sessions
These sessions, held in May 2023, provided a brief overview of the scope of the National Nature Assessment and an opportunity to give direct input to the open request for information on framing the assessment.
National Nature Assessment Public Listening Session – Outdoor Recreation
May 11th, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Public Listening Session – Marine Perspectives
May 16th, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Public Listening Session – Coastal Perspectives
May 18th, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Public Listening Session – Livestock and Range Perspectives
May 23rd, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Public Listening Session – Cropland Agriculture Perspectives
May 25th, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Listening Session – Forests and Forestry
May 30th, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ETNational Nature Assessment Listening Session
May 31st, 2023 | 2:00pm - 3:30pm ET