Sea Grant Climate Network Authority: The Sea Grant Climate Network is a committee of the Assembly of Sea Grant Extension Program Leaders.

Mission: To increase the effectiveness of Sea Grant climate programming and outreach nationwide by coordinating Sea Grant climate-related activities, sharing talent and resources, and working with climate agencies and organizations within NOAA and the communities we serve.

Background: In the early 1990s, a Sea Grant climate change initiative raised awareness within the network of an upward trend in global temperature that could have significant impacts on our nation. A decade later one leader of the initiative, Dale Baker of New York Sea Grant, brought climate change to the forefront of Sea Grant's national agenda while working in Washington, DC, at the National Sea Grant and NOAA climate offices. In April of 2006, a national Sea Grant Climate Extension Workshop was held in Charleston, SC. Many of the Sea Grant outreach professionals in attendance indicated they were working on climate-related issues, although it was not reflected in their job titles or aggregated thematically in the Sea Grant reporting system. By 2007, Baker’s work in Washington was rewarded with the establishment of the first Regional Sea Grant Climate Extension program within the South and North Carolina Sea Grant Extension programs in partnership with the Carolinas Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (CISA) program at the University of South Carolina. Included among the many activities of the Carolinas climate program is a mandate to provide leadership in establishing a national network of Sea Grant outreach professionals working on climate issues within their states and communities. Inspired by the successes of the Assembly-sponsored coastal communities and fisheries committees, the PIs and the Sea Grant Climate Extension Specialist, funded through the grant, are proposing the establishment of a Sea Grant Climate Network. As with the other cross-cutting, grassroots committees of the Assembly, this unofficial and informal network requires coordination to be fully effective. The purpose of this committee is to provide this coordination function. While individual states will continue to develop extension programs to meet the needs of their local constituents, program and resource sharing will be encouraged at the regional and national levels. Program control will continue to reside with the individual state programs. Therefore, the purpose of this committee is to facilitate communication with partners operating at the national scale. Further, when a regional or national approach is required to address an issue or problem, the committee will serve to facilitate that approach.

Goals/Objectives: To improve Sea Grant network interaction, communication, resource sharing, and talent sharing related to climate change. To enhance the functioning of the climate change network among its agency and industry partners at the state, regional, and national levels.

Organizational Structure: The committee shall consist of a steering committee, its elected chair, and a general membership. The Steering committee may create any other structure necessary to represent the Network to the Assembly, other Sea Grant governing bodies, external collaborators, and organizations.

Membership: In keeping with the mission of improving the capacity of the network to provide effective climate outreach programming, committee membership is, in general, open to all outreach* elements of Sea Grant – extension, education, communication; members of the Assembly of Sea Grant Extension Program Leaders; and any others of the Sea Grant community interested, active and committed to the issues of climate change. Representatives from the National Sea Grant Office (Extension Leader), Sea Grant Association, and Focus Area (co-chairs), may serve as ex officio members.

Core Duties: To enhance the capacity of the Sea Grant Climate Outreach Program, the Committee will:

• Communicate with the National Sea Grant Office with respect to issues related to climate policy and programs.
• Communicate climate program needs (programmatic, staff, funding) to the NSGO, SGA and individual Sea Grant Directors.
• Develop products describing outcomes of projects (impacts, accountability).
• Represent Sea Grant Extension to national and regional climate partners.
• Educate external partners on national climate issues and the ability and capacity of Sea Grant Extension to address the issues.
• Create and maintain partnerships with climate agencies and organizations at the national, regional, and state levels, including (but not limited to) the NOAA Climate Program Office, NOAA Coastal Services Center, NOAA National Weather Service, and state climatologists.
• Facilitate the development of mechanisms for the purpose of sharing extension information, products, methods, and issues among Sea Grant climate professionals.
• Provide regional and national coordination and leadership of climate extension efforts.
• Build/maintain links to the Sea Grant “triad”(communications, education, research) concerning climate issues.
• Provide an annual report to the Sea Grant Extension Assembly of Program Leaders on regional climate programming.
• Represent climate outreach on the appropriate Sea Grant Focus Area teams.
• Promote communication of climate outreach and Sea Grant-funded climate research in national and international arenas.
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  Meetings: Minimum of one committee meeting per year (as resources permit), supplemented by quarterly conference calls, and other meetings as needed.