TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Martín-José Sepúlveda A2 - Rebekah Hutton TI - Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth SN - DO - 10.17226/25546 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25546/shaping-summertime-experiences-opportunities-to-promote-healthy-development-and-well PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - For children and youth, summertime presents a unique break from the traditional structure, resources, and support systems that exist during the school year. For some students, this time involves opportunities to engage in fun and enriching activities and programs, while others face additional challenges as they lose a variety of supports, including healthy meals, medical care, supervision, and structured programs that enhance development. Children that are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during the summer months are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. In contrast, structured summertime activities and programs support basic developmental needs and positive outcomes for children and youth who can access and afford these programs. These discrepancies in summertime experiences exacerbate pre-existing academic inequities. While further research is needed regarding the impact of summertime on developmental domains outside of the academic setting, extensive literature exists regarding the impact of summertime on academic development trajectories. However, this knowledge is not sufficiently applied to policy and practice, and it is important to address these inequalities. Shaping Summertime Experiences examines the impact of summertime experiences on the developmental trajectories of school-age children and youth across four areas of well-being, including academic learning, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and health-promoting and safety behaviors. It also reviews the state of science and available literature regarding the impact of summertime experiences. In addition, this report provides recommendations to improve the experiences of children over the summertime regarding planning, access and equity, and opportunities for further research and data collection. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Jennifer E. DeVoe A2 - Amy Geller A2 - Yamrot Negussie TI - Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity SN - DO - 10.17226/25466 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25466/vibrant-and-healthy-kids-aligning-science-practice-and-policy-to PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Forest Health and Biotechnology: Possibilities and Considerations SN - DO - 10.17226/25221 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25221/forest-health-and-biotechnology-possibilities-and-considerations PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - The American chestnut, whitebark pine, and several species of ash in the eastern United States are just a few of the North American tree species that have been functionally lost or are in jeopardy of being lost due to outbreaks of pathogens and insect pests. New pressures in this century are putting even more trees at risk. Expanded human mobility and global trade are providing pathways for the introduction of nonnative pests for which native tree species may lack resistance. At the same time, climate change is extending the geographic range of both native and nonnative pest species. Biotechnology has the potential to help mitigate threats to North American forests from insects and pathogens through the introduction of pest-resistant traits to forest trees. However, challenges remain: the genetic mechanisms that underlie trees' resistance to pests are poorly understood; the complexity of tree genomes makes incorporating genetic changes a slow and difficult task; and there is a lack of information on the effects of releasing new genotypes into the environment. Forest Health and Biotechnology examines the potential use of biotechnology for mitigating threats to forest tree health and identifies the ecological, economic, and social implications of deploying biotechnology in forests. This report also develops a research agenda to address knowledge gaps about the application of the technology. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States SN - DO - 10.17226/25381 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25381/framing-the-challenge-of-urban-flooding-in-the-united-states PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences AB - Flooding is the natural hazard with the greatest economic and social impact in the United States, and these impacts are becoming more severe over time. Catastrophic flooding from recent hurricanes, including Superstorm Sandy in New York (2012) and Hurricane Harvey in Houston (2017), caused billions of dollars in property damage, adversely affected millions of people, and damaged the economic well-being of major metropolitan areas. Flooding takes a heavy toll even in years without a named storm or event. Major freshwater flood events from 2004 to 2014 cost an average of $9 billion in direct damage and 71 lives annually. These figures do not include the cumulative costs of frequent, small floods, which can be similar to those of infrequent extreme floods. Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States contributes to existing knowledge by examining real-world examples in specific metropolitan areas. This report identifies commonalities and variances among the case study metropolitan areas in terms of causes, adverse impacts, unexpected problems in recovery, or effective mitigation strategies, as well as key themes of urban flooding. It also relates, as appropriate, causes and actions of urban flooding to existing federal resources or policies. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 SN - DO - 10.17226/25059 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25059/science-breakthroughs-to-advance-food-and-agricultural-research-by-2030 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Agriculture KW - Food and Nutrition KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030). ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Ruby Takanishi A2 - Suzanne Le Menestrel TI - Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures SN - DO - 10.17226/24677 PY - 2017 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24677/promoting-the-educational-success-of-children-and-youth-learning-english PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELs—who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schools—are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Global Change Research Needs and Opportunities for 2022-2031 SN - DO - 10.17226/26055 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26055/global-change-research-needs-and-opportunities-for-2022-2031 PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - The US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is a collection of 13 Federal entities charged by law to assist the United States and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change. Global Change Research Needs and Opportunities for 2022-2031 advises the USGCRP on how best to meet its mandate in light of climate change impacts happening today and projected into the future. This report identifies critical climate change risks, research needed to support decision-making relevant to managing these risks, and opportunities for the USGCRP's participating agencies and other partners to advance these research priorities over the next decade. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Understanding the Long-Term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System: The Future of the U.S. Gulf Coast SN - DO - 10.17226/25108 PY - 2018 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25108/understanding-the-long-term-evolution-of-the-coupled-natural-human-coastal-system PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - The U.S. Gulf Coast provides a valuable setting to study deeply connected natural and human interactions and feedbacks that have led to a complex, interconnected coastal system. The physical landscape in the region has changed significantly due to broad-scale, long-term processes such as coastal subsidence and river sediment deposition as well as short-term episodic events such as hurricanes. Modifications from human activities, including building levees and canals and constructing buildings and roads, have left their own imprint on the natural landscape. This coupled natural-human coastal system and the individual aspects within it (physical, ecological, and human) are under increased pressure from accelerating environmental stressors such as sea level rise, intensifying hurricanes, and continued population increase with its accompanying coastal development. Promoting the resilience and maintaining the habitability of the Gulf Coast into the future will need improved understanding of the coupled natural-human coastal system, as well as effective sharing of this understanding in support of decision-making and policies. Understanding the Long-term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System presents a research agenda meant to enable a better understanding of the multiple and interconnected factors that influence long-term processes along the Gulf Coast. This report identifies scientific and technical gaps in understanding the interactions and feedbacks between human and natural processes, defines essential components of a research and development program in response to the identified gaps, and develops priorities for critical areas of research. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - David Francis A2 - Amy Stephens TI - English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives SN - DO - 10.17226/25182 PY - 2018 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25182/english-learners-in-stem-subjects-transforming-classrooms-schools-and-lives PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education AB - The imperative that all students, including English learners (ELs), achieve high academic standards and have opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning has become even more urgent and complex given shifts in science and mathematics standards. As a group, these students are underrepresented in STEM fields in college and in the workforce at a time when the demand for workers and professionals in STEM fields is unmet and increasing. However, English learners bring a wealth of resources to STEM learning, including knowledge and interest in STEM-related content that is born out of their experiences in their homes and communities, home languages, variation in discourse practices, and, in some cases, experiences with schooling in other countries. English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives examines the research on ELs' learning, teaching, and assessment in STEM subjects and provides guidance on how to improve learning outcomes in STEM for these students. This report considers the complex social and academic use of language delineated in the new mathematics and science standards, the diversity of the population of ELs, and the integration of English as a second language instruction with core instructional programs in STEM. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Safeguarding the Bioeconomy SN - DO - 10.17226/25525 PY - 2020 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25525/safeguarding-the-bioeconomy PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Biology and Life Sciences AB - Research and innovation in the life sciences is driving rapid growth in agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, energy, and other sectors of the U.S. economy. This economic activity, conceptually referred to as the bioeconomy, presents many opportunities to create jobs, improve the quality of life, and continue to drive economic growth. While the United States has been a leader in advancements in the biological sciences, other countries are also actively investing in and expanding their capabilities in this area. Maintaining competitiveness in the bioeconomy is key to maintaining the economic health and security of the United States and other nations. Safeguarding the Bioeconomy evaluates preexisting and potential approaches for assessing the value of the bioeconomy and identifies intangible assets not sufficiently captured or that are missing from U.S. assessments. This study considers strategies for safeguarding and sustaining the economic activity driven by research and innovation in the life sciences. It also presents ideas for horizon scanning mechanisms to identify new technologies, markets, and data sources that have the potential to drive future development of the bioeconomy. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - The Future of Electric Power in the United States SN - DO - 10.17226/25968 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25968/the-future-of-electric-power-in-the-united-states PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - Electric power is essential for the lives and livelihoods of all Americans, and the need for electricity that is safe, clean, affordable, and reliable will only grow in the decades to come. At the request of Congress and the Department of Energy, the National Academies convened a committee of experts to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the U.S. grid and how it might evolve in response to advances in new energy technologies, changes in demand, and future innovation. The Future of Electric Power in the United States presents an extensive set of policy and funding recommendations aimed at modernizing the U.S. electric system. The report addresses technology development, operations, grid architectures, and business practices, as well as ways to make the electricity system safe, secure, sustainable, equitable, and resilient. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - James N. Weinstein A2 - Amy Geller A2 - Yamrot Negussie A2 - Alina Baciu TI - Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity SN - DO - 10.17226/24624 PY - 2017 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/24624/communities-in-action-pathways-to-health-equity PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome. ER - TY - BOOK AU - Transportation Research Board AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - The Role of Transit, Shared Modes, and Public Policy in the New Mobility Landscape DO - 10.17226/26053 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26053/the-role-of-transit-shared-modes-and-public-policy-in-the-new-mobility-landscape PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Transportation and Infrastructure AB - If combined with public transit and increased in scale, shared modes of transportation, such as ride-hailing, scooter sharing and bike sharing, can enhance mobility, equity, and sustainability in metropolitan areas. Cities, transit agencies, and shared mobility providers should collaborate in goal-setting, experimentation, testing, and implementation. These are among the findings in TRB Special Report 337: The Role of Transit, Shared Modes, and Public Policy in the New Mobility Landscape, from TRB of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The report's authors recommend deliberate and strategic measures in order to realize the full and potentially transformative benefits of shared services. These measures include providing travelers with real- or near real-time information on combinations of available price and service offerings, smartphone applications that simplify the process of arranging and paying for the use of multiple transportation modes for a single trip, and more public sector coordination of services across modes and jurisdictions. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Greg Duncan A2 - Suzanne Le Menestrel TI - A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty SN - DO - 10.17226/25246 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a well-functioning and prosperous society, yet America's future is not as secure as it could be because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with children compromises these children's ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting them and the broader society. A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, and analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families. This report also provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda SN - DO - 10.17226/25259 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25259/negative-emissions-technologies-and-reliable-sequestration-a-research-agenda PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies AB - To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions. In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration, which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System SN - DO - 10.17226/25932 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25932/accelerating-decarbonization-of-the-us-energy-system PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Energy and Energy Conservation AB - The world is transforming its energy system from one dominated by fossil fuel combustion to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas. This energy transition is critical to mitigating climate change, protecting human health, and revitalizing the U.S. economy. To help policymakers, businesses, communities, and the public better understand what a net-zero transition would mean for the United States, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts to investigate how the U.S. could best decarbonize its transportation, electricity, buildings, and industrial sectors. This report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States Energy System, identifies key technological and socio-economic goals that must be achieved to put the United States on the path to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report presents a policy blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021-2030) of this 30-year effort, including ways to support communities that will be most impacted by the transition. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Richard J. Bonnie A2 - Emily P. Backes TI - The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth SN - DO - 10.17226/25388 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25388/the-promise-of-adolescence-realizing-opportunity-for-all-youth PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences KW - Health and Medicine AB - Adolescence—beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20s—is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescence—rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs SN - DO - 10.17226/25424 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25424/a-decision-framework-for-interventions-to-increase-the-persistence-and-resilience-of-coral-reefs PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences AB - Coral reefs are critical to ocean and human life because they provide food, living area, storm protection, tourism income, and more. However, human-induced stressors, such as overfishing, sediment, pollution, and habitat destruction have threatened ocean ecosystems globally for decades. In the face of climate change, these ecosystems now face an array of unfamiliar challenges due to destructive rises in ocean temperature, acidity and sea level. These factors lead to an increased frequency of bleaching events, hindered growth, and a decreasing rate of calcification. Research on interventions to combat these relatively new stressors and a reevaluation of longstanding interventions is necessary to understand and protect coral reefs in this changing climate. Previous research on these methods prompts further questions regarding the decision making process for site-specific interventions. A Decision Framework for Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs builds upon a previous report that reviews the state of research on methods that have been used, tested, or proposed to increase the resilience of coral reefs. This new report aims to help coral managers evaluate the specific needs of their site and navigate the 23 different interventions described in the previous report. A case study of the Caribbean, a region with low coral population plagued by disease, serves as an example for coral intervention decision making. This report provides complex coral management decision making tools, identifies gaps in coral biology and conservation research, and provides examples to help individuals and communities tailor a decision strategy to a local area. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs SN - DO - 10.17226/25279 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25279/a-research-review-of-interventions-to-increase-the-persistence-and-resilience-of-coral-reefs PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences AB - Coral reef declines have been recorded for all major tropical ocean basins since the 1980s, averaging approximately 30-50% reductions in reef cover globally. These losses are a result of numerous problems, including habitat destruction, pollution, overfishing, disease, and climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions and the associated increases in ocean temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been implicated in increased reports of coral bleaching, disease outbreaks, and ocean acidification (OA). For the hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food or livelihoods, the thousands of communities that depend on reefs for wave protection, the people whose cultural practices are tied to reef resources, and the many economies that depend on reefs for fisheries or tourism, the health and maintenance of this major global ecosystem is crucial. A growing body of research on coral physiology, ecology, molecular biology, and responses to stress has revealed potential tools to increase coral resilience. Some of this knowledge is poised to provide practical interventions in the short-term, whereas other discoveries are poised to facilitate research that may later open the doors to additional interventions. A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs reviews the state of science on genetic, ecological, and environmental interventions meant to enhance the persistence and resilience of coral reefs. The complex nature of corals and their associated microbiome lends itself to a wide range of possible approaches. This first report provides a summary of currently available information on the range of interventions present in the scientific literature and provides a basis for the forthcoming final report. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine TI - Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance SN - DO - 10.17226/25762 PY - 2021 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25762/reflecting-sunlight-recommendations-for-solar-geoengineering-research-and-research-governance PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Earth Sciences KW - Environment and Environmental Studies KW - Engineering and Technology AB - Climate change is creating impacts that are widespread and severe for individuals, communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world. While efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts are the first line of defense, researchers are exploring other options to reduce warming. Solar geoengineering strategies are designed to cool Earth either by adding small reflective particles to the upper atmosphere, by increasing reflective cloud cover in the lower atmosphere, or by thinning high-altitude clouds that can absorb heat. While such strategies have the potential to reduce global temperatures, they could also introduce an array of unknown or negative consequences. This report concludes that a strategic investment in research is needed to enhance policymakers' understanding of climate response options. The United States should develop a transdisciplinary research program, in collaboration with other nations, to advance understanding of solar geoengineering's technical feasibility and effectiveness, possible impacts on society and the environment, and social dimensions such as public perceptions, political and economic dynamics, and ethical and equity considerations. The program should operate under robust research governance that includes such elements as a research code of conduct, a public registry for research, permitting systems for outdoor experiments, guidance on intellectual property, and inclusive public and stakeholder engagement processes. ER -