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solid waste disposal, water quality and quantity, urban and rural air pollution, re- 

 source use and management, loss of wetlands, soil erosion, degradation of aquatic 

 and terrestrial ecological systems, desertification, deforestation, marine pollution, 

 natural disasters, loss of biological diversity, stratospheric ozone depletion, and cli- 

 mate change. These issues are interrelated and are no longer the sole concern of 

 the scientific community and environmentalists. Their importance is now well recog- 

 nized by the private sector and governments around the world. Sound national and 

 international environmental policies must be based on a solid foundation of sci- 

 entific, technical, and economic understanding of the relevant facts. This under- 

 standing will allow us to meet a number of key Administration and Congressional 

 priorities. 



• a cleaner environment, by providing the scientific and technical information 

 needed to continue to refine environmental and economic policies; 



• a healthier safer America, by improving our understanding of the human 

 health implications of environmental changes and the societal vulnerabilities to 

 natural hazards; 



• a stronger economy, through the continued development of cost-effective 

 pollution prevention technologies, and a reduction of market and government 

 inefficiencies that prevent the diffusion of technologies and efficient use of legal, 

 economic and environmental resources; 



• national security, by providing the information needed to reduce destabiliz- 

 ing environmental degradation and resource depletion that leads to conflict, en- 

 vironmental refugees, and further ecological damage resulting from war; and 



• an improved education and training of Americans through environmental 

 education curriculum development and strengthening environmental continuing 

 education initiatives, utilizing such mechanisms as government-private sector 

 partnerships. 



Given the increasing complexity, scope and linking of local, regional and global 

 environmental issues facing our nation and globe, significant changes are needed in 

 the Federal environment and natural resources R&D system. The classical single 

 agency, single scientific discipline approach to problem solving needs to be tran- 

 scended by a coordinated multi-agency interdisciplinary approach. The problems will 

 only be understood by bringing together natural and social scientists, economists, 

 engineers and policymakers. 



Several recent reports have criticized the Federal environmental research and de- 

 velopment system and its relationship to environmental policy formulation: 



• the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government, Decem- 

 ber 1992: Environmental Research and Development: Strengthening the Federal 

 Infrastructure; 



• the National Commission on the Environment, 1993: Choosing a Sustain- 

 able Future; 



• the National Research Council, 1993: Research to Protect, Restore and 

 Manage the Environment; 



• the Committee for the National Institute for the Environment, 1993: A Pro- 

 posal for a National Institute for the Environment: Need, Rationale, and Struc- 

 ture; 



• the Office of Technology Assessment, October 1993: Preparing for an Uncer- 

 tain Climate; 



• the Environmental Protection Agency, 1992. Safeguarding the Future: 

 Credible Science, Credible Decisions; and 



• the National Research Council, 1993. A Biological Survey for the Nation. 



The major issues raised by these reports include: 



• no clear leadership; 



• inadequate links between research and policy; 



• no comprehensive national environmental research plan; 



• no comprehensive think tank for assessing state of knowledge; 



• no approach to research issues beyond near-term regulatory or manage- 

 ment needs; 



