This award provides renewed support to the American Geophysical Union for support of the work of the International Secretariat of the Global Change System for Analysis, Research, and Training (START). START is a jointly sponsored program of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), and the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (HDP). The primary mission of these networks is (1) to conduct research on regional aspects of global change, (2) to assess the impacts of the regional findings, and (3) to provide regionally relevant integrated and evaluated information to policy makers and governments. START assists in the development of an evolving system of regional research networks, each of which will consist of at least one regional research center and a number of regional research sites. Among the most developed of these networks is the Inter-American Institute for Global Change (IAI). Also under development are the European Network for Research In Global Change (ENRICH) and the Asian-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). Funds for these activities have been provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy on behalf of all participating agencies in the U.S. Global Change Research Program. During its initial years of operation, the START secretariat has played an important role in building the international linkages necessary to increase the involvement in global change studies of researchers from around the world, and especially from developing nations. The American Geophysical Union's sponsorship of the START secretariat has strengthened START's foundation and enabled it to work toward its goals of promoting research on the regional origins and implications of global environmental changes and of enhancing indigenous scientific capacities for global change research.
