47 



develop an initial set of priorities for a Federal environment and natural resources 

 R&D program based on the perspectives of a wide range of interests. Senior mem- 

 bers of the Administration, including Vice President Gore, Bruce Babbitt, John Gib- 

 bons, Carol Browner, Jim Baker, and Katie McGinty, addressed the forum partici- 

 pants. 



The experts reviewed the material presented and identified important near-term 

 priorities for funding. The major conclusions of the forum are being used to guide 

 the Agencies as they develop their Fiscal Year 1996 budgets, are summarized below. 

 The key conclusion was that there needs to be more attention paid to scientific basis 

 for integrated ecosystem management; socio-economic dimensions of environmental 

 change; the development of science-policy tools such as integrated assessments and 

 risk analysis; observations, and data and information systems; and environmental 

 technologies. 



The next step is to further refine these "environmental issue" strategy papers. Ad- 

 ditional sections will be included, such as a description of the roles of the different 

 agencies, a plan for implementing the strategy, and a list of performance milestones 

 to assess relevance, progress, and cost effectiveness. These issue strategies will then 

 be integrated into an initial Federal environment and natural resource R&D strat- 

 egy by Fall 1994. 



New Approach for Assessing State of Knowledge 



The Administration is committed to strengthening the manner in which the Fed- 

 eral government performs assessments, particularly integrated assessments, which 

 provide a bridge for a two-way dialogue between policymakers and scientists. The 

 policymakers need to articulate the challenges they face in pursuing a particular en- 

 vironmental objective, while the scientists must convey to the policymaker a sense 

 of the degree of understanding of the environmental problem; the physical, biologi- 

 cal, and socioeconomic issues that underlie it; and alternative approaches to re- 

 sponding, mitigating, or adapting to it. 



The CENR is currently developing a set of principles that should be used, and 

 mechanisms that could be used, to conduct credible scientific and technical assess- 

 ments. The principles that should be applied, independent of the mechanism em- 

 ployed, will likely include the involvement of all stakeholders, as appropriate and 

 an independent peer-review process. The mechanism chosen would depend upon a 

 number of factors, including the scope and audience of the assessment, and the 

 deadline for completion of the assessment. The CENR will develop a credible flexible 

 approach for conducting environmental assessments. 



In addition to legislatively mandated environmental assessments conducted by in- 

 dividual agencies, assessments could, and should, be conducted by: (a) subcommit- 

 tees of the CENR; (b) the White House science-policy assessment group, co-chaired 

 by OSTP, CEA, and OEP; and (c) the National Academy of Sciences/National Acad- 

 emy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine, depending upon the scope of the as- 

 sessment under consideration. The Administration has begun work on (a) and (b), 

 and has started a dialogue with the NASINAE/IOM with respect to option (c). 



We believe the combination of these three new mechanisms for performing assess- 

 ments across a wide variety of environmental issues will fully utilize the strengths 

 of the academic community and the Federal agencies, together with other key stake- 

 holders, while being responsive to policymakers needs without requiring the cre- 

 ation of any new agencies or institutions. 



Research Strategy that Goes Beyond Near-Term Regulatory and Management Needs 

 While many of the environmental research programs may be too near-term-and 

 policy driven, some of the largest Federal R&D programs have a long-term perspec- 

 tive, and some have actually been criticized for being too long-term and not ade- 

 quately near-term and policy relevant. 



One example of a Federal research program that has combined excellence in sci- 

 entific content, coordination with private sector research, and has balanced near-and 

 long-term policy requirements is the Federal stratospheric ozone program. The Fed- 

 eral research program, which was primarily housed in NASA, NOAA and NSF, pro- 

 vided most of the scientific information that formed the basis for both national and 



