Governor Asks UMaine for Climate Change Report
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571; David Farmer at (207) 287-3531
ORONO — Citing the “essential” need for Maine policy makers to consider “management and policy decisions with the best available scientific information,” Maine Gov. John Baldacci has asked for a “Maine Climate Change Assessment” from scientists at the University of Maine.
Researchers in UMaine’s Climate Change Institute will lead the study.
“As the State works to address climate change, it’s critical that we have the best information available to guide our decision making,” Governor Baldacci said. “The University of Maine has one of the premier climate change research programs in the country. We need to utilize that specialized resource as we work to answer the challenges of global warming.”
The governor’s request stems from a series of discussions involving UMaine professors George Jacobson and Ivan Fernandez, both of whom are affiliated with the internationally recognized Climate Change Institute. Baldacci, in a Nov. 8 letter addressed to Prof. Paul Mayewski, the institute’s director, described the anticipated report and some of the things he would like to see in the final version:
* (Identification of) the potential climate scenarios, and their probabilities, for Maine for the remainder of the 21st century;
* Inventories (of) the critical impacts, adaptations, and opportunities represented by these scenarios;
* (Identification of) critical environmental monitoring, research and assessment needs on this issue; and
* (Definition of) a framework to continue an ongoing effective dialogue for science to inform policy on issues of our chemical and physical climate in Maine.
The team of scientists participating in the UMaine assessment will include members of other UMaine research units with relevant expertise, including the Sen. George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy and the Center for Research on Sustainable Forests.
Researchers plan to analyze “the scientific, economic, and social challenges, and possible solutions, for the State of Maine,” Jacobson and Fernandez wrote in a document outlining the project’s scope and specific goals. In that paper, they suggest that the important current focus on mitigating climate change should not preclude planning for the adaptations that will be necessary if Maine continues to warm as expected.
“The climate of the 21st century will be quite different from that of the last century,” Jacobson and Fernandez wrote. “Decision making by government agencies, business leaders, research managers, and private citizens will necessarily be influenced by that reality. We should not be dealing with climate change as an isolated issue while everything else remains business as usual.”
The final assessment, which the university scientists hope will lead to increased public discourse on issues related to climate change and Maine’s future, is due to the Governor in November, 2008.