What's New: To receive these updates and announcements by email, manage your subscription, or review the mailing list archive, go to the NCSE List User Form.   NCSE Releases Report on Forecasting Environmental Changes   The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is pleased to announce the release of Forecasting Environmental Changes: A Report of the 5th National Conference on Science Policy and the Environment.  The report explores strategies for improving the scientific and societal impact of environmental forecasting technologies.  NCSE's 5th National Conference served as a forum to connect researchers who study environmental conditions and trends with decisionmakers who need that information.  More than 850 leading researchers, policymakers, government officials, business executives, educators, and students from 46 states participated in this multi-stakeholder conference.  Participants assessed our ability to understand and forecast environmental changes, identified opportunities for improving these capabilities, and articulated user needs for achieving specific societal benefits of environmental forecasting systems.  The report includes the text of three plenary lectures as well as participants' recommendations for improving environmental forecasting and therefore enabling more effective environmental decisionmaking. In his opening keynote address, James Gustave Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, addressed opportunities for the United States to assert a leadership role in global environmental issues and change the way we understand the future of our planet.  He focused his remarks on climate disruption, which he believes is the single biggest threat facing society today. Jack Dangermond, Founder and Chairman of ESRI, discussed how geography enables us to understand patterns, relationships, and processes at all scales, not just the whole globe but also neighborhoods, watersheds, cities, states, and nations. Geography provides a framework for modeling the future and for visualizing, integrating, and referencing what we know. National Science Foundation Director Arden Bement emphasized that, "our topic—forecasting environmental changes—ranks as one of the grand challenges facing scientists, engineers, policymakers and concerned citizens in our time.  Fundamental research on the environment has great promise to contribute in myriad ways to our nation and our world." Recent devastating natural disasters around the globe have focused international attention on the need to improve environmental forecasting and decisionmaking.  Aside from improving science and monitoring efforts, a key component in preventing natural hazards from becoming natural disasters is effective communication.   "All the technology in the world doesn't do a lot of good if you can't get the word out," said Charles Groat, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey.  Download the 2005 NCSE conference report, Forecasting Environmental Changes (PDF; 100pp; 3.5 MB) Additional information is available on the 2005 NCSE conference website. ----------------------------------------------- Mary Shockley Conference Program Assistant National Council for Science and the Environment 1707 H Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006 Tel: 202-530-5810 E-mail: mshockley@NCSEonline.org

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