Pooling of international resources and scientific capabilities will be essential to a successful international global change program.

While international scientific planning is already underway, there is currently no comprehensive intergovernmental mechanism for planning, coordinating, or implementing research to understand global change and to mitigate possible adverse effects.

An international global change research program will be important in building future consensus on methods for reducing global environmental degradation.

The United States, as a world leader in environmental and Earth sciences, should help provide leadership in developing and implementing an international global change research program.

promote international, intergovernmental cooperation on global change research;

involve scientists and policymakers from developing nations in such cooperative global change research programs; and

promote international efforts to provide technical and other assistance to developing nations which will facilitate improvements in their domestic standard of living while minimizing damage to the global or regional environment.