Strategic Plans

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. Learn More

As mandated by Congress, the USGCRP develops a new Strategic Plan every ten years that must “provide for [the] development and coordination of a comprehensive and integrated United States Research Program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.” The Plan will be implemented through the next decade by the collective efforts of 13 U.S. government agencies that collaboratively help the Nation better understand global change and its impacts. This 2012-2021 Strategic Plan builds on past USGCRP Strategic Plans and the accomplishments of the USGCRP, and recognizes that effective response to global change requires a strong scientific foundation. The Plan continues to encompass both the fundamental research that improves understanding, as well as the research necessary to inform responses to climate and global change. Learn More