134 



^f ENVlRONMbNTAL MStARCH AND tiKVELOPMENT 



■ The development of pollution-control technologies 



■ The economic and social research directed at understanding the 

 many com|>lcx. mterrelattd factors that influence environmcnial quality'*^ 



Using this definition, we examined federal R&D programs in the 

 natural and physical sciences devoted to understanding both the pristine 

 and degraded states of our air, land, water, and biological rcr. >urces. Wc 

 also considered programs directed at understanding the impacts of pollu- 

 tion on public health, as well as social science activities focusing on the human 

 causes of and responses to resource depletion and environmental change. 

 Much environmental R&D is not directly related to the impacts of pollu- 

 tion. A large proportion of the federal effort is devoted to understanding 

 earth systems, including air, land, and ocean resources. Understanding these 

 systems is critical to national and global environmental protcaion efforts. 



Many federal agencies supf>ort environment-related research and 

 development. The federal government spent more than $5 billion on en- 

 vironmental R&D in fiscal year 1991. The bulk of this research was in the 

 environmental sciences (S^^ billion) and engineering ($1.1 billion) areas; 

 information sciences (S195 million) and work in the social sciences ($40 mil- 

 lion) made up the remainder (see Figure i). lablc i shows estimated frderal 

 support for environmental R&D by field of science, and Table 1 shows funding 

 for environmental R&D by department and agency. 



Major environmental research programs support the missions of nu- 

 merous federal dcpaitmtnts and agencies, including the Environmental Pro- 

 tection Agency, the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Admin- 

 istration, and the Depanments of Energ)-, the Interior, Health and Human 

 Services. Agriculture, and Defense.'' The activiucs of these departments and 

 agencies are described in Appendix A and arc summarized in Box 1 (page 

 40), and it is on the programs of these agencies that our analysis focuses. 



IMPROVING THE FEDERAL R&D EFFORT 



At first glance, the federal environmental research and development effort 

 seems impressive. More than a dozen federal depanments and agencies con- 

 duct environment-related R&D. and total annual federal funding is more 

 than $5 billion. Unfortunately, the scope, quality, and organization of this 

 effon are unequal to the increasingly complex challenges to cnvironmenul 

 R&D that WT outlined earlier. 



