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Oxford Professor appointed to new US Climate Committee

4 December 2008 

Oxford Professor Diana Liverman has been appointed to the new committee on 'America's Climate Choices' convened by the US National Academies at the request of Congress, to advise the Government on responses to climate change.
 The US Committee on America's Climate Choices brings together 21 distinguished scientists, political, civic and business leaders to examine the challenges of climate change and provide advice to Congress on the most effective steps and most promising strategies that can be taken to respond. The Committee will convene a major climate Summit in Washington in Spring 2009.
The Committee will coordinate four panels to study global climate change, including the science and technology challenges involved in reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. Professor Liverman, Director of the Oxford University Environmental Change Institute for the last five years, will become Vice-Chair of the panel on 'Informing Effective Decisions and Actions Related to Climate Change'.
Professor Liverman said: 'The study on America's Climate Choices could not come at a more important time for both the US and international research and policy on climate change. It will be a great privilege to participate in the study during a period of change and challenge in US climate policy, and I hope that I can add insights from the UK and international experiences to the discussions.'
Collectively, the Committee's activities will produce broad, action-oriented and authoritative advice to guide responses to climate change across the nation. The America's Climate Choices study will tap experts and stakeholders from a range of communities including academia, business and industry, different levels of government, nongovernmental organisations, and the international community, to address this critical national and international issue.

For more information, a photograph of Professor Diana Liverman or to arrange an interview, please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 280534 or email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk  

Notes for Editors

The Committee on America's Climate Choices www.americasclimatechoices.org
This Committee has been set up by the US National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. The Committee will focus on domestic-level actions that advance the US response to climate change, although by necessity it will address issues that have significant international dimensions. It will be future-oriented and action-oriented, with analysis and advice targeted at a variety of stakeholder groups. It will provide an integrated, cross-cutting assessment of important short-term actions and long-term strategies and investments, the most significant impediments to making progress, and the major scientific and technical advances and other steps needed to mount even more effective responses moving forward.

Profile of Professor Diana Liverman http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/people/livermandiana.php
Professor Liverman has expertise on the human dimensions of global environmental change. While at Oxford, Professor Liverman has overseen a major expansion of the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), including the growth of the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), the Oxford nodes of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the UK Energy Research Centre, and the International Office of the Global Environmental Change and Food Systems Programme (GECAFS). During 2009 Professor Liverman will be working from a base at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she will be associated with the Institute for Environment and Society and will be taking the opportunity to pursue her own research interests on climate and development in Latin America.

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