In response to Public Law 110-161, the National Academies will conduct a series of coordinated activities to study the serious and sweeping issues associated with global climate change, including the science and technology challenges involved, and provide advice on the most effective steps and most promising strategies that can be taken to respond. This work will be led by a Committee on America's Climate Choices responsible for coordinating the work of four panels, convening a Summit, convening additional workshops or informal working groups to gather information and address cross-cutting issues, and writing a final report. Collectively, the activities will produce a broad, action-oriented, and authoritative set of analyses to inform and guide responses to climate change across the nation. To provide detailed analysis of important technical issues, focused panels will be convened to address each of the following four questions: 1. What can be done to limit the magnitude of future climate change? 2. What can be done to adapt to the impacts of climate change? 3. What can be done to better understand climate change and its interactions with human and ecological systems? 4. What can be done to inform effective decisions and actions related to climate change?The Panel on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change will write a report on question 2. The panel will describe, analyze, and assess actions and strategies to reduce vulnerability, increase adaptive capacity, improve resiliency, and promote successful adaptation to climate change in different regions, sectors, systems, and populations. The costs, benefits, limitations, tradeoffs, and uncertainties associated with different options and strategies should be assessed qualitatively and, to the extent practicable, quantitatively, using the scenarios of future climate change and vulnerability developed in coordination with the Committee on America's Climate Choices and the other panels. The panel will draw on existing reports and assessments and use case studies to identify lessons learned from past experiences, promising current approaches, and potential new directions. The issues and examples considered by the panel should be drawn from a variety of regions and sectors, focusing on domestic actions but also considering international dimensions, and should cover a range of temporal and spatial scales.The panel should also provide input to the Committee on America's Climate Choices on the following integrating questions:* What short-term actions can be taken to adapt effectively to climate change?* What promising long-term strategies, investments, and opportunities could be pursued to adapt to climate change?* What are the major scientific and technological advances (e.g., new observations, improved models, research priorities, etc.) needed to promote effective adaptation to climate change?* What are the major impediments (e.g., practical, institutional, economic, ethical, intergenerational, etc.) to effective adaptation to climate change, and what can be done to overcome these impediments?* What can be done to adapt to climate change at different levels (e.g., local, state, regional, national, and in collaboration with the international community) and in different sectors (e.g., nongovernmental organizations, the business community, the research and academic communities, individuals and households, etc.)?This project is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The approximate start date is October 1, 2008.A final report will be issued at the end of the project.