[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 88 (Monday, May 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29687-29689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09749]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Geological Survey
[GX23EN05ESBJF00]
Assessment of Biodiversity and Climate Change; Request for Public
Comment and Nomination
AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey, Interior.
[[Page 29688]]
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides science to support
the mission of the Department of the Interior. In the FY22 budget,
Congress charged the USGS with developing an assessment of the linkages
between biodiversity and climate change. The USGS, in collaboration
with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Mexico's La
Comisi[oacute]n Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad
(CONABIO), and with assistance from the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L.
Udall Foundation's John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental
Conflict Resolution (National Center), will undertake a two-year (2023-
2025) regional assessment of biodiversity and climate change,
culminating in the first-ever assessment report addressing these two
challenges together for the United States, Canada, Mexico, U.S.
territories, and Freely Associated States. This notice announces the
opportunity for the public to comment on the draft prospectus for the
assessment, provide nominations for membership on the assessment
authoring team (administered by the USGS), and provide expressions of
interest in serving on the Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment
Guidance Committee (Guidance Committee) which will be convened by the
National Center.
DATES:
Comments regarding the draft prospectus must be submitted
no later than July 7, 2023.
Nominations for participation on the authoring team must
be submitted no later than July 7, 2023.
Expressions of interest or requests for additional
information about the assessment Guidance Committee must be submitted
no later than June 7, 2023.
ADDRESSES: The draft prospectus may be viewed and downloaded
electronically here: https://contribute.globalchange.gov/.
You may submit comments, nominations, an expression of interest,
and/or a request for additional information, by any of the following
methods: by email to [email protected] or through the
portal at https://contribute.globalchange.gov/; or
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request additional information
about this information collection request (ICR), contact Katherine C.
Malpeli by email at [email protected] or by telephone
at 919-896-5029. Individuals in the United States who are deaf,
deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711
(TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services.
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The assessment process and report production
will be led by the USGS and will be authored by 130 scientists, policy
experts, practitioners, and relevant knowledge-holders from government,
universities, communities, and the private sector. Authoring-team roles
include co-chairs, coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review
editors. The 35-member Guidance Committee, an independent,
multidisciplinary stakeholder body with diverse policy and technical
expertise, will be convened and facilitated by the National Center.
Guidance Committee members will engage throughout the assessment
process and report production to provide guidance and feedback
regarding the policy relevance of the report content and ensure its
messaging supports policymakers and other report audiences. The
National Center will convene the Guidance Committee on a rolling basis,
beginning early in the assessment process, to ensure that the Guidance
Committee can provide multidisciplinary perspectives on the draft
prospectus and assessment report drafts.
All authoring team and Guidance Committee members are expected to
contribute meaningfully and substantially to the assessment process.
The authoring team and Guidance Committee will comprise experts,
knowledge-holders, and practitioners with experience in a number of
areas, including (but not limited to) the physical sciences, biological
sciences, social sciences, climate-change impacts, application of
indigenous and local knowledge, valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem
services (economic and non-economic), conservation decision-making and
planning (local to national), and existing laws, policies, and policy
tools relevant to biodiversity or climate change. Participants are
sought from diverse backgrounds and sectors, including (but not limited
to) academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental research
institutions, government agencies concerned with natural-resource
management (local to national), indigenous governments and communities,
business and industry, non-governmental organizations, and the general
public. The assessment process is committed to an inclusive approach,
with diverse representation among disciplines, perspectives, sectors,
regions, expertise, and demographic backgrounds.
The assessment will build on the recently completed
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES) global assessment and the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change-IPBES co-sponsored scientific outcome report, scaling
down to the continental, national, and subnational contexts. The
resulting report will contribute to the National Nature Assessment, a
4-year undertaking led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program.
The authoring team and the Guidance Committee will meet
periodically via virtual meetings from 2023 through 2025. The Guidance
Committee and full authoring team will meet in person in Fall 2023.
Likewise, the Guidance Committee and a subset of assessment authors
(co-chairs, coordinating authors) will meet a second time in person in
mid-2024.
Members of the Guidance Committee and assessment-authoring team
(including review editors) serve as independent experts (i.e., not
representing their institution or organization) on a voluntary basis
without compensation. However, while away from their homes or regular
places of business, Guidance Committee members and assessment authors
engaged in meetings associated with the development of this assessment
report may be entitled to travel expenses, including per diem in lieu
of subsistence, as authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703, in the same manner as
persons employed intermittently in Federal Government service.
The USGS and its partners seek:
public comments on a draft prospectus (https://contribute.globalchange.gov/) for the assessment of biodiversity and
climate change,
nominations of individuals to serve on the assessment's
authoring team,
and expressions of interest and requests for additional
information concerning the assessment's Guidance Committee.
Each nomination for the authoring team and each expression of
interest for the Guidance Committee should include (a) name, (b) phone
number, (c) email address, and (d) affiliation (where relevant).
Additional information may also be shared at the nominator's
discretion.
Public comments on the prospectus should be accompanied by the
commentor's name, phone number,
[[Page 29689]]
email address, and affiliation (at the commentor's discretion).
Shawn Carter,
Chief Scientist, National Climate Adaptation Science Center.
[FR Doc. 2023-09749 Filed 5-5-23; 8:45 am]
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