OMB-OSTP Memo on Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2015 Budget

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo to U.S. agency and department heads on Friday, June 26, 2013. Addressing the U.S. Administration's Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2015 Budget and related multiagency activities, 'the Administration recognizes that agency-specific research needed to make progress toward agency missions is important. In the FY 2015 Budget, agencies should balance priorities to ensure resources are adequately allocated for agency-specific, mission-driven research while focusing resources, where appropriate, on addressing the multi-agency research activities that cannot be addressed effectively by a single agency.' Global Climate Change is listed as one of these multiagency activities/priorities on page 3 of this memo. This particular section is pertinent to the carbon cycle science community:

"Within the U.S. Global Change Research Program, agencies should continue to make progress toward fulfilling the 2012-2021 Strategic Plan. FY 2015 priority areas include better understanding of the causes and consequences of drought and the interaction of global-change impacts in the Arctic with climate in the mid-latitudes. Emphasis should also be given to research that enhances predictions of climate-related interactions among physical-biological human systems on seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. In improving the nation's ability to understand, assess and respond to climate-related risks and opportunities, agencies should prioritize activities that strengthen the scientific basis for decisions about both mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and that enhance utility of data and tools for purposes such as catastrophe risk management in a non-stationary climate."