The International START Secretariat will target its coordination of activities, targeted primarily to enable regional-scale global change research, observation, assessment, and capacity building, and their integration into international science and policy efforts. The objectives will be to: (1) advance knowledge and observational information that is directly relevant to strategic research questions of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) about global environmental change causes, consequences, and response strategies at regional and sub-regional scales, with an emphasis on developing country regions; (2) enhance scientific input to policy responses through regional and sub-regional assessments that are recognized by national, regional and international stakeholders as having salience, credibility, and legitimacy; (3) improve integration of developing country research, observation and assessment with international research, observation, and assessment programs; (4) promote international collaboration for all the above, including increasing the participation of U.S. scientists and institutions; and (5) sustain and increase human and institutional capacity for all the above, the latter objective being integral to all the others.
The coordination activities to be performed by this Secretariat in support of these objectives include initiation and provision of scientific management support for: (a) existing collaborative research and observation programs and projects that engage multiple institutions and countries and address regional science priorities; (b) regional assessments that engage stakeholders from science, policy, civil society and private sector communities to address regional policy priorities; and (c) science-driven capacity building programs. The latter will encompass small grants for early career scientists, postdoctoral fellowship programs, conferences, training workshops, graduate and undergraduate curriculum development, participation in research, observation, and assessment programs, and enhancement and maintenance of a network of regional research centers;
START will also act as a liaison between START?s partners and participants in developing country regions and the agencies that participate in the U.S. Global Change Research Program, well as with international programs and organizations such as the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP); the World Climate Research Program (WCRP); the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program; the International Program on the Human Dimensions of Global Change Research (IHDP); Diversitas, the global change program dedicated to biodiversity science; and the Intergovernmental Program on Climate Change (IPCC).
