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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Appendix D
Line-by-Line Comments

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Page/line	Comment
P02/L1	The approach of the summary seems odd. This reads more as an Introduction than as a summary. The reader does not learn much about what is in the Decadal Plan except for the last paragraph and the four pillars.
P02/L1	The summary could be more aspirational and articulate what is that the Nation will get for this 3-4 $B in the next 10 years
P02/L1	This summary focuses on climate change with add-ons for other global change drivers. I suggest that DSP should look at all drivers on an equal basis, including climate change. The DSP should recognize the different scale at which different drivers operate. Climate change will have large impacts in decades to centuries but land-use change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss may have negative impacts now.
P02/L10-11	One thought is to begin the Executive Summary by discussing global change issues and noting that climate change is probably the most consequential but other aspects of global change such as human effects of biodiversity, land use, and (I suggest adding) plastics (or persistent pollutants) also have significant impacts on human and natural systems.
P02/L23	Some care needs to be taken in how these other changes are listed (e.g. why only one kind of pollution). Could also align this list with the headings on pp 9-16 (pillar 1).
P02/L25-26	Can we say which “other factors are often disproportionately affected”?
P02/L34	Add “net” so the sentence reads “transformational efforts to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions”.
P02/L39-40	The sentence “New knowledge and approaches are needed to inform measures to adapt…” is correct. It could be made sharper and more timely but noting that with the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the US has significantly increased its investments in infrastructure and it is critical that such investments adequately account for future climate change risks.
P02/L40	Be more specific regarding what new knowledge and approaches i.e. social sciences, science and technology studies, the humanities etc...
P02/L40	Suggest replacing “projected” in the phrase “adapt to current and projected impacts” with “future” because we’re dealing with many impacts that had not been projected.

Page 50 Cite Bookmark

Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P02/L40	Replace “carbon” with “net greenhouse gas” in the phrase “reduce carbon emissions”.
P02/L43	For the non-climate world “mitigation” has a somewhat different meaning. Add “Climate” at the start of reference box 4.
P03/L1	Be more specific when referring to “social groups”, i.e. at the intersection of gender, race, class, sexuality etc...
P03/L2	Perhaps also consider understanding where adaptation/mitigation is working well in impacted communities to see what we can learn, and how this can be rapidly translated to other contexts.
P03/L4	Add “communications” into the list of essential systems the support society stated here.
P03/L811	There is also a need to act with the information that we have already; how much information is “good enough”...
P03/L9	Is the research on disruptions also translational research on how to improve preparedness & response?
P04/L1	The pull quotes are fine but they could be removed to save space, if need be.
P04/L17	Funny font switch in “eutrophication of Earth’s ecosystem”.

INTRODUCTION

Page/line	Comment
P05/L14	Climate is part of global change.
P05/L30	Add NASA to caption for agency logos.
P06/L10	Add social, psychological, and environmental as impacts alongside “economic costs”.
P06/L14	Highlight that while the burden is “felt equally across society”, it was not caused equally across society.
P06/L17	Rephrase to include “people of color” in this example.
P06/L17	Highlight that redlining is primarily an issue of racism, but race is not mentioned in this sentence or subsequent sentences.
P06/L19	Highlight these neighborhoods face “higher risks of death from heat- related impacts” because they have less green spaces.
P06/L19	Highlight that the issue of race is important to include, women are also more vulnerable to climate hazards.
P06/L21	In science, policy and action can exacerbate inequalities, this is also an issue of doing work under structures that are discriminatory to women and people of color.

Page 51 Cite Bookmark

Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P06/L23-33	Box 3: Consider using the easy 4-part descriptions here and their relevance to enviro/climate change: McDermott M, Mahanty S, Schrekenberg K. 2013. Examining equity: A multidimensional framework for assessing equity in payments for ecosystem services. Environmental Science and Policy 33: 416–427. Pascual, U., Phelps, J., Garmendia, E., Brown, K., Corbera, E., Martin, A., ... & Muradian, R. (2014). Social equity matters in payments for ecosystem services. Bioscience, 64(11), 1027-1036. Re: protected classes (which the federal agencies should be including ostensibly in their research), it should be sufficient to include a reference to the 8-11 defined classes that agencies should classify for relevance to their medium or statutory authority, and include some reasonable “above class” guidance, like the Justice40 definitions of underserved communities. [https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/M-21-28.pdf]
P06/L29	“Diversity of thought, knowledge, and experience” can be simplified to “different worldviews”.
P06/L30	Include “practices” after “and responses from the perspectives”.
P06/L30	Equity and environmental justice need definition. The EPA has a nice definition for EJ. We can use a UN definition for equity.
P06/L32	Have citations for why “build capacity and a more diverse scientific workforce” this is important.
P06/L33	Define “frontline communities”.
P06/L37	Change “to play” to “as a coordinator”.
P06/L38-39	As climate change science and policy is seeking to widen its base, it is also important to define what roles new actors play or should play. Recognize and provide guidance on the role of groups such as Businesses, NGOs, Civil Society, States, Municipalities, households etc.
P07/L5	Specify if it’s “the risk the systems pose” or “the risk the interactions pose”. It’s important to notice that these systems also provide enormous benefit in the context of global change as well.
P07/L19	Having this and the glossary seem somewhat redundant. If looking for more space, this is a place where text could be reduced.
P07/L21	Use the IPCC definition of climate change, which includes natural as well as anthropogenic change.
P07/L36-37	It would be helpful to have some examples such as the definition of “global change” here.
P08/L1	This definition excludes resilience of natural systems, which cannot anticipate or prepare.

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

ADVANCING SCIENCE

Page/line	Comment
P09/L2	The way the strategic plan is described here and throughout the document feels as if this document is not the plan itself. Talking about “this plan” and having it be more present might make it also feel less abstract/more urgent and more engaging for those who implement it.
P09/L2	It’s not clear what “systems-based research” is.
P09/L15-19	Perhaps mention the USGCRP Advisory Committee?
P09/L19-21	Many of these acronyms have already been introduced and can be used here.
P09/L29	Cascade?
P09/L30	Change “manage” to either address, adapt, or mitigate in the phrase “user-driven science needed to manage climate and global change.”
P09/L34	Another bullet needs to be added here, something that goes beyond quantifying, especially if it’s human systems (e.g., supporting research networks, providing a framework, ...).
P09/L38	Include “rivers and streams” in the list of “in-water” examples.
P10/L8	Add “and nature.” after “pose critical risks to society”.
P10/L11	And actions to address?
P10/L11	Reframe this header to “Advance understanding of the physical and social processes that drive the nature and outcomes of extreme events.” That would open up research examples on social interventions to reduce risk.
P10/L11	Bigger related idea: The societal impact part of the “Advancing Science Section” thing might need to go up front & be mentioned as connected to the subsequent areas of advancement, because extreme events, tipping points, biodiversity, land use are all issues that disproportionately impact marginalized communities.
P10/L36	Add “or the natural world” after “significant impacts on society”.
P11/L2	Good to see this section. Should mention other key drivers of biodiversity reduction e.g., land use, pollution.
P11/L12	This clause does not parse, maybe delete “due” in “losses due in marine”?
P11/L28	Globalization, fuel crises, and changing consumption patterns are important processes that could be identified in this list.
P12/L2	Climate Sensitivity and feedbacks should not be a priority. It is a very important scientific issue, but given how much research has been devoted to this topic, and that the AR6 just narrowed the uncertainty range for climate sensitivity, one has to wonder how much gain the USGCRP expects to make on this matter versus other topics. For example, could more resources be put into better understanding drivers of modes of climate variability and their relationship with anthropogenic driven climate change?
P12/L12	“observational networks” are foundationally important—in the physical and social science.
P12/L28	Consider phrasing: scientific discussions of uncertainty in models can be misunderstood as questions about the underlying science.

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P12/L32	Climate sensitivities and uncertainty investigations should heavily be guided by user input. Where and how does climate sensitivity and uncertainty matter in decision-making?
P12/L38	This section is written as “expand research” implying, “do more of what we’re already doing” rather than “do wholly new things”. The “fulfilling the vision” section suggests this section involves new priorities and activities for USGCRP. Would be worth calling those out….. Also don’t see reference to “user-driven” science here.
P12/L43-44	Could broaden this by instead using “human security” or just “security” instead of “national and international security.” That encompasses national and international security, but also domestic tranquility, violence. There is published research projecting increases in crime caused by climate change.
P13/L11-13	Are there other approaches besides modeling that can produce insight into coupled human-natural systems? It seems that social science has applied more than modeling to develop such insights.
P13/L11-13	Provide some suggestions regarding different methodological approaches and disciplines—ethnography, photo-voice, interviews, surveys, etc.
P13/L17-18	Change “fully integrating” to “integrating” or “better integrating” in the phrase “human-natural systems requires fully integrating the social and natural sciences” as “fully integrating might limit or slow progress.
P14/L4	What about co-solving for climate challenges in the context of other issues at the center of community life? e.g. food security, environmental health, racial equity in city planning?
P14/L8	Other considerations such as equity should be applied not just “economic based models to evaluate societal decisions.”
P14/L16	“co-design, co-production, and co-dissemination” all fall under the umbrella of co-production. The Lopez reference is a case study from the Jordan River - if these references are intended to be pointers to information to help people implement the plan, we might consider recommending some others.
P14/L16	May need to caveat that coproduction must proceed carefully, such that it does not demand an inordinate amount of affected communities and properly compensates time and efforts. Moreover, that the process does not reify existing imbalanced power structures.
P14/L20	Unexpected?
P15/L2	Power, geography, knowledge, technology, structures and institutions all exacerbate vulnerability beyond environmental hazards.
P15/L2	One of the things that resonated about the 2009 NAS report on Earth’s Energy future was that at the end of the list of recommendations there was a statement “a number of current barriers are likely to delay or even prevent the accelerated deployment of the energy-supply and end-use technologies described in this report. Policy and regulatory actions, as well as other incentives, will be required to overcome these barriers.” What can be said about navigating local to international structural barriers to change? This could be a good place to specify equity too. This section kind of reads like the vulnerability is to all equally.

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P15/L8-12	Suggest dropping the example from Zinsstag et al., 2018.
P15/L14	Here and in general, I think it’s helpful that this research will be conducted, but I wonder how these efforts might be coordinated to truly move the ball effectively down the field. The strategic plan could provide an opportunity to strategize about what coordination might look like... (would welcome more consideration on that throughout this doc).
P15/L26	Social sciences is an academic field, the other topics in the list are elements of the climate system.
P15/L27	Insights and methods?
P15/L32	Add “practices that support” after “effective responses need to incorporate considerations.”
P15/L35	This is a good list of research topics. If space permits it might be interesting to explore how these could be applied to specific global change research topics. For example, how would these be applied to examine loss of biodiversity?
P15/L36	I know this term “human systems” has been used above but I wonder if it is effective...
P15/L39	Valuing?
P15/L41	Could be implementing too and not just valuing.
P15/L42	“conditions of deep uncertainty” needs to be challenged.
P16/L5-7	Should include other global change responses e.g., how reduce biodiversity loss, plastic pollution.
P16/L9	Humanities?
P16/L12	There is a broad literature on “just transitions” that speak about the importance of justice and equity in such shifts.
P16/L15	Add “costs” to “the benefits, trade-offs, path dependencies, and interactions”.

INFORMING DECISIONS

Page/line	Comment
P17/L1	Social science and humanities are missing here. How do we ensure that science is operationalized into policy and action?
P17/L2	This is a very good discussion, but it only covers climate change decisions.
P17/L29-37	Strong/defined actions, “will provide/is ready to inform” implies sufficient certainty for decision-making – same question about how this pillar can be met given state of the science/speed of advancement of the science.
P17/L36-37	This is where equity must be considered to make sure analyses doesn’t miss, see recent example from flood plain analyses: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2378023120905439.
P17/L36-37	It’s the distribution of benefits and costs that is very important here (not just the overall costs and benefits).
P18/L2-3	How do we address lack of capacity to act? There might be enough information but are there enough resources to act on this information?
P18/L2-3	This also includes incentives.

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P18/L3	With respect to capacity there is the capacity to act, as well as the capacity to engage.
P18/L4	It is important to improve and sustain existing tools, as well as build new ones. And, where possible incorporate information into the tools decision makers already use.
P18/L4-5	This is very good. It’s also an example of a specific goal that there should be more of in the DSP. Any sense of where we will be in 10 years on this?
P18/L12-13	Yes, and this information can feed back to help determine important future research questions.
P18/L17	Why do assessments fit within informing decisions? Assessments should be part of the scientific process and engaging the Nation.
P18/L20	Section 2921 is the definitions. NCA is section 2936 (15 U.S. Code § 2936 - Scientific assessment \| U.S. Code \| US Law \| LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu))
P18/L25	This is big. I imagine they didn’t have time to add it to other places in the document yet, but should (e.g., biodiversity section).
P19/L19	What are equity dimensions?
P19/L23-34	Can be merged with Pillar 3 discussion of research design on page 23—if purpose is “engagement” then belongs in Pillar 3; if purpose is “useful information” then belongs in Pillar 2.
P19/L24	Yes! Kudos to USGCRP and the DSP authors for moving in this very important direction.
P19/L26-27	Yes, and it would be great to see the USGCRP doing some coordination with these partnerships to reach more people (add avoid duplication and stakeholder fatigue) and to help make partnerships as effective as possible (a “no wrong door” policy—if one agency gets involved and then realizes their partner needs something they can’t provide, there’s a way to connect them to a more aligned partner).
P19/L31-34	This is very important. Can the discussion be longer to get into some more specifics?
P19/L32-33	There could be a place to share translation models, because it isn’t clear what this means.
P19/L36	“Indigenous and Traditional Ecological Knowledge” would be better in the section about advancing knowledge.
P20/L1	Will consider?

ENGAGING THE NATION

Page/line	Comment
P21/L12-13	Add: “or have the capacity to act or engage.”
P21/L23-24	Very good. To what extent do USGCRP members engage with information consumers within their departments and agencies?

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P21/L29	People will need to be more than connected to tools, they will need training on how to use them & at what scales & could also be encouraged to bring others into tool use.
P21/L31-33	Explicitly defining the CASCs/Climate Hubs as being outside of the USGCRP (despite being funded by agencies that participate in USGCRP) is noteworthy.
P21/L37	It’s called the Cooperative Extension System now and is part of NIFA (Cooperative Extension System \| National Institute of Food and Agriculture).
P21/L40	A strategic plan of this magnitude should not mention something as mundane and small-scale as webinars.
P21-22/L40-L2	This mini-paragraph appears disconnected without some proper nouns—the verbs are all passive and give no sense of who will do these things and how they connect to the strategic plan. Is the point that the federal regional science organizations will do this as part of/in concert with USGCRP? Consider rewriting or dropping.
P22/L4-8	This statement is broader than the first paragraph of the regional science organizations statement – no proper nouns. Perhaps some examples of kinds of boundary organizations (e.g., scientific/professional societies, perhaps)? This would be a good place to discuss geography/rural areas and engagement with faith communities.
P22/L7-8	Add: “and the feedback from decision-making to research”
P22/L12-13	The difference between “opportunities to interact” and “engagement” is cryptic. If the point is that “engagement” = “FACA” then this sentence belongs at the end of the previous paragraph.
P22/L16	If “engage” = “FACA” in the previous section, is this the verb that should be used here?
P22/L19-20	“integrate the organizations” reads as “have them merge”—is that what is meant?
P22/L21-23	Good. Perhaps add community based organizations.
P22/L25-29	This paragraph isn’t about “engagement” per se. Arguably it’s about Pillar 2. Needs some tightening.
P22/L32	What is the education for this workforce? Is professional development to build skills & climate leaders, part of this or just K-12, informal ed, & extension/community engagement. Describe multi-level more.
P22/L33	Add a note about the difficulty of getting a diverse workforce when not all social identity groups and different socioeconomic backgrounds get to places where they can be seen and picked.

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P22/L36	If this is true, then the mix of university types (land-grant, HSI, MSI, tribal) isn’t sufficient. Need language around building global change research at community/two-year colleges and state/local university systems (not just the flagship land-grant institutions).
P22/L40-44	Point about preferential involvement of HBCUs/MSIs from previous section might go here.
P22-23 /L40-2	What is translation? Is it education (k-gray), professional development (e.g. supporting climate professionals)? Training to do what?
P23/L5-6	Is it also possible to add something here about using education to help translate education, we need a systems approach not just more science with community members, but once that science is done continue with education, not everyone has access to research participation, but what education looks like is HUGE (e.g. are K-12 standards support the literacy & agency/belonging needed for equitable action).
P23/L7-8	This is important, but it’s not “research design”.
P23/L8-10	“Applied science” is mentioned neither in Pillar 1 nor Pillar 2. Which parts of the Pillar 1 research program are “applied” science? How does “community-level adaptation” fit in either to “applied science” or to decision-making?
P23/L12-13	Agree these are critical. “Rapid assessments” are only mentioned here, and “synthesis” is only mentioned in the context of biodiversity (Pillar 1). Who is carrying them out? Are they Pillar 1 activities? Pillar 2 activities?

COLLABORATING INTERNATIONALLY

Page/line	Comment
P24/L4-5	Arguably “responding” isn’t inherently international (though responding effectively probably is)…
P24/L11-12	Collaboration across boundaries is not necessarily related to collaboration across disciplines, but the language carries throughout the Pillar.
P24/L14-17	Not sure this statement is the right tone. “is fostered by” might be better…
P24/L19	Drop the acronym here.
P24/L29	This flagship is missing a verb—other three have verbs.
P24/L34	References refer to 1987, International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
P24/L37	IPCC acronym defined earlier.
P25/L6	Here would be a good entry into increasing diversity in climate science.
P25/L13	NCA acronym already introduced.

Page 58 Cite Bookmark

Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P25/L19	Foster instead of enhance?
P25/L35	Define acronym WCRP here?
P26/L7	“Building capacity” is parallel.
P26/L40-41	Key to bring in social sciences and humanities to better address the inability of scientific knowledge to be translated into action via policy.
P27/L9-10	Conversations between scientists and policy-makers are essential here as much of the scientific reports, as rigorous as they can be made to be, still, do not carry much weight at the UNFCCC.
P27/L11	They are technically “intergovernmental” GEO.
P27/L11	Needs acronym defined here (USGEO United States Group on Earth Observations).

FULFILLING THE VISION

Page/line	Comment
P29/L1-2	Introduce this (particularly what opportunities could be), earlier in the document.
P29/L1-4	Evaluation in the rest of the document either refers to science activities or evaluation of the USGCRP’s products and outputs. This is a stronger statement about assessing US government capacity and policy.
P29/L9	Sexual orientation is only mentioned here—include elsewhere where minority groups are listed.

GLOSSARY

Page/line	Comment
P30/L15	May not want to put “weather” in the definition of climate change.
P30/L16	Climate change is not necessarily anthropogenic.
P30/L21	This framing perpetuates the “communication to” / loading dock model that the DSP mostly moves beyond. Update text to make multi-directional and affirm that both parties are knowledge producers.
P30/L30	Date in Lubcheco letter is 18 May 2021.
P30/L33-34	Edit definition. In and out of atmosphere is one part of it, but have also seen to and from surface of the earth (e.g., An update on Earth’s energy balance in light of the latest global observations \| Nature Geoscience).
P30/L43	Only mentioned here. Consider incorporating religious communities into main text?

Page 59 Cite Bookmark

Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.

Page/line	Comment
P31/L1	Only mentioned here. Consider incorporating persons with disabilities into main text?
P31/L1	“geography” in the conclusion, “rural” not mentioned explicitly anywhere else.
P32/L4-5	This is very specific to get a glossary mention (discussed only once in the document).
P32/L7-9	This is very specific to get a glossary mention (discussed only once in the document).

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Suggested Citation: "Appendix D: Line-by-Line Comments." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Review of the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Draft Decadal Strategic Plan, 2022-2031. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26608.