Donald F. Boesch

Climate Change Research and Assessment

U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change

The first National Assessment, completed in 2000, provided a detailed understanding of the consequences of climate change for the nation and examined the possible coping mechanisms that exist to adapt to climate change.  The assessment included regional activities, sectoral activities and a broad synthesis.  The five sectoral assessments include agriculture, coastal areas and marine resources, forests, human health and water resources.  I co-chaired (with Dr. Don Scavia, Federal co-chair) the panel that undertook the Coastal Areas and Marine Resources Assessment . 

Our report, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change on Coastal Areas and Marine Resources,was published as NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series #21 and may be viewed and downloaded from the NOAA website (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).  The Overview report of the National Assessment, Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, is also accessible via the web.

UMCES Activities Related to Climate Change

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's strategic plan From Vision to Reality includes as one of its strategic directions Regional Consequences of Climate Change and Variability

UMCES scientists have produced several reports related to the consequences of climate change on marine and terrestrial systems, including:

• Coastal: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change
• Coastal and Marine Ecosystems & Global Climate Change: Potential Effects on U.S. Resources
• Ecosystems & Global Climate Change
• Consequences of Climate Change on the Ecogeomorphology of Wetlands

Pew Center on Global Climate Change

With my colleagues, Victoria Coles, David Kimmel and David Miller I prepared section entitled Ramifications of Climate Change for Chesapeake Bay Hypoxia that is forthcoming in the Pew Center on Global Climate Change report Regional Impacts of Climate Change in the United States: Four Case Studies.
Scientific American article on the report.
National Wetlands Newsletter on Global Warming and Coastal Dead Zones

Don Boesch testifying before Senate Environment and Public Works Committee

Maryland Commission on Climate Change

In April, 2007, Governor Martin O'Malley created a Commission on Climate Change. I am chairing the Scientific and Technical Working Group, one of three working groups serving the Commission. The Commission has approved its Action Plan and it is slated for public release at the end of July 2008. The Plan includes the STWG's report Comprehensive Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on Maryland.

Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay

The Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the Chesapeake Bay Program, of which I am a member, is preparing a report on Climate Change Research and the Chesapeake Bay.

On September 26, 2007 I testified at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on an Examination of the Impacts of Global Warming on the Chesapeake Bay.

• My testimony
• Answers to follow-up questions posed by Senator Benjamin Cardin
• An op-ed I wrote based on the testimony in the Baltimore Sun

Federal Climate Change Research and Information

On Novebember 14, 2007 I testified at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Improving the Federal Climate Change Research and Information Program.

• My testimony
• An interesting overview of the hearing

Environmental Sustainability
in the University System of Maryland

Chancellor William E. Kirwan has launced an Environmental Sustainability Initiative for the University System of Maryland to mobilize the efforts of the member institutions to address climate change. I am contributing to the direction and coordination of these efforts.

• Presentation to the Board of Regents on climate change and the USM
• Presentation to campus facility planners on Maryland Commisison Climate Change
• Presentation to campus facility planners on Environmental Sustainability Initiative

National Climate Change Impacts Assessments

I am a member of two groups preparing national-level syntheses of climate change impacts:

• Committee to Prepare a Unified Synthesis Product under the US Climate Change Science Program. The CCSP has called for the production of an integrative document entitled the CCSP Unified Synthesis Product (USP). The USP will synthesize the information contained in the 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products, the recent IPCC reports, and other recent results that have appeared in the scientific literature. By doing so, it will provide a single coherent analysis of the current understanding of climate change science, summarize the contributions of the CCSP Program, and identify important gaps in the science. The USP report Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States is currently in review.
• Committee on Ecological Impacts of Climate Change under the National Research Council. The Committee is preparing a short consensus, high-level report that presents a balanced summary of key examples of observed impacts of climate change on a variety of ecosystems. The report will be used to derive dissemination products in the form of a public brochure and a teaching guide. The draft report is currently in review.